It's Friday, I'm a Judge! Mini Collectability #7

Welcome back to the Friday judging clinic for a mini collectability day!

As always, my personal judging history and credentials can be found on my About Me page. 

This week, by special request from a friend, we're looking at another decorator class. I've done a mini decorator class before, but there are honestly so many mini decorators that I could create several of these classes. 

Remember, even in decorator classes, we're still judging on collectability. That means we're taking age, rarity, condition, and desirability into account when making our decisions. As much as we may like to judge based on which is the prettiest, that's not what we're looking for! 

Horse A: Jellybean - 2017 Vintage Club Bonus Model - 500 made

Horse B: Merryweather - 2011 BreyerFest Single Day Model - 750 made

Horse C: Three Ring Circus Jade - 2006 BreyerFest Special Run - 1,200 made

Think about the age of each model, and how desirable they are. Who is sought after? How are we weighing numbers? When you're ready, my placings can be found under the jump. ↓

The Placings:

🥇1st: Horse A - Jellybean

In first place, I pinned Jellybean. She's got a couple of things going for her - she's the lowest run count of the three models in the class at 500. She's also the most desirable of the three, as the G1s are considerably more sought after than the G3s, the foals especially. Amongst the G1 lineup, the two Thoroughbred Foal molds were rarely used, so releases on the molds tend to be especially sought after. Jellybean is additionally a Vintage Club release, and an older one at that from when the Club had fewer members. The set of her and Licorice (the G1 Standing Foal) pops up for sale rarely, and when it does they command high prices. These factors make Jellybean the easy first place pin. 

🥈2nd: Horse B - Merryweather

I pinned the Merryweather second. There were a few things I took into consideration here. First, numbers wise: Merryweather is a run of 750, while Jade is a run of 1,200. There's fewer of Merryweather than there are Jade. Next, I thought about color. Blue horses are extremely popular in the hobby, and the blue variation of just about any run will command higher prices than the other colors (the single day set Merryweather is from is the one exception, because if there's one thing people love more than blue it's Disney villains). Which brings me to my final factor: the Disney of it all. In 2011, Breyer named the Single Day Ticket models after the fairies from Disney's Sleeping Beauty: Flora, Fauna, Merryweather, and Maleficent. This creates a crossover with Disney fans - if you love Sleeping Beauty, you're going to want the Sleeping Beauty horses, even if they're not officially licensed Disney merchandise.  

🥉3rd: Horse C - Jade

Finally, I pinned Jade third. I did waffle back and forth between Jade and Merryweather for a bit, but obviously Merryweather won out. Ultimately, besides the unofficially licensed Disney tie-in I mentioned, the deciding factor for me was obtainability. Jade, while older and the miniature of a decently popular Special Run is a Special Run himself - so he would have required a ticket that allowed access to purchase Special Runs. Merryweather was a Single Day ticket model, which was the most accessible way to attend BreyerFest at the time. This means that more Jades likely made it into the hands of hobbyists than Merryweathers, which means Jade is likely easier to come by if you're in search of one. 

How did you pin this class? How did you come to the conclusion you made? What was the factor that made you pick one model over the other? 

This judging clinic originally appeared in the 2026 NAN program. It has been edited to better fit the blog.