What Clinky Collectors Already Suspect, But Were Afraid To Ask Outright

With several serious HR collections dispersing in the past handful of years- Cheryl Greene, John Renaker, Keith Bean, Denise Deen, Nancy Kelly, The Hagen-Renaker On-Line Museum- and another on the horizon (Karen Grimm/BHR), there is an uneasy vibe about what will happen to the china values.

"What's going to happen?"

We can look at FB and MH$P to see the first effect: cascading. In the face of the sudden availability of so many great HRs, collectors are prioritizing their own collections, and culling items that do not fit their current focus. This results in lots of makes and models hitting the market at the same time. Just because HRs are the most plentiful right now doesn't mean that other makes are immune. The need to raise money to buy their wish-list HRs cascades down through other makes, including bone china studio ware, Beswicks, and Made-In-Japans, causing a flood. It's a cascading effect of all types of collectibles, surpassing demand and thus lowering asking prices. If an item is to move with any speed, the prices must be made attractive, or even below market value, to entice buyers. If time is not a factor, and the seller can afford to sit on inventory (like a lot of us non-shop-owners, with zero overhead), their prices don't change.

What if there are stubborn sellers, who refuse to lower their prices, or sell for less than they paid? Is it fair to make comments berating them for their refusal to make a discount deal with you or your friends? No, it isn't. The private seller of second-hand collectibles is not obligated to stick to values in books (which are outdated and give built-in lowballing) nor to a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. It's their own vintage or secondary market item, and they can price it as they see fit. I would argue that you should be thanking those sellers for their steadfast dedication to values. They are the thin line defending and insisting on values, so that our entire hobby market doesn't crash.

My husband has taught me a useful, but cheeky, shut-down phrase to use when I am asked to ridiculously reduce prices on my original art or collectibles: "If you don't like my price, buy it at Kmart." Of course, the chain store name is interchangeable, but the gist is, if you don't like my price, try and find this unique or hard to find item for sale at discount just anywhere. You aren't going to find it at the corner store, and certainly not priced by the pound.

"What should be my strategy?"

Everyone who has written me for advice this week has received this: Few things are going to hold universal value when the market floods. It's not an If, it's a When. Say your heart is set on a piece that you know was produced for more than a year, well, chances are, another will be available in the next few months. Don't despair that this one sold; you'll have another chance. This item was made in quantity.

"What if I just want just an example of the mold, not a competition/show horse?" 

I advise checking the years made, and reading up on which variant is the oldest and made the shortest time. Try to buy mint items. Older mint condition items survived to the present day, through collector care, and there's a lot to be said for that. In HRs, the oldest horses had character eyes and lined nostrils and mouths, which hold them back in breed/realism judging. They are golden for collectibility. If you decide to collect for history, not showing, don't reject the non-realistic finishes; select for age and condition.

"I am ready to spend, and I am excited about all the stuff available. I have been waiting for a dispersal like this." 

If there is no upper budget, consider that the test, one-off goof, and employee customs are unique (or close to it). There won't be another just like it coming up for sale, ever.  if anything, that exact piece might come up for sale sometime in the future, but only that one. Thus, demand for the most attractive tests is never met. Also, tests in particular tend to hold their value every time the market dives. This is not so much true of the value of batched Samples, which are sometimes called tests, even though they are seldom unique trials on damaged ware. Examples of tests' values persisting include documented Breyer tests despite the plastic market ups and downs, and vintage HR tests (less so for batches of Samples) holding their collector values throughout the market flooding of eBay, and so on. When buying from collectors, expect to pay collector prices for these investment pieces. Sometimes, one gets lucky on eBay finding a bargain test for sale from a non-collector (steel/ash gray Roan Lady!), but don't expect those who educate themselves in the fancy to ask anything less than full value. 

