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Breyer Company History

The Early Years
#57 Western Horse

Breyer® Animal Creations® began as the Breyer Molding Company, a Chicago, Illinois-based plastics manufacturing company. Its first model horse, the # 57 Western Horse, made its appearance in 1950. It was a special order for the F.W. Woolworth Company, made to adorn a mantelpiece clock. The company was then flooded with requests from people who saw it and wanted to know if they could purchase just the horse! By accepting that one order, the Breyer Molding Company had changed the focus of its business and company direction forever!

Reeves International, Inc. , Pequannock, NJ, is a New Jersey corporation with offices in Pequannock, New Jersey, Wayne, New Jersey and Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Reeves International was founded by Swiss entrepreneur Werner J. Fleischmann in 1946. Reeves International entered the toy industry as the U.S. distributor of fine European toys and collectibles to the “carriage trade,” that is, toy specialty stores and fine department stores. Top brands such as Stieff®, Corgi® and Britains® were staples of the Reeves International portfolio. Through these fine brands, Reeves International earned an outstanding reputation for sales and distribution. From 1946 through the 1970s, Reeves International became one of the nation’s top distributors, operating from its showroom in New York City with a nationwide sales force. And, in 1998, Anthony Fleischmann, purchased Reeves International, Inc. outright from his father Werner Fleischmann. Today, Reeves International is still privately held.

Acquisition

In the 1970s, along with the globalization of the toy and collectibles industry, Reeves began to modify its business strategy to shift from sales and distribution to manufacturing proprietary brands. With that goal, Reeves began to acquire manufacturing companies. Reeves International acquired the Breyer® Animal Creations® brand in 1984 and has gradually completed the transition from distributor to a manufacturing and marketing company in the last 20 years.

Today

The Breyer® Animal Creations® brand is Reeves International’s largest line. Today, under the Reeves International umbrella, Breyer® manufactures plastic, porcelain, and resin model horses, animals and accessories for play and collecting.

Breyer® model horses, which begin as artist’s sculptures, are all handcrafted and hand-painted with airbrushes and paintbrushes. Approximately 20 different artisans handle each individual Breyer® model from start to finish – a process, which, 54 years later, is still done by human hands, not machines. Even today, no two Breyer® model horses are ever exactly alike!

* Reeves’ Breyer® Animal Creations® brand dominates the model horse market in volume, sales, distribution, innovation, and quality.
* Breyer® brings approximately 300 unique horses, animals and accessories to market each year. Created in five unique sizes and packaged into seven distinct lines from the upmarket Breyer® Gallery of porcelains and resins to the cuddliest Plush ponies, Breyer® is best known for the realism and authenticity of its model horses.
* Breyer® manufactures and ships approximately 5 million model horses each year, not including Special Editions and tack and accessories.
* Breyer® has a strong collector base for which it publishes a bi-monthly collector publication Just About Horse (JAH), has a Collector Club, and hosts BreyerFest, the world’s largest model horse collector and equine festival each year.