The climate can affect your toys
Some toys are just not suited for certain climates. You will have to either learn this the hard way by trial and error, or you will have to do your research on the possible chemical reactions of certain materials with certain climates. For example, the Breyer model horses that I used to collect during my childhood just could not acclimatize to our hot and humid Singapore weather here.
Over the years, the horses’ legs would start to ’shift’ inwards beneath their bodies until one fine day, they just toppled over and could not stand on their own anymore. Their bodies were originally coated with a layer of finishing to seal in the paintwork. After being subject to Singapore’s weather for some years, the finishing turned into a sticky and oily substance that not only stained my shelf, but also my hands when I touched the affected Breyer horses. It was devastating for me to have to dispose my beloved set of Breyer Arabian horse family that I received as a Christmas gift during my childhood.
I still have my mini Breyer Stablemate horses but I stopped collecting them after the Toy ‘R Us here stopped selling them in the early 90’s. Breyer model horses are the most realistic of all (non-fragile) horse models ever made. Long before I officially started collecting toys in 1996, I collected Breyer Stablemate horses and Toy ‘R Us was the only place that sold them. I loved real horses as a child and I still do now. Other than collecting books on horses to read, I also collected model horses, as long as they were not made of breakable material like glass, crystal, porcelain, ceramic and such.
Some rubber accessories that came with my X-Men action figures also started to become ’sticky’ over the years. For example, the detachable rubber ‘arm tubes’ that came with my X-Men animated Apocalypse figure became ’sticky’ and rather ‘yucky’ to handle. Another of my X-Men action figure, Super Nova, ’developed’ an oily surface that required countless washing with soap to remove but the ‘oily surface’ kept recurring soon after each ‘bathing’ session. The gold paint on his costume also faded, not due to the washing but due to poor paint quality.
Even if you keep your toys, such as your action figures MOC/MIB, sometimes they can also ‘deteriorate’ within the packaging and that can be very ‘painful’ to look at, both in terms of their appearances and their money value. In such cases, I would remove them from their ‘plastic prisons’ to clean them up for display. Anyway, no one would want to buy them MOC/MIB in that condition.
Hence these are some things to look out for in your toy collections. Many toy collectors tend to store their toys aside soon after acquiring them and might not look at them for years. It is good to take out your toys at least once every month to check on them. Some collectors would find this task very daunting because they had stacked too many boxes of toys and other stuff on top of the boxes containing the collectible toys they are supposed to check. That is why I recommend toy collectors to have a systematic way of storing and displaying their toys as soon as they start their hobby. It will make their toy management much much easier, less time consuming and overall more enjoyable.
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[...] this kind of weather persists, I also worry for my toys. Some toys can ‘deteriorate’ in such weather conditions and that is disasterous! I’ve got to check on them periodically, [...]
Hi, it is heartbreaking to read what happened to your Breyer horses. What material were they made of? Plastic? Resin?
Hi Jun,
I’m not sure what kind of plastic they’re made of though. Sad story…
Hello, I am 12 years old and I collect Breyer horses too!!! I have about 7 now, very small collection. I’ve Been hunting everywhere for models. I used to get some at the Singapore polo club but they have stopped selling them. Now I get them online. Can u give me some tips for collecting? Sorry to hear about your models
Hi Breyer luver,
Haha I’m happy to know of another local collector of these wonderful horse models
At this stage of collecting for me, I’d advise new collectors to have a non-collecting hobby if possible. A collecting hobby of physical collectible items will tend to overwhelm you some day and they might be difficult to sell off too.
Nevertheless, happy Breyer horses collecting to you for now