I am loathe to guess what broken/glued or restored items will bring compared to their mint counterparts. As shown in examples in John's estate dispersal, the same item damaged can bring just as much as a mint one, or one leg break can reduce it by half. My speculation, without accounting for world situation and larger problems like war or food shortages: The first wave buying tests and uniques will see their values held, perhaps even see those grow as investments. There will be a big ocean of regular run, long-produced pieces swirling about, unsold, for a while. Before it's all over, we'll see collectors exchanging things like HR DW Swaps for $30 (my personal yardstick for HR secondary market low, yours may vary). All the while that the big estates are settling, experienced collectors continue to disperse pieces and retire from the hobby. After even the BHR sale, there will be more collections up for sale, due to unforeseen circumstances. If you miss out on a mass-produced grail from any of the dispersals, know that there will always be another. And another. Do not despair. Also, think back to before you learned that X piece was even attainable, before it was offered at auction/for sale. You still enjoyed your collecting hobby then, without X, so do not let a one-time loss tinge it now.

If you do not want to wait another decade for your grail, I'd say, find funds outside the already-squeezed horse hobby, and buy it now. Clear out the garage, have a yard sale, make crafts, cook at home more often: all the things we used to do to support our hobby spending when the HR market was ferocious, in the pre-eBay 1990's. Now there are even more opportunities to raise money in one's spare time, without going back to school. Try driving for Uber, or walk dogs, raise your own produce, etc. My point is, it's folly to expect all your grail funding to be generated from sales to the very same market that is already flooded.

In closing, the best advice I received in collecting, I share again with you: a grail will find its way, however implausibly and circuitously, to the person(s) it was meant to find. We are all temporary curators. It may be heart-wrenching to see your long-loved favorites exchange hands beyond your grasp or even imaginable price range. Remember that is just a little delay. Maybe you worry that you didn't know the right people, you're too new, or feel outside a clique? We all start as outsiders, and we all did our tours as newbs. Keep your reputation clean, keep on with collecting in your favorite way, and eventually, your diligence will pay off. I would not pass along this as a fairy tale, I have experienced it and it is fact. Impossible, unfathomed things found me, and I know they can find you, too. I hear from collectors every year about crazy chains of events that led to their amazing $5 Finds, or gifts from friends, PIFs, all manner of unexpected avenues. Aim high with your patience. Shed no tears if you missed recent opportunities; smile and save up for the opportunity winging its way to you, on the gusts of time.

Cast This Way

This post does not reflect the opinions of Hagen-Renaker nor its employees. The following is my opinion and interpretation of the submitted examples. This disclaimer is necessary because the established stance is that HR's Designers Workshop molds were never altered between Monrovia and San Dimas. 

The awkward grazing pose of a young, leggy animal is captured in the Hagen-Renaker "Scamper" mold. Designed by Maureen Love in 1953, as best as we can guess, while the stickers read "1953" on the Colts. The Handbook says, "Spring 1954 through Fall 1958". As I do not have access to the 1953 order forms, I can't check if this was the actual release year. The mold was released in brown gloss with character eyes, brown matte, palomino gloss with character eyes, palomino matte, and white matte. I did find a date error.

The Handbook indicates that the white color was only made 1958, while it is only present on the order forms for 1954.

In 1958, the offered colors are brown (sometimes collectors call this rose gray) and palomino.

Not only does the Scamper mold change genders, but there are corresponding changes in the mane and tail. These consistent-with-gender mold differences support the theory that entire mold reworks occurred, and that the Fillies aren't just "flattened" boys, or individually altered while wet clay. They were cast this way.

Tails go from curly and lumpy with a defined tailbone on Colts, to smoothed outline and longer sweeps carved in the tail detail on the later Fillies. How do we know Fillies were later? Because there are no known Filly mold version with character eyes, and the 2 varieties of stickers found on Fillies date them late 1950's to early 60's.

<  Fillies           Colts  >          

Fillies have longer detail sweeps but smoother outline.    

Both Fillies. Photos courtesy Marcia Miner.

