My Vintage Chalky, Pearly, and Woodgrain surveys focus on gaining insight into the relative rarity of these older Breyer oddities! 

A brief history of chalkies & pearlies...

In the 1950's, nearly all of Breyer's line was offered in glossy only. Since some of the molds that Breyer had available were based upon porcelain molds from other individuals/companies, it made sense for Breyer to mimic the porcelain "look". This was achieved by painting a layer of white on the model before applying the colorway. Due to this, a number of both horse & animal molds can be found in this "chalky" technique. However, this practice wasn't kept up throughout the entire decade - perhaps it was determined that the "look of porcelain" was not a huge factor in sales, production costs needed to be cut, or both. 

During the next decade, Breyer experimented more with unintentionally unrealistic colors. Their woodgrain line was pretty popular as "home decor", and so they developed additional colors to sell under this category of items - the four Decorator colors that we know as Copenhagen, Wedgewood, Gold Charm, and Florentine. These colors were offered on 5 molds: the Five Gaiter, Fighting Stallion, Mustang, Running Mare & Running Foal. Despite Breyer's optimism about these new colors, they proved to be poor sellers. As we are very aware now, due to this limited production, they are hard to find and very expensive, much of the time. Breyer ended up with some amount of this stock that didn't sell around the time of the discontinuation. Instead of tossing them into the re-grind bin, they opted to salvage the models by using the same technique from the 1950's of covering with a thick coat of white paint before then painting the models in the more popular Bay (Fighting Stallion & Running Mare/Foal), Buckskin (Mustang), or Sorrel (Five Gaiter). They also used this method to salvage some unsold Woodgrains, as well. 1960's Chalkies can be determined by the lack of a "USA" stamp next to their "Circle C" Breyer stamp on the leg, damage to the model revealing the prior color, and the mold/color combo. For woodgrain, Copenhagen, and Florentine models, shining a strong light behind the model can reveal the pattern underneath. 

In 1973, the major international oil crisis shrank the availability of oil-based plastics, leading many companies to seek out alternatives, including the cellulose acetate used by Breyer. The price & availability of plain white CA became less feasible for Breyer to maintain across all of their lines.  To save money, they sought out solid color and mixed color CA, and used the chalky technique to cover the "odd" color plastics. This is the era of chalky with the widest range of available models - the majority of vintage chalkies came out of this period, roughly 1973-1975 or so. Based on the models that have been documented in chalky from this time period, I would guess that by some time in 1975 the white plastic was more readily available again, and/or Breyer had used up all of the odd color plastic they had bought in previous years. 

Chalky models from the 70's can be found in either "chalky paint", in which there is the white basecoat on the model, or "chalky plastic", in which the plastic itself is the "chalk white" color, with the colorway painted directly on the plastic. For some molds, they can be found in both variations. These two types of chalkies are closer to looking like each other than they do to normal plastic - on first glance, you can't tell them apart. Other than damage to a model, chalky basecoats can be told apart by the loss of fine detail in areas where the paint pools, a pronounced belly drip on some examples, pooling paint on the bottoms of the hooves, or just by discreetly removing a tiny amount of paint off an indiscreet area (usually the bottom on a hoof that's flush with the ground). Even with these differences, it can be hard to tell for sure on some models. 

During this time in the 70's, there was another distinct type of plastic that Breyer used called "pearly". This plastic was mainly used on Classic scale and Traditional foals, for some reason. The plastic itself has a strong pearl-like quality and often appears to be off-white rather than bright white. Pearlies can be more difficult to identify than chalkies, especially in photos. It is often very obvious looking in person, but if you've never seen one yourself, it can be hard to determine if you've found one or not when looking at models you think could be pearly. I know of very few examples of Alabaster models in pearly, compared to quite a few that are offered in chalky. 

OTHER ODDITIES

There are also "psuedo-chalkies", which are models with unusually colored plastic, but no extra coat of white. Models that are solid bay or black, or are very minimally marked are often those that got this treatment. Brown or gray plastic is commonly seen - colors that would be less noticeable under the coat. These tend to be from the 1970's era. 

BEYOND MY SCOPE

In my surveys, I focus on the models from the 1950's-1970's. There have been a few cases of chalky or psuedo chalky models popping up in the late 70's and 80's, likely one-offs or small batches using up old plastic or re-purposing old stock. In the 1990's. Breyer began intentionally using "chalky" as a painting technique to enhance some models, particularly alabasters (such as Pluto and Gem Twist). These examples where the full run was chalky are not considered any more collectible based on finish, since there weren't any non-chalkies of them available. In the mid-late 90's, there are some examples of chalky Stablemates where the full run is not chalky, so those ones may be considered more collectible to some. The hobby in general did not find "chalkies" particularly appealing until sometime in the 2000's - in the 80's and 90's, they were actually considered "undesirable" to many, and so some of them were likely customized. Due to this, we won't ever have a clear picture of just how many of each model were produced in chalky, of course. 

In the 2000's and 2010's, the painting techniques changed due to technology improvements. Any models that have been painted with the thick, all-over basecoat since then have typically been advertised as such, and are often used on runs that target hobbyists rather than the general public (including Magnus, a web special). The "modern" approach to basecoating involves a thinner spray of white paint under the colorway, but any white markings tend to be left as bare plastic. This technique appears to be used without intention to create advertised variations in most cases. For example, Hwin, Jesse, and several other models in the recent past have been found either with the basecoat, or without (and without seems more common most of the time). These differences can be hard to capture in photos without having a "normal" copy to compare to. Perhaps, these models are the result of a less experienced painter messing up and thus the color needs to be salvaged by a more experienced painter, but unless there is official word on that, we only have theories to wonder about. 

