The Stardust Unicorn Rabbit Hole

 Hi everyone!

 

I hope you are all doing well! I apologize for my extended absence once again - post BreyerFest season tends to be tough on mental recovery. This year, I had a two-show weekend that I hosted in late August, and I attended the Little Horse Show held by Stone in IN for the first time at the beginning of September. Beyond that, I've just been focused on other projects. In truth, I expect that I may not return to this platform for a while, but we'll see how things go. I have a fun new project coming along that may or may not be similar in nature to this. Of course, I will keep you all posted even if that's just a short announcement post with the full details. 

But before all of that, today we are going to take a dive into the rabbit hole that I've been fascinated by for at least a decade now - the interesting world of Stardust the unicorn and his variations!

Stardust premiered as part of the 2001 Regular Run lineup, and ran until 2005. While there were some longer-lasting runs in the 2000's as well (aside from long-term denizens like Misty & Stormy), it was most common by this point for models to stick around for generally 2-4 years, unless they were specifically stated to be a special edition of a year or half-year. 

As a child who had recently entered the Breyer sphere back in 2000, the "latest and greatest" news came from online retailers sharing previews of the catalogs for the next year. I remember how my 10-year-old self felt as the photos loaded (yes, slowly!) and I saw Stardust for the first time. I was blown away by how gorgeous his color was! 

 

Stardust's original promo photo, from the 2001 Dealer Catalog

Note that on this test copy, the blue extends all the way up the barrel and down one of the forelegs, whereas on production examples this tends to end slightly forward of the flanks, sometimes with a bit of extension along the belly. This example also appears to have a painted star on the hip and the "banded" horn coloration (silver-white-silver) though this is more subtle than some production copies.

I did not get my own personal copy of Stardust right away - in fact, I want to say it was probably 2003 or 2004? My photo records from back then are not overly extensive. Not only was my family analog-only for camera options until 2004, I also didn't think to document my collection as a whole that much as an older child and teenager.  

For fun, here are a couple of photos that I believe represent some of the earliest "collection" pictures that I found while sorting through old print photos this year - based on the models present, I am dating these to December 2002 (Stardust is notably absent). 

Most of the Stablemates are likely in one of the boxes in the lower half. The main indicators of the time of year are the holiday decorations on my dresser (bottom left of lower pic) and the inclusion of First Frost. My first issue of JAH was Nov/Dec 2002 and he was a gift from my parents. It's unclear whether I took these photos after seeing the Collectors Corner in JAH or if this was just to show off the "clean room". I can't really read what's on the sheets of paper on the shelf and window, but I assume that was something I must have done to welcome family for some holiday celebration. Fun note that one of my schemes of interior design at that time was just putting cut out pieces of Breyer boxes everywhere! 

 

Anyway, enough of my reminiscing 😂 Stardust has a number of interesting variants, which I was first alerted to back when fantasy models became eligible to earn NAN cards and I started bringing him and a couple of other unicorns to shows more than once in a blue moon. See, my copy is a later variant, and does not resemble the promo as closely. He has a full silver horn, a stenciled star on his hip, and an overall more pearly tone to his color.

 

While he's gone by a couple of different names, his official one is "Blue Moon"

 For years, I didn't notice his subtle differences. Then, at one show, another person had a Stardust - but if I recall, that one was an older variant. Up until that point, I believe what most people took note of were variations without the large star on the hip. 

 

Known Differences:

• Star on Hip: Painted, Stenciled, or Missing
• Horn Color: Banded or Full Silver
• Metallic Tone: Stronger/More Pearly or Flatter/More Matte
• Body Shading: How far it reaches along the barrel 
• Beard: Rarely missing (factory goof)
• Box Style: Unique Box Design/Rectangle, Standard Yellow Box/Rectangle, Mid-00's Style/Rectangle

Stardust also spans the transition between USA and China production for Traditionals, so some of the differences could be attributed to that migration. In order to understand the progression of the variations, looking at photos of NIB examples may be the most helpful. 

 

*All of the photos of examples that are not mine have been found online at various points over the course of many years. Any that include copyright information belong to the owner identified by the mark, but the rest of the older ones I cannot tell you where they came from. I am using these examples purely as educational content and I do not profit off this blog in any way. However, if anyone should find their photos in use here and are not comfortable with their inclusion, please reach out and I'm happy to remove them.

 

 

This copy appears most similar to mine, and is found in a standard Yellow Breyer Box.

  Here's another example in the same box

This no-star, banded horn example is seen with his unique box design (note that many with the banded horn also have blue on the lifted knee)

This guy appears to be in the "stencil star/silver horn" camp, but featuring the last box design (05). I do not believe he was super common in this box.

BreyerHorseRef's NIB example is a "painted star/banded horn" in the unique box

One thing I've noted is that the painted stars can vary in shape and size quite a bit. The stencil is easily recognizable as it is relatively small and of course, uniform. 