The Fillies' mane detail in outline is broken up, rather than the smooth, continuous wall of the Colts'. One can spy a Filly immediately by the knob in the mane, even present on less-detailed examples.

          <  Chicks           Dudes  >

< Lass                            Lad >

It's a Girl!

No idea about photo source, sorry.

It's another Girl! Owned by Jayne Kubas.

This one is unusual, as it has the engraved © HR in the inner thigh.

It isn't seen on Fillies often, and never on Colts.

gloss Test

Did you know that she has two names? 

Scamp and Scamper, both Fillies, both stickers date to late 1950's.

Here is the data I gathered on some Scampers and a copy: 

Updated with completed file.

The term "C Eyes" in the chart refers to "character eyes", which was a decorating style on many DW animals in early Monrovia.

Various character eyes, and outlined nostrils and lips on the gray Tony.

Only the glossy regular run Scampers are known to have character eyes.

The Japan copy was produced by Enterprise Exclusive. It is from an entire set of copies of the HR Morgan foals: Scamper, Clover, and Roughneck. The other models in the chart, with the exception of the EE Japan, all have lash-dot eyes with eye-white. The Japan lacks the eye-white decoration.

                      <  Oddity                       Japan EE copy  >         

What is this Oddity? 

What she's not: a white slip Scamper pulled out of the white gray decoration line-up, and accidentally sprayed as if a palomino. Her body slip is tinted a cold eggshell color, almost a greenish tan. She has the same rust color body shading as seen on regular palomino Fillies of her sub-era. The shading and hoof black is even decorated at the same angles and in the same places, so it "feels" like a genuine HR.

The available palomino filly for comparison is a gloss Test, hence the super-rich color.

Look beyond the gloss to the shading directions.

Odd filly compared with an earlier, matte Colt Scamper.

Other examples of HRs with the wrong overspray deco for their slip color are well known and documented. Instead of the wrong body (since the tinted castings all look very similar when dry) being grabbed and decorated as something it's not, I suspect the wrong slip color was grabbed and poured into a Scamper production mold.

Here's the Morgan family mother, Heather in what appears to be a similar coloration:

Owner unknown, photo by author at NAN 2014.

When I saw the above mare in harsh lighting before, I thought she was a white slip casting, factory-goofed as palomino. Without seeing this horse in natural light, I can't tell you if she has the same cold eggshell color of body slip, contrasting with the white legs and mane/tail, as the Scamper. The similarity is pretty uncanny, though.

Wait. In the chart, this Oddity is a full quarter inch smaller in every dimension than her siblings, yet weighs right about the same. How is this possible?

It could be that she over-fired, burning the clay pigment out and shrinking her overall. Her weight would remain because she isn't losing material, just the spaces between clay molecules got tighter and melted together. This idea seems to be supported by her dry, sandy glaze... glaze doesn't absorb well on partially vitrified ware. Her mold features are all there, except no sign of the copyright in the inner thigh, which has been established as the norm. Her airbrushing does appear to be by the same hand that decorated her palomino sisters (brothers were airbrushed in an earlier sub-era).

Here is what over-firing can do to the pigments on an earthenware piece. 

< Normal                  Over-fired >

I tried the vitrification test, and her unglazed dryfooting is resistant to water. A normal Scamper kept a sheen of wet on its dryfooting, but this Filly wouldn't absorb and wiped dry.

Maybe she is a mold reduction at HR? If so, we'd expect to see more small Scamper Fillies turn up. Do you have one?

Or, she might be a Japan copy. I have heard a rumor that a person once-associated with the company went forward with some DW molds to be made overseas, many years ago, against HR's wishes. I have seen very few Asian copy molds as nice as this, and none that matched complex airbrush angles, stroke for stroke.

How about another decoration oddity?

Here is a brown Scamper missing his mane decoration, which could have been confused for a palomino by collectors. This is the Colt version of the mold, and we know that by his mane detail, not just his show tag.

