G1s in the wild - favorite tales, best places to find, best deals?

[LadyFizzy]

One of the things that got me back into collecting years ago was the thrill of the bullfight hunt, the squee that accompanied finding some G1s at a yard sale or antique mall "in the wild" as it were.

A couple years ago I found a listing for a lot on craigslist that had Mimic in the photo. I raced to a suburb to make the hand-off -- and there she was, right at the top of the bag! I got a good 50 ponies in that haul for only $20, including a gorgeous Mimic whom I treasure to this day. 

What are some of your favorite finds? Where are your favorite places to rescue ponies from? 

[DazzleKitty]

There is a flea market about an hour away that's very large that I like to go to. I've found many rare ponies there for a steal, such as my MO Mommy Pony, Tux N' Tails, SS Angel, and others I'm sure. I remember finding a basket of minty ponies for $1 each a few years ago. I got some great ponies from there. Sadly, this day there just aren't many there anymore. The one person who always has them knows they are worth money and jacks up his prices.

I rarely have luck at yard sales but I remember finding minty G1 Flower Fantasy Flowerbelle and the purple Valentines twin for under a dollar. That was a cool find that I will never forget.

I have one local flea market that's about a 5-10 minute drive from me. I don't have luck there often but last year for $24 I got about 30 mint ponies. None were rare, but I made a nice profit of them, got some upgrades, and there were even a few I didn't yet have in my collection. I've only found G1's once this year at this flea market and they aren't anything to write home about. I remember being able to come home with bags of G1s every weekend. I miss those days.

[drusilla]

i check out craigslist, kijiji, ebay, garage sales, church sales, 2nd hand shops, village des valuers in quebec but it is known as savers everywhere else and the salvation army.  Plus i have trained my family to go out and search when they are out shopping.

some of my best stuff was found at the village (savers) it was my boyfriend who actually found paradise estate 98 % complete behind the cash register there and not even in the toy section for 25.00 Canadian.  he still rubs it in all the time about how HE found it and not me.

i have also found a baby brother leaper for 3 dollars mixed in with a bag of lizard and frog toys

other BIG lots have come from kijiji, which is an online selling place like craigslist. i got a mimic with 60 ponies for 75.00. and i got a mint in box megans place for 50.00. normally prices are lower but sometimes it is higher but still worth it.

[Leave a Whisper]

I have only ever seen G1s in the wild once at our local swapmeet and I passed them up because I don't like the Flatfoot/Collector's Pose

[tuneful87]

I have never found a pony in its natural habitat! LOL

[mlp4me]

They're around here. Hiding in people's attics. My favorite was a local find that had 25 ponies, 3 playsets with boxes, 2 loose playsets, seapony w/shell and box-that set me back $2.50, there was some other misc merchandise too. Then there was that SSN Pink Dreams for under a dollar at the thrift shop... No amazing MO's sadly...

[Wind~Whistler]

This flea market lady sold ponies by the bag at 5 bucks a bag. I got many minty G1s as well as a near complete Tex with hat, a minty white Glory and Sunbeam, a mint Gingerbread and Little Flitter! Other ponies include a mint Kingsley, nearly the full set of G3 second wave of scented ponies, and a beautifully white Princess Tiffany!

I used to spent at least twenty dollars worth of at least 30 G1 and G3 ponies, including fakies and McBaits 

[Sweet_Stuff]

Love these stories! 

I got a baby Surprise for free at a garage sale when I was in middle school..she was the lone pony in a pony box...no one wanted her because she had tail rust -- but after more than 15 years (since she has been with me) she is finally rust free!

My best find to date auction wise was 10 years ago. I got a Starshine, Boysenberry Pie, a great looking long-haired Bowtie and short-haired AppleJack as well as a beautiful FF Blossom and gorgeous SS Fifi in a Goodwill auction for $35 shipped. I really wanted Blossom and didn't know she was a FF! I already had BP and recently gave her a new home.

