Morgan Stallion

This is the only stampless Morgan Stallion in my collection that actually is an early release, before the stamps were added. After some very early releases of some, if not all, G1 models slipped through without, the stamp was quickly added, but only the mold 1 Morgan Stallion lost its copyright stamp again at some point in the early years.

Since my true bay mold 1 Morgan Stallion (so not wrongly named Arabian) on sealed black card, still carries one, apparently the stamp disappeared after the 'Arabian' Morgan Stallions were replaced by the true Arabian Stallions, indicating this dapple is indeed an early release!

Speaking of rare, mold 2 alabasters and dapples seem to be much harder to find. Maybe mold 2 wasn't used from the very first start?

My mold 2 alabasters and dapples (1975 only) all still miss the dot under the 7 of the copyright stamp. But since my 1976 only chestnut also still lacks the dot, while there are very few dotless mold 2 bays and blacks around, it seems likely that it was added in 1976 or shortly after.

Colour and finish give this matte chestnut a lovely vintage look, but the stamp of this mold 2 really proves it is a true 5037 and no 5150 in the least, since it doesn't have a dot added yet.

The colouring and quite matte finish of this bay is typical for a lot of early releases. It's a mold 1 with a copyright stamp, which were only produced for a short period. 

My true bay mold 1 Morgan Stallion (so not wrongly named Arabian) on sealed black card has that same old finish, and also still carries the stamp, showing the short-lived mold 1 stamp stayed around longer than the Morgan Stallion/Arabian Stallion mix-up, therefore bay mold 1's carrying this stamp could be eiter one of them, if the original packaging is unknown.

Mold 1 never had an added dot, maybe it was to keep the 2 apart?

This one also is a stamped mold 1, and will not be much younger than the one above, but it has an entire different look and feel. Although it has some rubs on the off-side, this is one of my dearest Stablemates!

During the (2nd) energy crisis of the previous century, Breyer temporarily switched to a cheaper alternative plastic. This material was much alike the 'old plastic' normally used (up to 1992), and it is believed they added this B for distinction, because scraps of the 2 plastics could not be mixed for re-use.

Nowadays, the B-stamp material seems to have been a much more stable material, since I've never seen any shrinkies among them at all.

Also, Breyer switched from black cards to white cards while selling B-stamped Stablemates, which can be found on either one of them. The 1983 catalog is the first to display the white cards, but it's not unlikely they already switched in 1982.

This darker specimen is showcased (in it's Triple Mountain pictures, where I bought it from) on IDYB as a very early one, but has in fact teary eyes, like the Sears '89 set, which were only added in that way around 1988-1991, meaning it will more likely be one of the last #5035. The warts on the belly also indicate it's a later version, since these weren't yet present in the B-stamped mold 1's.

With the old plastic in particular, the form of a model, still warm from the casting process, could still be manipulated. There is no way to know if the one above already had this odd posture before it's paint job, or if it somehow got warped later in life, but the difference with the one below is clearly visible, especially with the back line, which, just like with real life horses, gets more hollow when the head is lifted more upward.

This one is certain to come from the Sears 1989 set, since I took him out of the box personally.

These two roan-looking chestnuts probably missed out on a paint layer or two, but aren't they gorgeous?

The one above is from a white card, placing him exactly in the year 1989, since that was the first year of this series, but the last year of the white cards, after which they switched to yellow cards.

The one below could be either a #5150 or a Sears 1989, but either way, I really think these two are from the same period. The teary eyes were mostly applied around 1989 as well.

Besides that they are from the two different molds, I also love the way that one is a bit more red-ish, while the other has a more yellow-ish hue (it's not yellowed at all, it is the paint!).

Since my mold 1 Sears 1990 already has sores on his belly and I don't know when the damage to the mold took place exactly (around 1989/1990), they could already have been in (part of) the Sears 1989 Sets, so technically, any of the four damaged mold 1 #5150's below could actually be a Sears 1989. However, I think this highly unlikely.

If anyone has a 100% sure mold 1 (no belly stamp) Sears 1989, so you took it out of the Sears box yourself, I'd love to know whether it has sores or not, or maybe smoothed out, like the fourth one below.

No, these pictures aren't blurry! ;-)

This chestnut looks like it's been treated with some kind of solvent before they put on the paint, all detail has been smoothed out, seamlines included. As can be seen in the previous chestnuts and Searses below, mold #1 had seen better days at this point, some have blisters all over, so who knows, maybe they tried to tidy up a ragged old model a bit? Personally I think he's one of the last Morgan Stallions made with mold 1, before it got discarded alltogether.

A left-over from the Sears 1989 Set or lost #5150? This cuty was pulled out of a Sears 1990 box by the (very reliable) seller

By it's early looks, it should be more up on the page, right under the Sears 1989, but since it's technically a Sears 1990, for me it belongs here, right above the proper coloured Sears 1990's

This one is certain to come from the Sears 1992 set, since I took him out of the box personally.

This one is certain to come from the Sears 1992 set, since I took him out of the box personally.

Timewise, this one should be on the chubby mold, so my guess is that they used a left-over found in some corner, or it could be a testrun. It's the only detailed 5184 I have ever seen.

It's not a light variation of the 5650 Saddle Club, that one has a light hind hoof.

Inspired by Heather Forrest's blog Many Mini Hooves, this is my overview version of the Morgan Stallion copyright stamps, or lack of them, during their course of time.

With mold 1 on the left and mold 2 on the right.

At the very first distribution of the Stablemates in 1975 there were more, if not all, models that still lacked the stamp, but as you can see, the mold 1 Morgan Stallion missed a stamp for most part of it's production life, although it had one in the early years. Even the B-stamp was added on a stampless belly.

Since these Breyer dates are a bit 'about-ish', I don't know exactly when the MS 1 lost it's stamp, and  I'm not sure if I even own a pre-stamp one (the stampless dapple on this page possibly is) therefore I wasn't able to include these pre-stamp ones in the overview. There is a pre-stamp #5046 chestnut QH Stallion on this page.

I don't think this keychain is from Breyer. It's more the size of a Mini Whinnie than a Stablemate, but it looks suspiciously like my beloved Morgan Stallion!

I have no idea about its background, if you do, I'd love to learn!

Breyer Stablemates