Model courtesy Dawn Sinkovich

Better view of the Test Filly gloss palomino.

No character eyes, and the gloss is tinted yellow, visible in mold grooves.

This model was photographed (before and after restoration) in all three editions of the HR Handbook.

Maybe there was something about gloss and Fillies at HR? Another Test gloss, also a Filly. 

Photo courtesy Ed Alcorn, The Hagen-Renaker On-Line Museum.

Whether they glitter or not, with knobs or nobs, this mold is one of my favorites. It is a great study in animal sculpture. Too often, Scampers get passed up in the show ring because they are grazing, and it's hard to see their faces. Perhaps this will lead to a new appreciation of their variety, even within the mold's most common color: palomino. Do you have a brown or white with even more variations?





Thank you to Jayne Kubas, Ed Alcorn, and Marcia Miner for the use of your models and/or photos!



References:

Benuish, Alison, ed. Hagen-Renaker Research Materials: 1949- Present. N. pag. Salisbury, MD: WMHC, 1995.

Roller, Gayle. Hagen-Renaker: A Charlton Standard Guide. Third Edition. Page 76. The Charlton Press: Palm Harbor, FL, 2003.

Stickers
http://hagenrenakerhorses.com/WebPageStickers.html

Plasticarve: "That Wax Maureen Used"

If you ever found the Love estate auctions on the Hagen-Renaker On-Line Museum site, chances are that a big question mark formed in your head, as if sculpted right out of "Plastic Carve". Several auction items were described as made of this material, correctly spelled "Plasticarve". This keyword alone has no English leads on Google, until this post, at least!

A very short summary of the pottery process:

First, Maureen sculpted rough models in modeling plastilina (oil-based, waxy clay that can't be kiln-fired). She'd make a waste mold on this original, since most manufacturers wanted a hard master for making their own molds. Her waste molds are sometimes called "ball molds", and have a rounded shape, compared to squared-off molds for production. 

I spy with my little eye... Maureen's fingerprint, right above .COM

This is the ball mold for one of the licensed Muscovy ducklings from Share The Love.

To cut weight, instead of pouring a solid matrix on each side, she flicked plaster on segments and gradually built a ball-shape around the model. The empty ball mold would be soaked in water, drained, and then hot Plasticarve was poured inside to make a new positive/figure. The Plasticarve had traits of both wax and clay, and even plaster (polishing potential). 

Plasticarve.

The Maureen Love Originals Foal, aka, the MFMG "Calendar Foal".

This rough version is the older MLO foal.

          Plasticarve   / MLO stoneware /    MFMG "Calendar Foal"

By resculpting and smoothing out the Plasticarve, she got a perfectly refined, hard master that could hold up its own weight, without a wire armature.

Now that you can see how useful this material is, I'm delighted to be able to share with you the story of Plasticarve, from the son of its licensed manufacturer. He contacted me after finding a mention of Plasticarve on this blog. 


KP (name withheld by request) wrote:

The inventor of Plasticarve was Pat Crouse. The story I know is that he developed it for use in the aircraft industry for fairing wings to fuselages in the ‘40s. 

The inventor, with some partners, made up a craft kit that consisted of an instruction booklet, some tools ( knife, pencil, carving tools) in a box. A pattern for a head of Lincoln was included. This was in the 1940’s. The story, as it came to me, is that Pat ( the inventor) had contracts with major department stores for Christmas, and then there was a railroad strike that prevented getting the product out, so the venture went bankrupt. My dad bought the residual goods, so we had hundreds of the knives and wax pencils stored for years and years….we would sell a couple a year. I used to have one of the booklets but I think it is lost now. 

My father bought the residual business from Pat (a family friend) and continued the sales to sculptors, ceramicists, and the like.  After he died I continued to make it, but it was a struggle since I had no permanent place to keep the equipment for mixing, etc. so I eventually gave it up.

