We're back for Stablemate Sunday! This month, we'll be looking at the first collection of the Silver Cup sets. These sets were originally released through QVC in 2002. They both featured a mixture of G1 and G2 molds, and came packaged in a blue box with a small silver trophy. From my understanding, this collection released earlier in 2002, and the second collection was released later that year.
From what I can tell, this set marked a turning point for Breyer. Previously, when a glossy Stablemate appeared, it was usually a variation, not the entire run, and additionally it was usually more of a semi-gloss finish. The QVC sets marked the first time a Stablemates run was intentionally glossed. It's amazing it took so long! The first Stablemates were introduced in 1975, and Breyer has had glossy finishes since the Western Horse in 1950. That's 27 years for intentionally glossed Stablemates!
This set took me a while to track down, and I ended up slowly buying them over the course of several years. To that end, we'll look at them in the order I obtained them. First up is this lovely glossy chestnut on the G2 Rearing Arabian mold. One other thing about this set is how much contrast there is in the shading! This guy shows for me under the name Flaming Hot Cheeto, due to how vibrantly orange he is. He doesn't get out much, but he does have at least one collectability NAN card to his name.
He was also the first one in the set I tracked down - I found him by himself in a room in the Clarion during BreyerFest 2022. He only had his box and trophy with him. I want to say it was Saturday night at BreyerFest, and I had bought some Stablemates from the seller earlier in the week, and was buying more again. I asked how much she wanted for him, and she passed him along to me at no charge! Model horse people are the best people.
Next in the set we have the G2 American Saddlebred, done in a heavily shaded dapple gray. I especially like her tiny resist dapples, even if her shading isn't the most realistic way to gray out (usually grays start at the face). I believe I picked her up during BreyerFest 2024, and she has shown once for me - she placed, but she doesn't have any NAN cards. Her show name is Ghostly Scene.
The Draft Horse is the only G1 in the set, and additionally the only decorator. He's done in a nice charcoal color. He's a newer addition, so he hasn't made it to the show ring yet (decorators tend to have tough competition to show with me, given my love of rarities).
He does have a fun story of how I obtained him. My friends in the hobby have a tendency to message me with listings to ask if something is a good deal (I'm a good person for this, since one of my hobbies within the hobby is market watching). In this case, my friend sent me the listing for two G1 drafters - this guy and one of the snowflake decorators from the JAH Fanfare set. I asserted the prices were reasonable. She said she was looking mostly at the snowflake draft and was still deciding on the charcoal. I said, "well, if you decide against him, I'd be interested!" She ultimately did decide not to buy him, and I sent her the asking price. She picked up both, and I picked him up from her at BreyerFest last year.
The G2 Appaloosa in this set is done in this lovely bay sabino. Like the draft, I picked him up during BreyerFest last year (they're actually both featured in my haul post). A friend listed him for sale (along with several other models that I also purchased) and I arranged to pick them up at BreyerFest. Pre-arranging purchases for pickup at BreyerFest is one of my favorite hacks for making sure I see as many friends as I can, otherwise the schedule can make it hard to see everyone.
Finally, we have the G2 Warmblood in a shaded bay. He's the newest addition of the set - you may remember him from my October Additions post. He was also purchased from a friend, and I was very glad to finally complete this set! It only took three years.
It's kind of amazing to realize that three of the five in this set I was able to track down through friends. I talk a lot about how much I value the people in the hobby and the friends I've made, and I think this post shows that.
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