Proud Arabian Mare, Dapple Grey VARIATION: No Socks, Dorsal Stripe

The iconic Proud Arabian Mare in dapple grey is a favorite among variation collectors, and for good reason.  Every dapple pattern is unique, and the combination of shading, socks, and finishes seems endless.  She has been so popular through the years that she has reappeared in the Breyer lineup three times!  Her first release ran from 1972-1979, then she came back for 1982, and once more for 1985-1988.

This is a very unusual mare, and very hard to give a standardized rating to.  Because of the style of her paint job, some of her dapples are pinpoint ones in little groups, and can mimic pinpoint rubs, so it can be hard to tell if she has a pinpoint rub or just an itty-bitty unshaded dapple.  She has one tiny and one pinpoint eartip rub, and perhaps some wear rubs in her mane... Maybe some tiny rubs next to and on her tail... but these are all uncertain.  She has an unsanded seam from below her tail to between her hind legs.  More unusualness, she has dark sooty shading as an airbrushed dorsal stripe, slightly off-center, and the same very dark shading on her knees and hocks. 

Below her knees and hocks is where she  gets truly intriguing:  Does she not have socks?  Below her shaded leg joints, she has the same color shading all the way to her feet, although it's translucent and kind of "smudgy" looking.  She has no solid white socks.  The paint looks oddly smudgy, as if put on with a rag or wet brush, which isn't usual for the factory.  However, it appears to be exactly the tone of her shading, both on her legs, tail, and back.  It also appears that her finish is perfectly even all the way down her legs, leading me to decide she was factory painted this way.  Perhaps the shading was too liquid and started making runs down her legs, so someone grabbed a rag to remove it, and when it began smudging instead, shrugged and wiped the rest of her legs to match.  She's certainly unique and a conversation starter.  She also features huge dapples under her belly, dapples across her entire head (where visible), even on the backs of her shaded ears.  She's a really neat girl altogether!

Size:  Traditional

Breyer Model #215