I have looked for an alternative to Plasticarve on the market, as I guess there are still people that need the low temperature melting point and easy working with hand tools, but I have not found one.  Computer modeling and 3-D printing is all the fashion now but I guess there are still artists who want to work with their hand tools directly.

Great to read your story about the Plasticarve model from Maureen that turned out to be slipcast.  My dad used to make plasticarve and I guess he sold it to Maureen, either directly or via Westwood Ceramic.  I have the old account books so I can check if she was a direct customer or not.

I did the easy part, i.e. flipped through the business records from the 50s to the 70s.  Unless Maureen used a business name she was not a direct customer, so maybe she bought the Plasticarve from a Southern California ceramics supply, who used to carry it in their catalog.

KP was trying to balance his university studies with the laborious production of Plasticarve at a remote location from school. Eventually, he could not keep up with demand and was dropped as a vendor. Laguna Clay Company acquired the (name withheld) ceramics supply in the 1990's. The specific date jives with when I started hearing of, and later, seeing, Laurilyn Burson recycling some of Maureen's old Plasticarve models, melting them back down to become new positives for her to polish. 


KP wrote:

... in the old days we had a couple of steady customers from the toy industry.    The story was that they would sculpt the masters for toys in Plasticarve, then electroplate a copper mold directly on the Plasticarve master to replicate it in plastics. I remember meeting one of the artists at a trade show and he definitely did not want to talk about Plasticarve in public ( this was the 60’s) since he regarded it as one of his trade secrets.

I am not sure that anyone does that any more, since the 3-D machining is everywhere.  Although I work in the tech industry I do not use any of the 3D modeling software so I do not know how intuitive the user interfaces may be.

Indeed, I found a toy collectors forum talking about this use:

"Kenner used a number of different waxes over the years. I know they used a product called Plasticarve (sp?), which I believe is that pinkish stuff, but it varied. During the early ESB years they seem to have used a white-colored wax quite a bit, and it has a different consistency. Some sculptors even formulated their own blends. In general, it's nothing like the wax of a crayon or a candle; it's not nearly so oily or crumbily. I believe it has a lot of talcum powder in it, which gives it a kind of smooth, finely-textured feel, and probably helps it to take fine detail." 
- username ronsalvatore

Ron pretty much nails the description of Plasticarve, right there. I've seen it in gray, cream, and light pink. Sci-fi nerds take note: this came from a discussion about the original 1977 Star Wars action figure prototypes in Plasticarve. 


KP wrote:

The other use was for masters for plaster molds for slip casting, which I guess is what you are using it for.  I have never done that myself so I am curious how you create the parting lines to get the mold to pull cleanly from the master.

Plasticarve with plaster mold parting lines still visible.

The Maureen Love Originals Foal, aka, the MFMG "Calendar Foal".

The answer to that is, "very carefully". My first professional experience with Plasticarve was when I designed the Miniatures Guinea Pig for Hagen-Renaker, in late 1995. I recall that when I completed the brown plastilina model, Laurilyn made the waste mold. The mold is a sculpture, in itself!

Photo courtesy Joan Berkwitz.

Plasticarve original Guinea Pig submitted to Hagen-Renaker.

Ceramic produced Fall 1996 to Fall 1997.

I was so careful to not break off his wee feet, while cleaning off his mold lines and sharpening his detail in the nostrils, eyes, and fur texture. I love how easy it is to polish, fill, and shape, and yet it is strong.


KP wrote:

I found your website….we are from the same part of California, since I grew up in Orange County. I was interested to read that Maureen worked for a company in Monrovia, since my parents had many friends in that area. My dad was a potter in addition to working as an engineer ( mostly throwing on the wheel)  so I wonder if he knew the folks at the company Maureen worked for….I will ask my mom the next time I see her.

...Just so you are not disappointed, one difference that you will notice is that the color has changed. I used to add pigment to get the white color, but the pigment went out of production so now the color is  sort of grey. 

