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Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: Caroline on April 10, 2024, 01:32:36 PM

Title: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Caroline on April 10, 2024, 01:32:36 PM
So today I picked these up at a charity shop. I've never seen anything quite like them before. They are the size of mommy charms/petite ponies and possibly made of plaster. Did someone cast their own molds and make these, or were there plaster craft kits for making them or were they actually sold somewhere? They were in a bag with dollhouse furniture, some of which I recognize from my childhood in the 80's, so at least they're probably really from the G1 era.

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Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: TheClassCalico on April 11, 2024, 09:08:18 AM
These looked oddly familiar to me, so I decided to look into it further. Unfortunately, I did not find any exact matches, but it does appear to me that they were specifically made from/are directly related to Mommy Charms.

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I think the familiarity was just me thinking of other figures with similar paint jobs, such as the Comics Spain ponies.

Are there any marks on their undersides that may point us in the right direction? I.e., manufacturing dates.

My best guess is that these were customs using a cast from Mommy Charms as you said, or possibly even fakies.
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: brightberry on April 11, 2024, 09:35:58 AM
I get the weird feeling someone was making casts for their own enjoyment... which is cute! I remember looking for things to do in the 80s.  I probably would have done this if I'd known how.

Once we found antique home made "marbles" in the backyard and my aunt showed us how it was done so we could make our own.  Flour, salt and water.
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Taffeta on April 11, 2024, 10:18:14 AM
I'm not aware of any official petite pony moulds, though not ruling out someone doing it for themselves. Providing, of course, they aren't real charms painted over by some enthusiastic kid ;)

They are clearly made from/based on charms. The absence of the loop/any sign of a broken loop, however, makes me really curious what's going on with them...
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Barnacle_lady on April 11, 2024, 11:10:19 AM
Maybe the mould has been inspired from the Dufti Charmkins pony
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Caroline on April 11, 2024, 11:12:34 AM
Thanks for your input everyone!

These really are weird. They have no markings and the place where the loop should be is sort of visible but also sort of not. They definitely aren't plastic painted over. The biggest problem I have with the theory that someone made their own mould is that Mommy charms were never available in Finland (as far as I know). Of course we get foreign ponies here quite often, but still it seems strange that the person first happened to get their hands on one and then decided to make more. Not impossible though. They also have these indends in their hooves, like whoever made them confused ponies with cows.  :lol:

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Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Taffeta on April 11, 2024, 11:17:13 AM
Personally I would keep them as is as a curiosity until more information can be gathered.

The idea of them being moulded from a toy sharing the same mould is a good one. But yeah, if Finland didn't get the toy originally...it's a bit odd them being there. That said, stuff does travel around Europe. Even here in the UK we've found all kinds of things that should not be here but somehow are...
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Ponyfan on April 11, 2024, 03:14:06 PM
Could whoever made these have used a Petite pony shaped like this and added the flowers?

http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/File:ParadeBeachyKeen.jpg

Or the McDonald's bookmarks?


http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/File:Butterscotch-bookmark.jpg


Ponyfan






Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: BlackCurtains on April 11, 2024, 03:49:07 PM
Looks like bad paint jobs over Mommy Charms. Why are you certain that's not what they are?
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Caroline on April 12, 2024, 02:26:05 AM
Looks like bad paint jobs over Mommy Charms. Why are you certain that's not what they are?

Well they don't feel at all like plastic, they have the weird hooves and some of their surface is porous the the way plaster casts are. This pic might show some of it?

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Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Shaiyeh on April 12, 2024, 07:37:50 AM
Yeah that definitely looks like plaster.
I've found a mommy charm in a swedish charity shop before, so I wouldn't say it's impossible for someone to have gotten a charm and replicated it. There were also plaster mould trays, but idk if there were any pony ones. I've done a lot of those as a kid. These don't have flat backs, do they?
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: lovesbabysquirmy on April 13, 2024, 07:57:48 AM
It would not be hard at all to have created molds for plaster to DIY these , they are pretty cool
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: TheClassCalico on April 13, 2024, 09:13:12 AM
I'd say that the person who possibly casted this may have received it as a gift when somebody travelled to Finland or owned it prior to moving over there. It doesn't seem too unlikely to me that somebody over there could've acquired one some way or another.

Could the loop have been cut and sanded off?
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Shadowperla on April 21, 2024, 09:52:12 AM
There is brazilian painting-for pony
http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/File:Pintatinta1.jpg

Maybe they wanted their own
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Lady Frostbite on April 21, 2024, 02:00:06 PM
Plaster casting kits were a thing in the 90s, I very specifically had a Hunchback of Notre Dame one! It's possible it was from an officially licensed casting kit, maybe even one that's more recent since there's retro waves for G1.
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Snapdragon on April 22, 2024, 03:08:33 AM
Gosh, that's so clever and cute! I'm over here struggling to make a mold, and some kid did it with a toy not even sold in their country in the 80s! I love it! :lmao: Thank you for sharing!!
Title: Re: Has anyone seen anything like these before?
Post by: Carrehz on April 22, 2024, 11:01:41 AM
Gosh, that's so clever and cute! I'm over here struggling to make a mold, and some kid did it with a toy not even sold in their country in the 80s! I love it! :lmao:

This is what gets me about them! It's such an oddly specific thing to make a custom/homemade mould out of, but I guess I've seen weirder! I agree they do look like plaster casts of some kind rather than just being painted over the original toys. I wonder if they were an obscure fakie plaster cast kit that "borrowed" the original Hasbro moulds - or maybe even a legitimate release that we haven't found yet? I think I'm leaning towards homemade or bootleg atm. It is odd if they weren't released over there... but not impossible, toys do travel esp. if bought on holiday... if only they could talk! Either way they're a really cool and unusual find, congrats!
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