[banditpony]

There is a huge flea market about 2 hours away. There was a guy with a uhaul type truck and he had all this house hold stuff.. Like paint, buckets  tools, cleaning supplies etc. His truck was full of filth but I saw something pink in there... In the far back.

I asked the man "is that a pony?!?".  It confused him because he didn't know it was even there. Lo and behold, it was a Peachy. ... So was covered in thick black grease

It's one of my favorite finds, honestly.

[tuneful87]

Wait, I take that back. I saw a few at a small, local comic convention this summer. There was definitely a SS North Star and a few BBE babies.

[scarletjul]

Love threads like this! 

My favorite story was the time I found 100+ g1s @ a thrift store.  They were about $1/each (my mom ended up with about half of them) and I took home a bunch that are still in my collection, including Blueberry Baskets, Ringlets, a couple of boys and a bunch of babies.  My mom has also had luck for me before and found the MO Mommy pony and a porcelain pony for me @ the same store. 

My best luck @ a garage sale was a minty Baby Princess Sparkle for 50 cents.  I found her early this year; she's still one of the pride of my collection.

[billietallent]

While at a house party, one of my husband's friends discovered I collect ponies, and sold me her Dream Castle and a bunch of ponies that were in storage at her mom's house.

From our local usedeverywhere.com site (like craigslist & kijiji), I got PE (no furniture or small accessories, but all structure pieces like fans, windows, doors, pool canopy, flowers, etc) and about 15 ponies for $50.

On my birthday one year, me and some friends went to Value Village and I found a bunch of ponies, including 4 MO pearly babies. I've also found a Dream Beauty there, and just recently I found a MO sparkle pony and a SS Ribbon with near-perfect flocking. (But her hair has bled onto it :/)

At a garage sale once I found SS Angel and Baby Princess Sparkle, plus some others.

My friend's mom found me a couple of my wingers at garage sales.

My husband's aunt gave me all of her daughters' G1s, with the girls' permission, of course.

[lunar_scythe]

This area has a LOT of G1's show up at the flea markets, so many that it's rare I don't find any when I go.  I think my fav find was a bunch including SS SnL with mint pink curls for $1 each, I also found a lot of 25 for $40 including a mint Mimic, and lots of other deals.

I'm lucky, I live in a pony rich area, hehe!

[CloudyGlow]

I've had luck at yard sales and thrift stores(there are a lot where I live!).  I'd say g3s are the most common, but I've found all generations at these places.  The city I live in also has a really nice toy resale store.  The prices are reasonable and I can rack up a bunch of credit at the store by selling LPS I find cheap at yard sales.

My favorite discoveries are g1s.  I found my first big brother, Wigwam, in a bag with a few g3s for under $5 at one thrift store.  Just last weekend I found a Pillow Talk for 25 cents at a yard sale.  But my biggest find was when I technically got a Baby Gametime for free at a yard sale.  I paid $5 for 3 other ponies and the woman threw her in.  My favorite from the toy resale store is a regrind-free Party Time.  I can't remember exactly what I paid for her but it was definitely under $10.  And since I was using credit earned by reselling LPS I got cheap, it really only cost me a few dollars at most.

[Skeen]

I haven't had any real G1 luck in years but the last great "haul" I found was not that long ago, and all were mint - the first 3 adult sea ponies, all the accessories for a Fancy Pants baby (but not the baby!), 3 collector pose ponies, a set of complete ponywear, bits to the Sweet Dreams Crib, Megan with her outfit and perfect hair, and the whitest, totally unblemished, perfectly glittery Starshine I have ever seen.  It was all like $3. 

Aadra and I went flea marketing one day a few years ago, and Mr. Aadra tagged along.  We go to an outdoor flea market that has a building that sells newer things and records, so we always skip it, and we told Mr. Aadra he'd be wasting his time in there.  He wandered off on his own and we couldn't find him for the longest time, so we finally went inside the building to look and found him standing over a massive pile of ponies, asking the lady if she'd take $20 for the lot.  It had TAF Buttons in it and we were freaking out, but he was utterly clueless as to why this one pony was so awesome.  We tried to explain but I think it came out more as excited squeals and gasping.