I'm not bothered by this, as I have seen Plasticarve in several shades- from white/cream to peach to this khaki. With Plasticarve becoming so scarce, and serious potters needing it for their own businesses, I had to quickly adapt to pottery production with no wax intermediary stage. I learned to polish the brown plastilina with condensation, since oils and spirits break down the clay. When I need a hard master to supply to clients nowadays, I sculpt directly in Aves Apoxie and have resins cast. I'd love to be able to go back to the old way of doing it, for my own pottery moldmaking, as plaster molding directly off of brown clay and Apoxie each have their drawbacks. At last, there is a chance to do that.

KP's Plasticarve from storage, ready to be shaped into something new!

KP has a limited supply of his father's formula on hand, and I am ordering some for my studio. He offers these tips for working with this wax:

Melting temp is 143 F….melt in a double boiler.
You can color by adding crayons.

Initial blocking out by carving can be eased by warming the whole piece in warm water.

You can weld or repair with a hot knife.  Put the two parts together and probe the joint deeply with the hot knife to knit the parts together.  Small defects can be filled by puddling some scraps on the surface

I am told you can paint by spraying on a very dry coat of shellac first.  I have never done this.

In the past, I used steel minarettes, an alcohol torch, and a modified soldering iron on a rheostat. Now, I own an electric wax pen (high tech version of the same thing), so that should be perfect for Plasticarve work. If anyone out there needs their historic Plasticarve models restored, I may be able to help.

A certain complex, kicking Somali donkey jenny will be my Plasticarve test subject for ceramic production. Watch for a future photo tutorial on the whole process, this winter!



References:

KP (name withheld). Pers. comm. October 3rd-16th, 2014.

Ed Alcorn's Hagen-Renaker On-Line Museum: http://hagenrenakerhorses.com/MaureenLoveEstate.html

Plasticarve Foal from the Margo Potheau Collection. Thank you, Margo and Danielle.

Ball mold courtesy Share The Love.

Auction Part Two: More Good, Less Bad

The Sequel, wherein I have an unexpected, surprise first-hand report.

I was pretty lucky the first time, to happen to be online when Jennifer Dodd reached out to me for values opinion, during a live auction of an estate with Monrovia Hagen-Renaker horses. 

I was doubly lucky to be asked a second time, but this time, Jennifer was contacted directly by the auctioneer with "more of those horses you like". I may have come to mind again because 1. I restored a couple of her initial lot, and 2. I happened to be located on the way to the pick up.

She messaged me some photos, and asked for values. I sent her the numbers, with their total, and the next thing I know... "Are you free?"

Well, this must have been meant to be, because I had just sent off a commission for approval ahead of deadline, so I had nothing to do on that until I heard back. I had finished demolding, and all the studio shipping and receiving for the day. Let's go save them!

Yes, the "Let's go save them!" impulse was running pretty strong in both of us. The last thing we wanted to see was any more loss and damage to these old, ceramic artworks. We didn't know what to expect, so we both grabbed boxes and wrapping materials, and tossed them in her car. These horses were in the exact same situation that damaged the others; the circumstance that we were told led to the complete obliteration of a Crusader, large white Honora, and a small rose gray Zara. We didn't want to see that painful story repeat.

Repeat, it could... for you see... the same molds that were reported as smashed to dust, were in this lot.

The only damage in this whole lot.

Before cleaning & restoration. This one has a dark ribbon.

What are the odds that the same lost molds (and in their respective colors) would appear in the next group? The auctioneer confirmed that they came from the same estate. 

Duplicates? The same horses, just held back? I will leave that to the reader to speculate, but luck certainly played some part in this. We're just grateful that the auctioneer directly reached out to collectors, and didn't just put them in some random lot of housewares.

When we arrived, the auction staff had carefully bubble-wrapped each horse, and laid them out in cardboard flats, stashed safely out of the way. We were touched that they were so careful with this group. It was pretty exciting to be the first collectors to handle these ceramics in decades, and realize that we would reunite them with their "stablemates" from the previous auction lot.

