Happy Sunday! It's the last Sunday of the month, and we're back for another edition of Stablemate Sunday. We've looked at the beginnings of the Vintage Club, the Stablemates Club, and the Deluxe Collector Club, so let's round off the Breyer Clubs with the Premier Club! (Yes, I do know about the Fairytale Friends Club, the post has been in my drafts for months, but for the life of me I cannot find one of the models in the disaster that is my horse room. We'll get there!)
Like the Vintage Club, the Premier Club debuted in 2012, advertised as Connoisseur-level finishwork on three brand new sculptures each year. Unlike the Vintage Club, a bonus Stablemate at the end of the year for members who had purchased all of the models that year was not present from the inception of the club. The Premier Club's first Stablemate was mini Falhofnir in 2014.
Now, the Premier Club debuted around the time I was in high school and on a hobby break, so I can't say if there was controversy around one Club having a Stablemate, and one Club not. That being said, I don't think it's a coincidence that Breyer debuted the Stablemate Icelandic mold for BreyerFest 2013 to turn around and have the 2014 Premier Club include a traditional Icelandic sculpt.
The Premier Club Stablemate is also distinct from the Vintage Club Stablemate. The Vintage Club Stablemates are all unique models, while the Premier Club Stablemate replicates one of the colorways from that year on a miniature version. While the Premier Club Stablemate started as a nearly 1:1 recreation from one of the releases (in color and body type), as it has progressed that is not always the case (but that's more of a story for the inevitable part two!)
And here he is - mini Falhofnir, the first Premier Club Stablemate! He's done in a delicious glossy silver bay pinto. As you would expect, he's a miniature version of Falhofnir from the Club that year, though with a few differences. For one, Breyer wasn't using the shrink ray yet in 2014, so the sculpts are different (trad Falhofnir being a Moody sculpt, and mini Falhofnir being a Lunger sculpt). The traditional version of Falhofnir was offered in matte and glossy finishes, while the mini was only ever offered in gloss. There were approximately 741 made of mini Falhofnir.
I remember mini Falhofnir was my hardest Premier Club Stablemate to track down. He was one I had to find secondhand years after the fact. I want to say I tracked him down somewhere between 2018-2020? I'm pretty sure I bought him from someone on MH$P before it went defunct. He's definitely one of my favorite Stablemates, and he's shown well for me. His show name is All The Girls Say.
Next, we have the 2015 set: mini Hermoso and Corazon. They utilize the finishwork of the Hermosa and Corazon set, although the adult is done on a stallion mold and thus has the masculine version of the name. To date, they are the only adult-foal set used for a Premier Club Stablemate. I'd love to see it happen again (especially if we get new Stablemate foal molds out of it!). They are done as glossy black tobianos with cat tracks.
I'm fairly sure I picked my set up secondhand, and both are excellent show models for me, racking up several NAN cards each (and the adult just got a top ten in collectability at NAN!) Hermoso shows under the show name Fearless Leader, and the foal shows under the name Heartsick.
In 2016, Breyer went a different route for the Premier Club Stablemate - a mostly new mold. The Running Mare mold originally appeared as a porcelain Esperanza as part of the Spirit Collection in 2002. She made her transition to plastic in 2016, being used twice - once as a BreyerFest Single Day Stablemate and once here, as mini Geronimo for the Premier Club. She's done as a matte grulla frame overo to match the traditional Geronimo. 2016 marked the first year Breyer stopped giving run numbers for the Premier Club, so we don't know exactly how many of her were made.
I can't remember when exactly I picked her up - it was either direct from Breyer in a Black Friday sale or I snagged her from someone secondhand. I think I've photo shown her once, and I actually can't remember the name I showed her under. She has a nice color, but her mold doesn't have the best ABCs (she was meant as a cartoon character!), so she'll probably never go to a live show.
Next up, we have mini True North! Released for the 2017 Premier Club, mini True North utilized the finishwork of True North - a lovely matte silver bay frame overo. Mini True North marked several departures from the established pattern - for the first time, the breed type didn't match up to the large version! True North is a warmblood, while mini True North is a fluffy cob type. Mini True North was the debut of the mini Vanner mold, originally released as a traditional sized sculpt for the 2012 Premier Club. This also makes him one of the earliest uses of the shrink ray on existing Breyer sculpts (I think just the Eberl Andalusian Stallion is earlier, with his gallery release being 2012 and his plastic introduction being 2013).
Like mini Geronimo, this is one who doesn't get to show much for me, though he has photo shown for me in the past! His show name is Magnetic Pull. I definitely remember picking him up from the Breyer Black Friday sale in 2018.
Rounding off the first years of the Premier Club, we have Darwin. Darwin marked a few firsts for the Premier Club Stablemate - he was a brand new sculpture (not a shrunken version of an existing traditional mold, not a porcelain that had been converted into plastic) and he had his own individual name rather than "Mini Dundee." Darwin takes his finishwork from Dundee, as a sabino dunalino. He's quite lovely in hand, and one of my favorite Premier Club releases!
I am fairly certain I picked mine up secondhand from another collector, though like many of the earlier Premier Club Stablemates, it was long enough ago that I haven't retained the information! He's mostly photo shown for me, as I have too many other Spanish horses that usually throw him out of my show string. His show name is Devil Roll the Dice.
Which early Premier Club Stablemate is your favorite?
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