Pony Inheritance

[dannahbanana]

These two ponies are some of the roughest looking ponies in my collection, but also two of the most important to me sentimentally. I remember seeing them on a shelf in my grandfather's garage, sitting amongst his large collection of vintage toys. They probably once belonged to my cousin, but once she lost interest in them my grandfather put them upon his shelf, and there they sat for decades. I would often admire them, but wouldn't take them from their designated spot. In 2014, my grandfather passed away, and several people ransacked his garage for his tools and treasures, leaving little behind for my family. My mom managed to salvage a few items, including these ponies. This was several years before I began collecting, and I left soon after to live in Japan. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and I found a box in my mother's basement full of my grandfather's treasures that my mom had saved for me all these years. I nearly cried when I found them, with so many memories of my grandfather flooding back. All of my ponies were purchased second hand (I wasn't born until the mid 90s), mostly from people I do not know, so I was so excited to have ponies that I knew were with my family from the very beginning. They smell like my grandfather's garage, have dirt and grime all over them, are extremely yellowed, and have pony cancer. So here are a few questions I'd like to ask:

Should I try restoring these girls, or just leave them as they are, dirt and grime and all? Maybe just clean them and not do anything more, or go ahead and do sun fading, etc?

Have you ever inherited or received ponies from family members? Or have you discovered them in a relative's storage? What did you do in that situation?


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[LadyAmalthea]

Aw, what a great story! I'm so glad they ended up in your hands. If they were mine, I'd clean them up the best I could using gentle methods first...a lot of times I find that just scrubbing with dish soap and oxyclean brightens up ponies I thought would never look clean again! I'd take caution on sunfading Confetti; she is on the blacklist of ponies that tend to burn in the sun. Not sure about Lemondrop, I haven't tried fading her before.

I have 3 inherited ponies in my collection: a tailless Glory that my grandma bought at a garage sale for 10 cents and would live in her shadow box at her lake house...only to be brought out for us to play with as a reward for good behavior. Also a yellowed Lil Tot that she procured several years later in a similar manner, but I wasn't that interested in ponies by then. Then my other grandma had a Baby Firefly that she let my sister and me pick out new at the store to have at her house for when we played there. I don't remember the transition of the ponies officially passing to us when either grandma passed away, but I have possession of all my siblings' and my childhood ponies and they are there. It seems odd that any family member would think to save them for us (I was in high school and then in my 30's when they passed, plus we don't seem to have any other toys from either house), but I'm glad they ended up with me.

[ridi]

What a sweet story! Thanks for sharing. They look so sweet. It's ultimately up to you, but if it were me, I would definitely give them a gentle cleaning.

I have three older siblings, and all of them had a few ponies of their own. Out of all of us, I'm the only one who kept my interest in toy collecting as we grew up, so all of their ponies ended up with me eventually. I was born in the late 80s, so there are several older 80s ponies I wouldn't have had otherwise. I'm very grateful.

[dannahbanana]

Thank you for your replies! I'm glad that you both were able to inherit some ponies as well!

I'm a lot like my grandfather, quite sentimental and a lover of nostalgic things. That's probably why he kept so many toys that he, his children, and his children's children played with. I loved to play with metal toy cars as a kid, and sometimes when the axle or a wheel of one broke, he would repair the car for me using zip ties and other things he found in his garage. I found it so amusing that he would repair both real and toy cars in his garage. Those are the sort of memories I treasure.

Someone brought up to me the fact that scents are strongly linked to memory. The fact that these ponies currently smell like my grandfather's garage may be something that I would miss if I were to clean them up. I hadn't realized that until it was pointed out to me. Now I am a little hesitant to do anything to them at all! I think that the scent of gasoline may be what makes them special, oddly enough.

[LadyAmalthea]

Someone brought up to me the fact that scents are strongly linked to memory. The fact that these ponies currently smell like my grandfather's garage may be something that I would miss if I were to clean them up. I hadn't realized that until it was pointed out to me. Now I am a little hesitant to do anything to them at all! I think that the scent of gasoline may be what makes them special, oddly enough.

That makes a lot of sense...I have a lot of scents like that, sometimes I'll catch a whiff of something that reminds me of childhood and I wish I could bottle it and keep it forever. I don't think I own any physical objects like that though, so if you have something that triggers a happy memory, hold onto it! As long as the ponies aren't in immediate danger of moldering if they aren't cleaned up, no reason to change things if you think you will enjoy them more the way they are.

[FernMariposa919]

I love your story! I agree with the others, that you should give them a gentle cleaning. Alas, I have never inherited any ponies...they've all been mine. I suppose when I'm long gone, somebody will inherit MY ponies!

[Artemesia's Garden]

That is a fantastic story! I got some ponies from my sister. They have her initials underneath. They were definitely not mint or NM so I opened them up and gave them the full rust check and clean inside and out, styled the hair, dried them out etc. I think this type of care can help stabilise ponies at least for a while. I didn't sunfade or do anything drastic though. However I don't really mind how her garage smells and our memories are of a different kind, so I guess I'm saying it's a different story to yours and up to you!

Post Merge: July 08, 2021, 03:30:33 PM

That makes a lot of sense...I have a lot of scents like that, sometimes I'll catch a whiff of something that reminds me of childhood and I wish I could bottle it and keep it forever. I don't think I own any physical objects like that though, so if you have something that triggers a happy memory, hold onto it! As long as the ponies aren't in immediate danger of moldering if they aren't cleaned up, no reason to change things if you think you will enjoy them more the way they are.

I have some of my grandmother's perfume, it survived because it's actually a soap in a box.

[Taffeta]

I think that it's just fate they ended up with you like that They've waited a long time - I'm sure your grandfather would be happy that they're now with someone who appreciates them.

On the restoration, others are better fixed than me to comment

I inherited some ponies from a childhood friend. They all have her name on the hooves but they were otherwise almost all in mint condition (Hopscotch's tail is a bit loose but otherwise that's about it). I played with them as a kid so consider them adopted childhood ponies and honorary parts of my childhood collection. The thing that made me happiest was that her adult Tic Tac Toe and my baby Tic Tac Toe - who used to spend nights sleeping over at each other's houses when we were kids - now live together in the same house

[Artemesia's Garden]

I think that it's just fate they ended up with you like that They've waited a long time - I'm sure your grandfather would be happy that they're now with someone who appreciates them.

On the restoration, others are better fixed than me to comment

I inherited some ponies from a childhood friend. They all have her name on the hooves but they were otherwise almost all in mint condition (Hopscotch's tail is a bit loose but otherwise that's about it). I played with them as a kid so consider them adopted childhood ponies and honorary parts of my childhood collection. The thing that made me happiest was that her adult Tic Tac Toe and my baby Tic Tac Toe - who used to spend nights sleeping over at each other's houses when we were kids - now live together in the same house

That is adorable. I remember my cousin having Galaxy, Honeycomb and Gypsy particularly, so I had to find them!