This fun star with 4 larger points and 4 much smaller points example (from IDYB) is also a factory goof that escaped without the addition of a beard

 

IDYB's other example features more fine spray of "stars" on the blue, plus more noticeable silver shading on the head. The knee here looks silver but up closer it's more of a very light blue overspray

 

This BHRef example has no star, and here we see more blue tones up front and less silver on the face

 

This copy has a much tighter star design, and extensive blue overspray covering the barrel and beyond

In contrast, this copy is much lighter blue but shares some of the "wide overspray" affect (plus heavier silver shading on the head). Note that it appears to have a broken horn
 

The star on this model is very finely painted, all thin lines and more even pattern of points (it's not purple, I think that's a combination of lighting and image quality)

Here is a combination I haven't seen very often - a full silver horn and no star  

This example from Aidan's Toy Trove appears to have the blue along the belly reaching all the way to the chest and more overspray on the knee area

This model, retrieved today from ebay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/204904543239) has a fascinating star placement and design, odd clustering of the smaller "stars", and uneven banding on the horn. Old yellow box. In the ad, it includes a photo of the horse's box catalog - 2003. This is actually super for the timeline! I see this one as having more of a "transitional" design - he does not have any significant blue overspray on the forehand, nor heavy silver shading, but he still has the hand painted star and banded horn. While the outer box (included in other pictures in the ad) is quite damaged, I do not see a USA sticker present. 

Back for a moment to my own model - note that he lacks a USA stamp, so that puts his manufacture in 2003 or later. 

Breyer shared this photo to Facebook on October 8 2020 as part of a retrospective on unicorns. This is clearly not the original showpiece for the 2001 ad, but the overall light blue shading is quite interesting, including on the head where most other similar copies have silver. 

Here's a fun copy from Etsy seller JoJoesVintageVault retrieved today (https://www.etsy.com/listing/1701148843/stardust-unicorn-breyer-horse-retired) I love how much blue is on the knee!

Lovely no-star example with lots of fine "stars" sold April 29 2024 on eBay (unfortunately, using the Product Research tool, I can only view the cover photo for ads though I can go back as far as three years to see sold listings - so I'm unable to credit these folks properly)

Sold Feb 24 '24, this copy displays extremely fine & dense small stars along with a large painted star and banded horn

An example of a smaller painted star, with the solid blue extending further than usual onto his barrel and a shorter sock on the hind than most (Sold April 12 2025)

Here we have another example of a skinny painted star, paired with more extensive blue overspray (sold Aug 21 '25)

Behold! A wild NIB that actually has a USA sticker! I had started to assume they just never got the sticker, but this adds a lot to the narrative (sold listing from Jan 16 2025)

Here's another USA-box paired with a chunky painted star example (and more subtle small stars). Listing sold Dec 7 2022

This particular copy shares the same design details as the active listing from today, above. (Sold Feb 7 2024)

A no-star example, in the fancy design box and no USA sticker (Sold Jul 5 2023)

Check out this super blue no-star example! (Sold July 13 2024)

Heading back to current day to explore some active listings of NIB and see what they have for catalogs (if so)...

This ad (https://www.ebay.com/itm/116862189267?_skw=Breyer+Stardust+Unicorn&itmmeta=01K9FKW5N6546H8WTXWVJBMMV1&hash=item1b35877ed3:g:ZocAAeSwQm1pCOho&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA0FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1d4tQroBl3jkODPomyiAdqhzXcLd%2FOH5%2BZ1z2TPwlvnEDgNH0T3WDRhx8mOrmQzxqFW9cpZKBb1F%2FnB2IsTPFjVKbJMRH%2Fa9AV73Xlzq1YQ%2BjbYBG8LVLNDsuxkTP73YYf2df5Ibzn%2FAMjoGkMpuz9IfdagGz40YO4VICwKTFWS%2FkWE00Qgu%2BwMg8rxtF7OmVaOy4rR6sJuocLL%2B6SATvuyiqIFbuGOa8QYGlonDsljplBrAhL2lgH5Kk2zSSmQniY%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9ja8PPLZg) includes a 2001 catalog, but there's no evidence that the box ever had a USA sticker in the bottom right corner (I've noted sticker residue on some boxes)

Unfortunately, this is the only boxed one I could find that was both still secured to the box with original ties and also showed the catalog. 

So, what are my theories?

I think we've fully determined that the boxes with the fancy design are the oldest, since a few of those sport USA stickers but none of the Old Yellow ones do. The newer design yellow ones are clearly 2005 (that year introduced the new design). Seeing a stencil star/full silver horn in that box convinces me that this was the final design and helps to place the Old Yellow box after the fancy graphics one. 

Possible timeline:

2001 - Stardust is introduced with the painted star/banded horn design

2001-early 2003? - No-star examples show up, USA sticker is removed from the box design (unsure if the lack of sticker is also aligned with the removal of the USA stamp from the Running Stallion mold)

2003 - Change to Old Yellow box, perhaps aligned with the production move to China/removal of USA stamp on models. "Transitional" design era (still has the hand painted star & banded horn, but overall paint scheme is closer to final design)

2003/2004 - Still Old Yellow Box, but has the final colorway design (stencil star, full silver horn). I expect that these subtle changes were likely made to streamline production (a stencil is easier to work with than the extra step of handpainting the stars, and a full silver horn is easier to paint). 

2005 - Box changed to the Mid-00's new style, paintwork is still the stencil star + full silver horn. 

While paint variations are still around in the modern era, they usually aren't as wild as the early years of Breyer. I'd have to say that Stardust is among the most dynamic of the post-2000's! Do you have a Stardust? If so, did you get him new - and do you remember what box + catalog he had? 

I feel a lot more confident in my research than I used to after today! But I'm still curious about the timing of the move overseas and the clues we have (USA sticker on box, USA stamp on legs, box style change from fancy to plain) and how those details could better our understanding of Stardust's story.