List of known Chalky Models

Other Animals

• Bear

• Bear Cub

• Bighorn Ram

• Black Poodle

• Brahma Bull

• Buck

• Buffalo

• Doe

• Elephant

• Elk

• Fawn

• Hereford Bull

• Holstein Calf

• Holstein Cow

• Lassie

• Longhorn Bull

• Moose

• Pronghorn Antelope

• Rin Tin Tin

• Spanish Fighting Bull

• Walking Hereford Bull

• White Poodle

Stablemates

• Bay ASB

• Bay Arabian Mare

• Bay Arabian Stallion

• Bay Morgan Stallion

• Bay TB Mare

• Black TB Mare

• Buckskin QH Mare

• Buckskin QH Stallion

• Chestnut TB Mare

• Seabiscuit

Classics

• Bucking Horse - Black

• CAF - Black

• CAF - Chestnut

• CAF - Palomino

• CAM - Chestnut

• CAS - Chestnut

• Kelso

• Lippizan Stallion

• Mustang Foal - Chestnut

• QH Foal - Bay

• QH Foal - Black

• QH Foal - Chestnut

• QH Foal - Palomino

• QH Mare - Bay

• QH Stallion - Sorrel/Palomino

• Rearing Stallion - Alabaster

• Rearing Stallion - Bay

• Rearing Stallion - Palomino

• Swaps

1950's Traditionals

• Clydesdale Stallion - Glossy Bay/Gold Bobs/No Muscle

• Black Fury Prancer

• Palomino Fury Prancer

• Honey Bay PAF

• Honey Bay PAM

• Alabaster Western Horse

• Palomino Western Horse (O-link reins, older style snap on saddle, often on clocks, black hooves)

1960's Traditionals - aka Painted Over Decos

• Chestnut Belgian (woodgrain)

• Clydesdale Stallion - Matte Bay/Gold Bobs (woodgrain)

• Bay Fighting Stallion (woodgrain or 4 decos)

• Bay Running Mare & Foal (woodgrain or 4 decos)

• Buckskin Mustang (woodgrain or 4 decos)

• Sorrel Five Gaiter (woodgrain or 4 decos)

1970's Traditionals

• Adios

• Adios - Yellow Mount

• APH

• Belgian

• Brighty

• Clydesdale Foal

• Clydesdale Mare

• Clydesdale Stallion - Matte Bay/Red & White Bobs

• Donkey

• El Pastor

• FAF - Alabaster

• FAF - Bay

• FAF - Charcoal

• FAF - Palomino

• FAM - Alabaster

• FAM - Bay

• FAM - Charcoal

• FAM - Palomino

• FAS - Alabaster

• FAS - Bay

• FAS - Charcoal

• FAS - Palomino

• Fighting Stallion - Alabaster

• Fighting Stallion - Bay

• Five Gaiter - Sorrel

• Grazing Mare - Bay

• Grazing Mare - Palomino

• Indian Pony - Brown Pinto

• Indian Pony - Bay Appaloosa

• Jumping Horse - Bay, Solid

• Jumping Horse - Bay, Markings

• Justin Morgan

• Lady Phase

• Man O War

• Midnight Sun

• Misty

• Morgan - Black w/star & socks

• Morgan - Black, Solid

• Mustang - Buckskin

• Old Timer - Alabaster

• Old Timer - Dapple Gray

• Pacer

• PAF - Alabaster

• PAF - Dapple Gray

• PAF - Mahogany Bay

• PAM - Alabaster

• PAM - Dapple Gray

• PAM - Mahogany Bay

• PAS - Alabaster

• PAS - Dapple Gray

• PAS - Mahogany Bay

• QHG - Buckskin

• QHG - Chestnut Appaloosa

• QHY - Appaloosa

• QHY - Liver Chestnut

• QHY - Palomino

• Running Foal - Bay

• Running Mare - Alabaster

• Running Mare - Bay

• Running Stallion - Bay

• Running Stallion - Black Appaloosa

• Saddlebred Weanling

• Shetland Pony - Bay

• Shire Mare - Sorrel

• Stormy

• TB Mare

• TB Foal

• Western Horse - Palomino (Regular style reins, slip on tan saddle, gray hooves)

• Western Pony - Black Pinto

• Western Prancer - Palomino

• Western Prancer - Smoke

If you own any models besides those on this list that were made between 1950-1975, please contact me with photos and any other provenance so that I may add them to this list and include them as options in future surveys!

List of known Woodgrain Models

This list is much more well established, but in case you are looking for a reference, here it is!

• Belgian

• Brahma Bull

• Boxer

• Buffalo

• Clydesdale Stallion

• Donkey

• Elephant

• FAF

• FAM

• FAS

• Fighting Stallion

• Five Gaiter

• Fury Prancer

• In-Between Mare

• Longhorn Bull

• Morgan (Stretch)

• Mustang

• PAF

• PAM

• Poodle

• Polled Hereford Bull

• QHG

• Racehorse

• Running Foal

• Running Mare

• Shetland Pony

• Walking Black Angus (Has horns)

• Walking Hereford (similar pose, but no horns)

• Western Pony