When we returned to my studio, we set straight to work cleaning them. The rubbing alcohol and gloves came out. It was a fun evening of chatter of collectors, hearts overflowing with joy and the destiny of the whole thing.

Photo by Jennifer Dodd.

All cleaned up.

Hagen-Renaker Monrovia DW Crusader.

If you recall the past Crusader/Sespe post, you may be noticing something funny about this rescued Crusader. Here is a comparison photo with a typical Crusader.

< Normal Monrovia                   Pale Rescue Monrovia >

This paleness is not an acquired thing, it can't occur with age; this is how she left the factory. Are they found any paler? Her gray shading batch is likewise tinted differently, a brown or flesh, instead of normal gray. Her mold detail is equal, but without dark shading for contrast on the edges, it is hard to see at a distance. Of course, this is exactly the sort of variation I collect, as a potter. It may not appeal to collectors seeking a competitive show horse, because it would appear flat/lacking detail on the judging table. This really was meant to be... she was meant to "find" me.

 We could not have asked for a happier ending! Those lost are safely in one piece, in collector hands. I hope this cheers all the folks who cried with us over the reported losses.


Gratitude to Jennifer Dodd, for the spontaneous sharing!

The Mane of Sun Cortez

This post does not reflect the opinions of Hagen-Renaker nor its employees. The following is my opinion and my interpretation of the submitted examples.

This disclaimer is necessary because the established stance is, HR's DW molds were never altered between Monrovia and San Dimas. 

The mold retooling that took place in the early 1980's for San Marcos is both acknowledged by collectors and by Jim Renaker, according to Nancy Kelly*.

Hagen-Renakers' Designer's Workshop mold, Sun Cortez, is a prime example of the observations I am (and other collectors are) making about mold differences between Monrovia and San Dimas factory eras. Of the molds that survived at least two factory eras, I have observed that quite a few went through an apparent resculpt and remolding. Some of us collectors summarize the entire multiple mold situation by citing "the mane of Sun Cortez" as the classic example of change.

Collectors are less likely to see the middle-era mold variant, because the San Dimas mold version is so rare. The main side-by-side comparison in this post is between Monrovia and San Marcos. Further on, the San Dimas will be shown. You read that correctly, I interpret three separate mold versions of Sun Cortez.

Left: San Dimas White matte photo and owned by author;

Right: Monrovia Palomino owned by Jayne Kubas

Why edit a mold's mane?

The mane flip of Monrovia Sun Cortez is prone to chipping. 

Maybe the resculpt reduced loss in shipping and retail?

If you are wondering why such an otherwise crisply detailed palomino 

has a smooth face, keep reading...

Huge difference in neck wrinkles and shoulder sculpture, too.

Different hindquarter muscle sculpts.

Different shoulder muscles.

Different chest muscles, throats.

The mane, however, is not the only difference. The entire x-y axes orientation of the heads are different, and it's in the mold. In fact, the above smoothed-out face isn't from a mismatched older mold piece (as evidenced by the neck and throat wrinkles) nor a sponge wipe. It was purposefully flooded of all undercuts because the head makes a 45 degree, when viewed from above.

Monrovia 45 degrees, San Marcos 90 degrees. 

The more open angle makes demolding easier and allows more face detail.

Monrovia head tilts slightly upwards.

Above, San Marcos has distinct points of buttock and differentiated tail.

Below, crispy Monrovia is boneless and has little detail in tail.

San Marcos analogous Achilles tendon goes all the way up to tail swish;

in the Monrovia mold, the tendon ends abruptly halfway up to tail.

Differences: cheekbone, lips, nostril, eye, curb, throat...

San Marcos has face veins.

Differences: cheekbones, nostrils, eye bulges, width between eyes, brow, width of muzzle...

So, the above comparison, showing retooling, is consistent with Jim's information.

