Your best G1 bargain

[Lancer]

Too many to mention - I've been collecting for a looong time and bargains were easier to find at car boot sales and the like years ago.  Big bag of ponies including a Piggy and prototype Baby Explorer for £2, Thailand Tornado for 50p, two Hong Kong Tornados for £1 each, Lightning for 65p, a lot of twelve ponies including Ice Crystal, Baby Bonnet School of Dance and Show Stable for £5, two Thunderclouds for £1 each, Sunburst for £1, Baby Candy for 20p, Baby Ruby for £1, four Surprise Newborns for 50p each, Spanish Baby Ribbon and Baby Heart Throb for 50p each, Macau Peachy and Blue Belle for £1 each, Baby Up Up And Away and Baby Sweet Tooth for 50p each...  I could go on but I'd be listing ponies all night.  The majority of my ponies cost £1 or under back in the day.

My cheapest ever pony was Baby Fifi for 2p.

[Strawberry Swirl]

A PIGGY pony in a thrift store?! You people must be wizards.
How in the world would one make it to the US though?

Anyway I have no images but I found a pretty minty SS Satin n Lace at my favorite Saver's a while back. I can't have paid more than $5 for her but I later sold her for $100.

[nemubones]

I found a Magenta Satin'n' Lace years ago for a $1 at a consignment store. Have to say the Greek Starshine I found in a Craigslist lot for $3.50 wasn't too bad.

[daisyd]

My best ever bargain was Mountain Boy Thundercloud, found at a car boot sale for 20p. I was rummaging in a huge box, he came to the top and according to my mum, I nearly fell into the crate in my haste to grab him 

I already had him, and I was out of work at the time, so when I sold him for £50 on ebay, that was a nice extra bonus for me.

My collection best was a brown Italian Peachy, who was mis-sold to me as a Jenny. I needed an upgrade Jenny as mine has somehow got black marks on her. I was not pleased when I saw she wasn't a Jenny when she arrived with me, but having asked advice from a friend as to whether I should take it up with the seller, I was told that brown Peachy is worth a bit more than Jenny, so I kept her 

[Princess Lala]

Best G1 find ever was a $2 thrift store goody bag with all ponies in it- lots of tailess G4 happy meal ponies that are now ferret toys, but there was a G1 inside! It was Cherry Jubilee! If you equally divide the $2 worth of ponies inside that makes my G1 find about 50cents! That's close to free!

[Thunderwing]

Way back in the day, I traded some care bears for a full set of TAF babies in mint condition, original curl and all. I had paid $2 for the care bears. I also had a long string of luck finding G1's at a value village (this is in 1998 mind you), every day there would be 3 new bags of them.  And three times I have bought a box of ponies from this lady who is cleaning out her attic. I charge her $2 per pony. They are always in beautiful condition with lots of accessories mixed in. Each time, it's between 100 and 200 ponies. 

[otocolobus_manul]

Oh, I can't believe I forgot about this earlier . . .

A couple years ago I went to a thrift store and spotted a baggie with Minty in it.

But only after picking up the bag did I realize the pony was . . .

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Piggy Minty!!

I live in the US, so I have no idea how this girl got over here.    Cost me $2.

Ohhhh, I love hearing about finds like this! You know there's an interesting story behind them.

I haven't had any particularly notable g1 finds - mainly the later gens, though I've found a few fairly common g1s in flea markets and 1 in a thrift store for $2-3 each, the rarest probably being Piña Colada, Brilliant Bloom and Beautybloom.

Threads like this are very inspiring, though!

[scarletjul]

Love this thread! 

I've had on again/off again luck at the thrift store and garage sales.

One of my best finds was a mint Princess Baby Sparkle for 50 cents.  She's lovely and was on the top of my want list forever until I spotted her at a garage sale.  It was the only pony the seller had and I pounced on her. 

I also recently found one of the fancy mermaid ponies at the thrift store.

[Tracks]

Free Lavender Dream Castle is probably up there with my best finds.

Wow a bargain - how did you come by it for free?

A man my father works with knew I collected ponies and when he emptied out his attic he found his daughter's ponies and gave them all to me.    I nearly had a heart attack!

I think I would have nearly had one too!  Thats fab!

I wonder if my father works with any such people!!

[invaderhorizongreen]

For me would bee all the gen one ponies I found at the flea as a kid for a quarter each. I have found a few at the thrift store too.

[Broken Irishwoman]

Wow, awesome finds!

Mine aren't nearly as impressive as some others here, but I do have some luck now and then. I found Chief for €2, I found Munchy twice for almost nothing, Nightglider, some Dutch ponies... But the one that really made me happy was Tickle for just €1! I wanted her back so bad, and there she was, sitting in a box of barbies.

[mlpkatie]

a MINT Brazil Butterscotch... at a flea market... in the middle of no-where Kentucky.

No clue how she ended up here but She has a nice home now

[Big_Brother_Bufftusk]

I've been collecting off and on for...well, just about as long as ponies have been around, heh. I've had a few good finds here and there, but probably my best finds were a Mimic at an antique field show a few years back, she was $5. This year I found a TE Masquerade MOC for $5 as well, but that's about it! Frankly at this point in collecting I'm happy to find any vintage ones in the wild...

[Baby Crumpet]

I don't really own anything super rare, I got Thundercloud for about £10 on eBay, the complete UK baby lickety split set for under £15. I have found other ponies for £1 or 50p.

My favourite was when I went to a carboot sale and a lady was selling her childhood collection of soap. I looked, and nearly squealed when I found a Bubbles soap. I love weird things, and a pony soap fit the bill. Got that for 20p! Not a pony, but pony related.