Introducing the Sixth Release in the America the Beautiful Series – Gettysburg!

Quick, hold on to your pocket book, Breyer has released another web special run, Gettysburg! Gettysburg is the Goffert mold in a pretty medium to dark dapple grey. Breyer 2018 Collector’s Club members may enter once a day until March 11th 2018 for a chance to purchase Gettysburg. His run will be limited to 350 pieces. The price is $175 plus shipping which I anticipate to be $17.50 for domestic shipping. Breyer seems to have moved away from weight based shipping and on to value based shipping. It will be interesting to see the actual shipping cost of Gettysburg. Interestingly, Gettysburg is $10 cheaper than Kaibab who seemed to have a higher base cost. I wonder why?

Breyer uses UPS Surepost for domestic shipping. This service is a collaboration between UPS and the post office to deliver packages at a reduced cost. FedEx offers a similar option which is called FedEx Smartpost. FedEx Surepost recently saw a huge increase in cost due to packages now shipping by dimensional weight. A 12 x 12 x 12 package that once cost around $10 to ship now costs over $30 to ship via FedEx Smartpost from the west to the east coast.  Both services are available for commercial use only, meaning that you cannot walk into a shipping store and use UPS Surepost or FedEx Smartpost. I wouldn’t be surprised to see UPS raise their rates as well (Priority Mail is also rising in cost). We no longer ship FedEx Surepost (or UPS Smartpost for that matter.)

Make sure that you are logged into your Breyer 2018 Collector’s Club account and follow this link to see and enter for a chance at Gettysburg! Here is what Breyer has to say about Gettysburg:

In 2018, Breyer’s America the Beautiful Series celebrates special places of beauty and wonder – our National Parks & Forests! From deep, dry canyons to soaring snowcapped mountains, to rolling hills and plunging waterfalls, these beautiful horses honor our country’s diverse landscape. Varied like our nation’s scenery, the horses in this series will delight your imagination and encourage you to explore!

Gettysburg National Military Park is located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In 1863, the park was the site of the Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg and President Abraham Lincoln’s famed Gettysburg Address. The park today is home to approximately 1,328 monuments, markers and memorials, and the Gettysburg National Cemetery. The park’s near 4,000 acres encompass everything from woodlands to open battlefields and farmland.

Gettysburg’s dark dapple grey coat pays homage to the many hues of grey present in Gettysburg National Military Park: from the stone monuments and memorials, to the iron artillery. His belly is marked with “Gettysburg 2018,” and he comes with a clear base.

Entries must be made by 11:59pm EDT March 11, 2018

I’m surprised by the back to back release of Kaibab and Gettysburg. Kaibab was also part of Breyer’s America the Beautiful series and was released in February. I passed on Kaibab but after seeing in person pictures of him, wish that I had tried for a chance at him. Kaibab turned out just lovely! Here is a link to our blog post on Kaibab.

The Goffert mold has seen little use lately and I can’t help but wonder if it is due to his size and weight (which directly correlates to an increased shipping cost.) The Breyer BHR Bryant’s Jake 1764 was an absolute stunning model on the Wixom mold but had a very short production run from 2016 – 2017. His mid year release was pushed back due to production problems which made his availability window even smaller. He is now retired, make sure to grab yourself a BHR Bryants Jake if you don’t yet have one!

Breyer BHR Bryant’s Jake 1764 $42.95

I personally loved (and still love!) Jake and feel that again shipping may have been cost prohibitive for such a large mold. The majority of our New In Box Breyers ship at a rate of 2 pounds. The Breyer BHR Bryant’s Jake ships at 3 pounds and we’re pretty darn good about making packaging as light as can be! 2 pounds just isn’t feasible 🙁