San Marcos Cortez molds -King, Sun, and Don- in White (glossy and matte) are also interesting because unlike the Arabian family and DW Head-Up and -Down Ponies, their gray shading is like the old underglaze gray of the previous eras. Other than the Cortez trio, other San Marcos molds in white have a dark, cold tone to their gray shading, in both matte and gloss.

Note the dark, bluish gray shading on this San Marcos matte white Zara.

Compare to the matte and glossy white San Marcos Sun Cortez models below.

Zara photos by author.

San Marcos White matte left, glossy on right.

Photo courtesy Marcia Miner.

San Marcos White glossy, and now matte on right.

Photos courtesy Ed Alcorn.

San Marcos White matte. 

His hooves give away that he is not the bluish gray, despite photo contrast.

Photo courtesy Janis Whitcomb.

San Marcos White glossy, photos courtesy Nancy Falzone.

Look at that soft gray, even under the intensifier of gloss!

The San Dimas mold version, in the very rare bay color. The San Dimas also was released in palomino. As you can see, the San Dimas mold has an altered mane, like San Marcos. Unlike the later era, though, the face details are not as chiseled and hard. Neither are the facial features flooded like Monrovia. The San Dimas is, in my opinion, the in-between mold version. Speaking from my own experience as a moldmaker, it is challenging to mold and cast ceramic horses with such an extreme neck turn. I can understand why this horse was molded over and over, refining it for ease of production.

No mane flip, but retains Monrovia body muscle sculpts and short "Achilles".

The face is neither Monrovia nor San Marcos.

Photo courtesy Sue Thiessen.

Model owned by Nancy Falzone.

Top Row: Monrovia

Lower two: San Dimas

No mane flips on San Dimas.

Photo courtesy Ed Alcorn.

Here is what appears to be a Monrovia-San Dimas Transition model.

White on the altered San Dimas mold!

His eye decoration and sticker are similar to the transition model shown in this post.

Photos courtesy Marcia Miner.

Left: white "transition" with no mane flip

Right: Monrovia palomino

Unlike my usual portrait investigations, I came up dry on the real Sun Cortez. I have this photo to share, but of the two palominos standing behind King Cortez, I can't tell you which one he is. 

Far left: King Cortez, Ernest Specht up.

The other Cortez boys are ridden by Ernest's sisters.

The photo above, with Sun and Don in parade sets, indicated that the tack was made around 1960. My research has shown that some parts of King's set existed as far back as 1947, the date of the photo of him shown below.

King Cortez in 1947, with his early parade set. 

Source: The Visual Arts: Plastic and Graphic, by Justine M. Cordwell, Google Books.

Page 674. Photo originally from Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association archives.

King Cortez seems to be a bit older than Sun and Don, as he is in promotional photos in a simpler, earlier version of his famous Bohlin parade set that dates to 1947. The post-1960 group photo shows King with a grown-out mane.  In the references below, you can view a link to a King Cortez publicity photo dated to 1949. He was a famous parade horse, hence the multiple photos of him.

The three Cortez stallions premiered in Fall 1957 as HR Designer's Workshop models. The palomino matte of Monrovia and San Dimas is, obviously, the portrait color. 

More mold observation posts in the future!



Gratitude to Jayne Kubas for her help with the side-by-side photo shoot, and to everyone who sent photos: Ed Alcorn, Nancy Falzone, Marcia Miner, Cindy Neuhaus, Sue Thiessen, and Janis Whitcomb.


References:

* Kelly, Nancy. Pers. comm. 5/5/2012

Roller, Gayle. Hagen-Renaker: A Charlton Standard Catalogue. Third Edition. P. 80. The Charlton Press: Palm Harbor, FL, 2003.

1949 King Cortez old saddle set photo http://www.dancinghorses.com/king_cortez.htm

full color
http://circusnospin.blogspot.com/2008/06/specht-family-well-known-pasadena.html