If you are a collector (and are not living under a rock) you know BreyerFest is just a few days away. BreyerFest is a massive gathering of model horse collectors, in the horse capital of the world (Lexington, KY), put on by Breyer Animal Creations themselves. It is indeed the mecca of everything model horse related. This event has a HUGE impact on the model horse secondary resale market, and I will touch on a few things to look out for.
If you are an active seller of model horses, you may have already noticed that your online sales may have diminished a bit. This is definitely from the pre-BreyerFest slowdown, caused by collectors saving their money to be spent in person at the event. Many collectors would rather buy in person, so you can see first hand what you are buying in terms of authenticity and condition. So, if your sales are slow right now, this could be a legitimate reason. If you are a buyer, it might be just as good of a time to get a good deal on a model that the seller hasn’t been able to move.
BreyerFest is also a massive drop of limited edition models – all at once – that can only be purchased at the event. Collectors, whether at the event or not, will be focused on these models and busy trying to acquire the ones needed for their collection. These limited edition models will hit the secondary market almost immediately (some are already being resold as “pre-sales.”) This leads me into the discussion of availability and demand.
The time during and immediately after BreyerFest, these limited edition models will FLOOD the market. Many times these models will have highly inflated prices that collectors will pay, because they *must have it!* As a collector, you can buy immediately, sometimes at a very inflated price, to guarantee that you get what you want for your collection. Or, do you gamble a bit and wait until the initial rush dies down, to maybe get a better deal?
This is where you must call upon your experience and observations from within the hobby to make an educated guess on which models will continue to resell at a high price, and the ones that will fall in price. Which models will still be easy to acquire, even months after the event? Which models will stay in high demand, become harder to find, and retain their high resale prices? Ah, the struggles of being a Breyer collector!
Personally, I make these decisions all the time. Typically I will wait out the initial inflated prices, if only to see the prices continue to go up (or stay high.) It happens! But generally, for the majority of the BreyerFest special runs, the prices will come back down to near or just above their issue price. Most, but not all!!
In the Breyer Value Guide, I do not publish speculation, but do my best to report the resale values as they are. And, try to keep up with the fluctuations. I have been adding Ebay sold auction values to some of the rarer model listings. It is a slow process, but as I am recording these values, I am posting a screenshot of the ended listings with their price, and the date of sale. You can see an example of what I am doing with Flamingo’s listing: https://www.
So, if you are not a collector invested in BreyerFest, hang tight, your online sales will come back. There are still plenty of collectors not going to the Fest, and looking to feed their model horse habit by shopping online.
Examples of Ebay screenshots that are being added to listings.
