As promised, moving right along to the collecting experience that really planted the idea for the creation of this blog. And pictures! Lots of pictures!
Recently, word of an auction featuring some vintage Hagen Renaker Designers Workshop horses went out on Facebook. On the plus side, the auction was located close by and featured a few pieces I'd been wanting for my collection for a while, but had simply never gotten around to acquiring, yet. On the down side, the auction featured internet bidding, which meant that the whole of the hobby was now on notice and able to bid, which probably meant that there would likely be no bargains.
Still, I simply couldn't let the opportunity pass, so on the morning of the auction I embarked on my way to the auction house. Stopped by a random yard sale (nothing worth buying) down the road from my neighborhood en route, and thought it was a good omen that the horses of the farm across the street had gathered by the fenceline to investigate the steady parade of bargain-hunters.
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Hi there! This guy was a real sweetie. Gypsy Vanner?
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Real horsey therapy accomplished, I continued on my way. After driving around the block a couple times on account of trying to figure out where the auction house was, I finally got parked and registered to bid. At first I was confused because I looked around the room and all I saw was antique furniture and statuary. Panic set in for a bit, because the auction was supposed to be chocked full of small collectibles, toys, and other bric-a-brac. Where were the horses??? Fortunately a quick inquiry with one of the clerks resulted in me being led to other rooms where the items for sale were all displayed in showcases and on tables.
And there they were:
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| Crusader |
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| Daisy, Kelso, and Don Cortez |
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| Heather and a Lefton mustang |
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| Sky Chief, Scamper, and a Beswick foal |
So after inspecting them, deciding which ones I really wanted, and setting maximum bids for myself, I settled in a chair in the back of the room and waited. I'll admit, I was very nervous, just worried that I wouldn't be able to get any of them. I couldn't help but scope out the room over and over again to see if I could find any sign of fellow collectors who had traveled to attend in person. I had seen one lady and her husband looking at the HRs during the preview, and heard her commenting about how they were damaged, but she didn't seem like a knowledgeable collector. Still, I bid on and won a lot of three Breyers and a Hartland horse as a pre-emptive consolation prize in the event that I couldn't touch the HRs.
Fortunately the auctioneer was going at a fast clip, so it was only about an hour until showtime! It also "helped" that I was on my phone messaging up a storm with a few interested hobby friends up until shortly before the HRs hit the block.
As I expected, online bidding was fierce. You could hear people in the room (mostly dealers and toy collectors, as far as I could tell) gasping in surprise at the opening bids, and even more so as the bids (including mine) climbed higher and higher. When the dust had settled, however, I was pleased, and a bit dazed, that I had won the horses I had my eye on.
Checking out was something of an adventure. The auction owner (who bears a striking resemblance to a younger Bill Gates, by the way) and clerks treated me like royalty, which I thought was amusing at the time. In retrospect, of course, I could understand their amazement that I had paid so much money for four horse figurines - two of which had broken legs, even! They were very friendly and asked if I had a collection and if I planned to keep them all or sell any of them. They also thanked me for attending the auction, hoped I would come back again, and said they were glad that i had won what I had come for.
Of course I had come prepared with a big plastic bin full of bubble wrap, foam, and a roll of TP. The auction owner and a clerk brought the horses out to the checkout area, since winning bidders weren't permitted to retrieve items they had purchased themselves. I proceeded to wrap the horses up. One of the clerks lingered to watch. She was interested in seeing how I wrapped them because she knew they would have to ship the horses that had gone to the internet bidders, which I thought was very responsible of her. I was amused when another auction clerk wandered by and asked the clerk who was helping me "Where did you get the toilet paper?" and was met with the response, "She brought it herself. She came
prepared!"
The clerk chatted with me a bit and said that of all the hundreds of items in the auction that day, the auction company had received the most phone calls and emails about the Hagen Renaker horses, asking about size, condition, shipping, etc. She also said that when they got the horses in on consignment for the auction she had been shocked at the prices she had found while researching their value, and how the auction owner, upon learning about their value, emphasized, "Do NOT remove the stickers!" The clerk also asked about whether missing the sticker would severely damage their value, to which I replied that while the stickers are nice to have, it's the quality and condition of the piece that counts for most of the value.
All in all it was a really pleasant experience, and I'm so thankful that I was able to add these wonderful Hagen Renakers to my collection. Don Cortez was the only one I hadn't intended to keep, and I quickly found a hobby friend who offered him a new home.
In the meantime, here are photos of the Monrovia Crusader, Kelso, and Daisy "fresh" from the auction. As you can see, they all have their original factory stickers. I'll give them an alcohol rub down and get them cleaned up soon. Kelso will be going to a local restoration artist to address his
repaired leg and I will follow up in another post once he's good as new.
I hope you enjoyed this collecting story as much as I have enjoyed sharing it.
Until next time!
