New Mexican Variant or a Rehair?

[Dusky]

Splitting this off as I hijacked the other Mexican thread:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

I bought Adult and Baby Moondancer off eBay recently, they're both mexican ponies and the Adult is the version with a short forelock and white stripes all down one row of plugs. Mom-dancer is also GRIM as she's got symbol damage, internal black stuff in her head *under* the glue that is clumped throughout her body - so I can't see her hair weave - and she's got highlighter lipstick.

Baby-dancer, on the other hand, has practically no symbols and some eye damage but she's pretty clean and has no signs of ever having internal glue. So why would someone re-hair a grotty mexican pony if she's already in this shape? She has flame-red hair and a beachball-purple stripe, both her mane and tail feel 'worn' as if this were either a hair replacement done a long time ago or it's her original hair that has weathered with her.

Ultimately I don't mind as the pair of them came to about £6 each, though I'm a bit unimpressed at how grungy Mom-dancer is and I'd really appreciate some cleaning tips so I can make her less of a haz-mat pony. Below are the best shots I could get of what Baby-dancer's roots and tail washer look like.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Loosely that's the best shots I can get of her inner hair weave and her washer without moving the washer out, or manipulating her head. I'm so glad she doesn't have glue in there, because Moondancer Mom is *grim*

[SeashellnBubbles]

I took a look into both my Nibbles' and baby Quackers heads and neither is as nice as yours is inside...there's a LOT of extra hair inside both of them, but I could move it a little to see that the stitching there in Quackers' is the same as the adults. Many little "V"s like this >>>>
Yours looks a little too linear to be factory, unfortunately. Quackers and Nibbles' tails are secured similar to yours is...there's kind of a grommet thing with the tail coming through the middle and tied with a thin white twine. I can't tell if yours is exactly the same. It seems they secured the tails in a variety of ways, since Quackers and Nibbles look different. Still the same white twine, though.
To clean momdancer, as i said, use gloves to remove her tail and the washer...dispose of the washer well. I don't know for certain if it has lead, but it wouldn't surprise me. My Minty was pretty grotty inside as well, and I used a small baby toothbrush and whitening paste (not gel) to clean her out. It worked really well, and i was able to get right down iinto her legs with it. I then soaked her in vinegar for a couple of days, rinsed her well and scrubbed her again. Then i let her sit submerged in distilled water for a day or so, and then used Dawn dish detergent to give her a scrub inside and out again. It was a LOT of work, but she looks a million times better now. Make sure you condition her hair like crazy afterward, though...the process (especially the toothpaste) can really dry out thei hair something fierce.
I wouldn't be too upset with the seller...she said she'd never opened them so she had no idea about what was lurking inside, and tbh most of the Mexi's I've bought are grotty inside and out! If you choose to collect them, it's kind of par for the course good luck!

[Pangel]

Hi all - my sister pointed me to this thread

I just wanted to say that they were my Mexican ponies. I'm glad to see an Arena member bought them. I originally bought them myself on eBay a few years ago and I don't know a lot about them. They arrived as a pair and when it came to re-selling them, I did describe them as bait, and I hope the photos portrayed their flaws. They are sadly... Awful. Poor things! I didn't want to risk damaging them any further as I'm not an expert in restoration, so I never removed their heads. I genuinely didn't know about any internal condition.

I hope you can make them pretty again and will be loved in your collection.

[Sunshine]

Wow I've never seen such tiny little plugs inside the head, either way though, she's super adorable in that hair color, both mom and baby, even in that shape I think.

[pinkkittywinks]

They will clean up well I think

I can't really say if baby hair been rehaired recently or in the past! Pangel says she bought them that way and we do know that some ponies were repaired in dolls hospitals in South America or were resorted by the eBay seller and listed with "repaired the hair"

Love pkw xxx

[Dusky]

Hi all - my sister pointed me to this thread

I just wanted to say that they were my Mexican ponies. I'm glad to see an Arena member bought them. I originally bought them myself on eBay a few years ago and I don't know a lot about them. They arrived as a pair and when it came to re-selling them, I did describe them as bait, and I hope the photos portrayed their flaws. They are sadly... Awful. Poor things! I didn't want to risk damaging them any further as I'm not an expert in restoration, so I never removed their heads. I genuinely didn't know about any internal condition.

I hope you can make them pretty again and will be loved in your collection.

No worries at all Pangel, I knew from your description and photos that they both had TLC issues, I mean you even put 'TLC' in their title. And I know how 'interesting' Nirvana ponies can be when you open them up even if their outsides are relatively clean! I basically bought these two from you so that I could have a go with restoring them, but wanted to check before I accidentally 'restored' a new variant.

I'm ruthless with pony heads, it has to be said, if only because I'm paranoid about rusted-out tail washers causing rust shrapnel/rust spots and sharp edges if I were ever to sell a pony on!

[hathorcat]

Personally I think genuine factory. But in South America, with so many potential maybe perhaps doll hospital options, its hard to say for certain.

As PKW says, with doll hospitals so popular in countries where toys were a true luxury for many and treasured to the extent it was a cheaper or preferred to repair rather than replace, its always possible that is where she is from. And as we know from other country examples, its perfectly possible for such hospitals to get a very convincing weave on the hair.

However, what makes me think more likely original is that her hair is such a close match to a factory adult. With many of the other hospital fixed ponies the hair is a little different in colour or an unexpected shade. This seems deliberately similar to the adult which we know is the right colour for factory release.

Interesting find! Congrats Dusky

[pinkkittywinks]

The washer does look authentic

I have seen some odd weaves in the past as if the machine got jammed or hadn't rooted all the way through.

Love pkw xxx

[Ambar]

the girl was rehaired, there aren´t mexican babies with that hair color. I don´t know if in south America but in Mexico only barbies had doll hospitals around 90´s

[pinkkittywinks]

the girl was rehaired, there aren´t mexican babies with that hair color. I don´t know if in south America but in Mexico only barbies had doll hospitals around 90´s

Thank you for posting Ambar that's really useful to know.

Love pkw xxx

[Sapphire-Light]

I never heard of doll hospitals until now    , and I live in central america

[hathorcat]

I never heard of doll hospitals until now    , and I live in central america

There are doll hospitals of some kind in most countries. One of the oldest in the world is actually in Italy. Sometimes they are run by toy manufacturers and sometimes they are simply individuals/businesses.

[SeashellnBubbles]

Well, if she is a rehair/repair it was done a LONG time ago. I do hope their hair is repairable...I'd love to see them when they're done

[LadyPinwheel]

Rehair or not, that baby looks lovely with that hair color. ^^

[kaoskat]

I don't know how I ended up in this thread, but those look like ordinary thread and needle rehair knots to me. *backs out of thread and goes back to places where she knows what she is talking about*