Help Our Dream of an Auction Business & Model Horse Museum

Collecting, customizing, and showing scale model horses--ranging from about one inch to 14 inches in height, and made of ceramic, plastic, resin, or other materials--is an educational hobby that spans more than half a century, and keeps on growing. Annual gathering BreyerFest now draws more than 35,000 hobbyists a year.

Mirroring life in miniature, the hobby is an important gateway to the equine world, leading to everything from appreciation to participation. Some customizing artists who honed their skills in the hobby have become top mainstream equine sculptors and painters. For others this folk art has become a cottage industry, creating scale miniatures on commission.

And yet, as deep as its roots go, the model horse hobby does not yet have a museum.

Ardith Carlton and spouse Corky Visminas (that's us!) have been gathering model horses, hobby ephemera, and hobby artisan-crafted miniature saddles, bridles, harnesses, and vehicles since the 1970s, and in 2014 began planning a future museum for the hobby, the Model Equine Center. We've been working toward this for a long time, but it's been hard to find a suitable place at a price we can take on. Until now!

Now an ideal venue has become available: a nearly 5,500-square-foot former church in Ironwood, Mich., with a 21-car parking lot. It was built in 1893 as the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church and still has its exquisite copper ceiling and walnut woodwork, and has also been brought up to date as office space, with updated electric, recent roof, new windows, and a security system. It's also ADA accessible, including an exterior ramp and a restroom widened to accommodate a wheelchair.

This distinctive building is zoned Neighborhood Commercial, which requires the inclusion of a business for the community. We would run an auction and appraisal business, including consignment auctions--providing folks with not only the opportunity to buy and sell, but also exciting, entertaining community gatherings. Ardith has been a licensed auctioneer since 2021 after graduating from the Missouri Auction School, and is a member of the Certified Appraisers Guild of America.

That still leaves room for a museum devoted to the model horse hobby and its pioneers. A place to preserve, promote, and appreciate the hobby's history and people who helped it happen, and to introduce it to others. A place to get together and reminisce, admire this folk art's half-century of evolution, study ephemera archives, and learn about equine and agricultural topics through scale miniatures.

We've been pre-approved for a loan for the property, and will need to put 20 percent down (plus closing costs, getting it appraised, etc.) if we're in time, as others are looking at it, too. We've been selling parts of our collections to raise more funds, but still have a long row to hoe.

This is a life-changing chance, but it's beyond what we can do alone to make it happen. Could you possibly help? We'd be grateful for any amount--every bit makes a difference! And if the Fates should decide it's not to be, all will be refunded.

Thank you so much for any help!

-Ardith and Corky