Timaru Star II Tack Orders

This webpage contains, in order: Current Pipeline scheduling, constantly changing as progress is made on winners' orders; News & Plans, which talks about current situations, latest news and wishes; General TSII Lottery Information which explains why and what the Lottery is, why there are no prices posted on this website, past drawing odds, and what you can do to get tack without either gambling or bidding (trades, restorations and micro orders); my Notification List policy; our Picture-Borrowing policy; and polices on Late Payers & Non-Payers, may they someday learn.

13 June 2008


Current Pipeline:
June:  Work on and try to finish NAN Auction piece, a fancy silver Parade saddle with possibilities of doubling as a Show saddle.  If this finishes, start Suchow's.
July:  NAMHSA Auction.  Finish Amador II if not done.  Work on Suchow's.
August:  Work on short orders coming out of BreyerFest.  Finish Suchow's.  Start RB.
September:  Work on RB; JA; PC.
October:  Work on JA, PC, AG, AM.  Three trade orders exist: CE, DF & EJH.
November:  Same as Oct.
Check back often: about 2 months out is realistic.

WINNERS of the 2007 TSII Tack Lottery:
Larges:  AG;  MS (Peggy);  PC
Smalls:  AM;  RA (now done);  JA;  DC (now done);  RB

NEWS & PLANS
No matter how I try, it seems that it takes 2 years to fill a Lottery cycle.  As of this writing (eleven months after the Lottery!), only 2 of the 8 winners are done -- and one of the 2 has become "undone" due to the order being lost in the mail!!!!!!!  (We are making another one...)  So, given this dismal performance, I hope you can agree with me that there should be NO Lotteries until AT LEAST 5 of the remaining 6 are finished and the sixth is well under way.  Although it is unrealistic to promise NO interim Auction items or micro orders -- these raise needed funds for sustaining longer orders, if nothing else -- I can promise to limit them.  Thank you for your patience... it really is appreciated.

So, where did all the time go?  What has been made in those eleven months, anyway?  A combination of left-over orders from earlier Lotteries (Robertson, Harvey), tack for self (Tissarn's hackamore, TSII #446), a great many short orders and trades (Dalpe, Curtis, Boyden, Robertson, Bilon, Smith, etc), and a chance to auction off old TSII tack for benefit (2 pieces) has mixed in with the legitimate winners' orders (Amador, Curtis).  Not to mention the usual December and May trips, which knock off a month each.  Then there's the NAN Auction piece.  Plus, there is the fiasco of Amador's lost order: a complete duplication is called for, and while it's grand to be able to prove my times are faster the second time around, it still means time lost.  Add on the usual struggles with discipline, and it's not so strange, after all...  Your faithful tackmaker is trying!  But for some reason it's been hard to focus lately.

REWARD OFFERED!! LOST IN THE MAIL:  Robin Amador's blue-and-turquoise Bosal Hackamore and Breastcollar, as seen on our Sneak Peeks page, was mailed in early April from Pennsylvania to California in a brown cardboard homemade cassette box (cassette tape size).  It never arrived.  The box bore both stamps and a Postal Meter sticker, and went Post Office First Class.  A REWARD of $300 is offered for information leading to recovery!!!!!!!

A few numbers.  The number of entrants for the 2007 Large items Lottery was 33.  The number of Smalls entrants was 32.  Thus the odds for the Larges were 1 in 11, while the odds for the Smalls were 1 in 6.4.  This is an astounding response, "never-before-seen" in the history (see drawing odds) of this tack shop.  Thank you...
Winners PLEASE remember to plan your finances!   Every winner will be notified at the beginning how much their order will be, but we will NOT dun you or remind you (unless you request it)!  The TSII is much more likely to turn up, emailwise, right when the tack is started --- and completion never takes as long as getting to it, strange to say.  When the piece is finished we expect to be fully paid before it is shipped! (strange to say).  If you somehow manage not to pay for your piece by the completion deadline's end, 60 days, the piece will be offered elsewhere, usually by auction.  See LATE PAYERS below for exemptions.

GENERAL TSII TACK LOTTERY INFORMATION.  Since 1990, demand has been such that I've run my customers through a Lottery.  Held at intervals of (historically) two years, this computer-based genuine random drawing determines who gets to place an order.  ("Dealing in tack futures.")  Those entering the Lottery submit 'wish orders' made up with the help of a special posted page, usually by email.  By this method, all Lottery winners have their orders' price locked in from the start.  (NO excuse NOT to start SAVING, eh!!)  The TSII pricelist is thus only up on the website for 2 weeks at a time---as it is needed.  It is not published at any other time.  This is why there are no prices posted on this website.  :)  See "drawing odds" below.
We are CLOSED to orders at all other times, unless they are trades, restos or micro orders.  "Trades" = artist-initiated order.  "Restos" = restoration jobs, repairs and conservations.  "Micro orders" are defined as those pieces costing less than $100 and taking less than a week to make.  Micro orders do not have to pass through the Lottery; like restos, they will be accepted on a time-available basis.  However, the tackmaker will place a limit on the number of micro orders to be held at any one time; and if the buffers are full, you're out of luck.  You'll just have to ask later.  We suggest three months, which is about the amount of time that can be guaranteed for filling this size of order.

DRAWING ODDS:  Drawing odds for 2007 were 1 in 11 for Larges, 1 in 6.4 for Smalls.  Drawing odds for 2005 were 1 in 6 for Larges, 1 in 1.35 for Smalls.  Drawing odds for 2002 were 1 in 2.  Drawing odds for 2000 were 1 in 3.5.  What this all means is you've got a much better chance for a bridle than for a Parade Set... and that I'm getting more famous :( so don't count on low prices much longer.

TRADES.  My Willing to Trade For list looks like this: O.F.s: Rare or old metallic or blue O.F.s, by Stone, Hartland, or Breyer; certain pieces of model tack: Langenberg, Howard (parade), Doolittle, Spiesschaert, Corbett, Maurer, Stoddard, etc;   certain vehicles, such as a Carol Hardy sleigh, or, for that matter, any really good (Blenkey quality or better) model sleigh... Oh yes, a "Suavemente" resin (by Carol Herden).  Collector-quality braided rawhide real tack, such as Guitron...!  It never hurts to ask. :)  ARTIST'S CHOICE pieces are those unusually challenging or intriguing to the artist.  If you can come up with something so compellingly interesting to me I can't resist making it,---and if we can negotiate a price (time payments accepted)---you're on!  :)  Yes--- I can be hired.  Please use the phrase "Artist's Choice" in your subject line.

REPAIRS & RESTORATIONS: Repairs, conservations and other updates of vintage Timaru Star II tack do not have to pass through our Lottery.  They are accepted on a time available and individual basis.  Contact me for quotes.
If a TSII piece breaks or is damaged under conditions of normal use, we will replace it or repair it FREE during the first three years of the life of the piece.   After that, repairs will be charged a minimum of $10.00.  If the piece is broken "only a little", needs cleaning, polishing or minor overhaul, my "three-hour" rule may be invoked.  If the work needed will take only three hours or less, you have a much better chance...!!  In cases of more thorough overhaul and restoration, (such as Mylar-Tying a silver-tape Parade set or cleaning and re-buckling a harness with gold instead of brass or stainless instead of silver-color hardware), you will need to obtain a quote and an idea of my current schedule.  As a general rule of thumb, restoration costs about two-thirds the price a new piece and takes around three months.  The enhanced intensity, strengthening, beauty and UNIQUENESS of a cleaned and restored piece will more than reward you.  Restos teach the artist lessons they would not otherwise learn, and improves future pieces.  It is indeed a lucky piece of tack that falls into my hands twice.

Note also that often vintage TSII pieces sent in for restoration have turned out to be acceptable trades! and you get a brand-new piece of tack, much more detailed than the trade-in, at alarmingly low cost.  This has happened several times.

APPRENTICESHIPS.  If that isn't enough, we've been known to host apprentices.  Show me pictures of your tack, negotiate a fee and time, and come visit: we have guest quarters.  It is possible that I could visit you.  It's been done: ask Heather Downing and Heather Abounader.  :)

Don't overlook the secondary market.  It is now 29 years since I started selling tack... that's a LOT of pieces.  (See the bottom of our Saddles page.)  You never know what will turn up, or when!  In my experience, TSII pieces turn up at auction every few months, with crescendo and diminuendo following the normal model showing year: more in spring and at BreyerFest time.


My NOTIFICATION LIST is a personally-kept list of known fans and customers, past Lottery winners, and folk who would like to be notified when an auction or other offering comes up.  Anyone can join this list simply by asking and providing an email address.  If, during an auction notification, your email address bounces, you WILL be removed from this list.  I CANNOT be responsible for email address changes: tell me or be LOST!!  Those who have defaulted on finished TSII orders in the past will not be carried on this list.

Policy on Pictures.  Picture-borrowers are granted permission to copy illustrations ONLY for their own in-home personal non-commercial use.  Re-posting is allowed ONLY with appropriate crediting.  Asking permission is respectfully requested... act your age.

Policy on LATE PAYERS and UNPAID ORDERS.  TSII policy is that tack orders are to be completely paid for within 60 days of completion.  This deadline can sometimes be extended if you contact me and explain why you need more than the standard 60 days (60 days is two months).   If the piece is not completely paid for after a final, mutually-agreed deadline, any amounts paid will be returned and the piece auctioned, sold or kept.  If you vanish, amounts paid will NOT be returned (Regine, are you listening?).  Such auctions will be conducted via eBay or Auction Barn, often announced on MH$P, and the event announced to those on my Notification List.  The Notification List process will be by email.

PLAN AHEAD: I once had a customer pay for a $450 bridle in installments of $25.  Go ahead, use up my paper: I'd much rather play bookkeeper than lose a customer. :)

Contact Info:

Timaru Star II Model Tack Shop

Susan Bensema Young

210 West Hamilton Avenue #104

State College, PA    16801-5218

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE!