Why is it that some ponies are more rare then others?

[Pierlala]

Okay I guess the title may sound a little dumb,

But, I wonder why some ponies from the same line are more rare then others.

For example, from the Perfume Puff Ponies, it's mostly Red Roses that people are paying high prices for. Same goes for Diamnond Dreams from the MGR Ponies. Why is that? What makes them so rare/wanted sompared to others from the same line?

I'm curious about this. I recently spent a ton on Diamond Dreams myself.

[Aerora]

A couple potential reasons! It may be that a pony is just plain more desired than others from a certain set (e.g., Mimic - AFAIK she isn't significantly rarer than the other set 2 Twinkle Eyes) because people think it's the prettiest and there's more competition to snag a certain one in an auction, which then drives up flat sale prices. If you can say "here, this Diamond Dreams went for $50 at auction" or whatever she currently costs, you'll have an easier time buying/selling around that price.

It may be that a pony is prone to a flaw that drives the non-flawed versions up in price (Red Roses's fading pink forelock, or flutter wings, or regrind).

It may, in some cases, be that a pony was initially shortpacked - I saw an old sales flyer someone posted here the other day showing that Bubbles and Seashell had fewer in a case assortment than their companions released at the same time. Or if a pony was just plain not released in a country, like some of the UK exclusives - that tends to drive the price up, at least for foreign buyers.

[Al-1701]

Simple supply and demand.  Ponies that are more sought after are going to be more expensive.  And that's coming from both ends as less owners will be willing to part with them.

[dragonfly]

I think it's:
1. High desirability - more demand, fewer of them on the market. People who have them hang onto them.
2. Limited production (Greeks), distribution (Paradise Estate, Caribbean Delight/Beach Belle) or general availability (Mail orders) when first released.
3. Not desirable to children - fewer purchased when originally in stores, now fewer around in the collector's market (I think Diamond Dreams Mimic are good examples of this)
4. Parts or accessories easily lost and broken by children; fewer around now.
5. Production issues - regrind, fading, etc. make for a short supply of good / mint condition versions of certain ponies, particularly G1.
6. The prototypes and one-offs. See Exhibit A.

[Taffeta]

I think ebay also skews our perceptions of rarity. Maybe online selling in general does. For example, imagine you're someone who sells ponies on ebay. A while back you sold all of the MGR ponies and Diamond Dreams sold for the most. You go to a flea market and a seller has all of the MGR ponies but you only have the change for one. So you would buy DD, right?

My point is that sellers who do well selling a particular pony will then more likely look for those ponies if they are purchasing lots to resell. Collectors work a little differently, as they often buy lots for items they want to keep and sell the extras, but the flea market example also works here. If you were buying doubles to trade or sell, you'd be more likely to pick up a Mimic or a Diamond Dreams than you would a Bow Tie or a Peachy. Also if you were selling your childhood collection and you googled and found out certain ponies were more sought after, you'd pick them out, pretty them up and ebay them to make the cash before you tried the more common ones.

I think that sometimes being sought after makes a pony appear for sale more often.

[Wardah]

Shortpacking.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Distribution is another good reason.  For example, the Sea Ponies. 

The Wave 2 are MUCH easier to find in Canada but that is because when store buyers went to order Sea Ponies, the first wave of orders was unavailable as the USA store buyers had snatched them all up.  Canadian store buyers needed "Sea  Ponies" to fit in that shelf space, so the Wave 2 ones were sent instead.  But that means that when the USA store buyers went to do a re-order of "Sea Ponies" for the holes in their shelf.... there weren't any Sea Ponies left. 

And so you have the USA people looking all over for these HTF Wave 2 Sea Ponies, but Canadians?  Those are the Sea Ponies we find while pony hunting! 

[millenium0chi]

This is SUCH an interesting topic...one that I'm in the process of researching, myself. 

I asked a similar question a week or two back, but I was looking to see if anyone knew of an online resource which would provide me with exactly this type of information.  The short answer to that thread is that other than what's on this board, there's very little out there.

I DO think shortpacking plays a big part in this equation.  I'd be willing to put good money on the fact that ponies like Mimic and Diamond Dreams were the shortpacked ponies in their respective sets.  But the only way to KNOW that would be to see the Hasbro catalog of the time, which is something we haven't seen (that I know of) for these particular ponies.

I'm trying to search high and low for something that will help shed some light on this so I can make a resource available for other collectors. 

For sure, perception and recent auction prices play a role.  But I think there's something to the production numbers, too.

[Tak]

This is SUCH an interesting topic...one that I'm in the process of researching, myself. 

I asked a similar question a week or two back, but I was looking to see if anyone knew of an online resource which would provide me with exactly this type of information.  The short answer to that thread is that other than what's on this board, there's very little out there.

I DO think shortpacking plays a big part in this equation.  I'd be willing to put good money on the fact that ponies like Mimic and Diamond Dreams were the shortpacked ponies in their respective sets.  But the only way to KNOW that would be to see the Hasbro catalog of the time, which is something we haven't seen (that I know of) for these particular ponies.

I'm trying to search high and low for something that will help shed some light on this so I can make a resource available for other collectors. 

For sure, perception and recent auction prices play a role.  But I think there's something to the production numbers, too.

Have you contacted Hasbro to see about a copy of records? Their customer service personnel have always been amazing.

[millenium0chi]

Have you contacted Hasbro to see about a copy of records? Their customer service personnel have always been amazing.

I have not tried that...to be honest, I didn't think I'd get anywhere!  I can certainly try!

[Pokeyonekenobie]

Some of it might have to do with the the pony's color scheme as well.  How many green ponies are there?  Not a lot.  How many pink ones are there?  Tons.  And while that's not a definite reason for a pony's "rarity", it might play into the popularity of the pony to collectors, which means that more collectors are keeping them rather than selling them, which would make them hard to find.

[Taffeta]

Have you contacted Hasbro to see about a copy of records? Their customer service personnel have always been amazing.

I have not tried that...to be honest, I didn't think I'd get anywhere!  I can certainly try!

Hasbro UK, US and Germany (at the very least) have no records left pertaining to G1. I wrote to all of them in 1995ish and had some data from Hasbro UK but not a lot from the others. I was told by the rep at Hasbro UK when I contacted them again a couple of years later that all of that material was no longer there. She thought it had been ditched because of the new line.

The information I had from Hasbro UK didn't mention packing. Distribution is an easier thing to monitor through collectors and childhood collections in the UK in some ways because of size but every country is different. (That Sea Pony thing is really interesting). I know some whole sets never came out in my part of the UK, and the entirety of the 1994 year didn't come here either. I never saw any of them until in touch with Hasbro in 1995.

BUT we subsequently got most all of them from the clearance store that Hasbro sold their excess pony stock to, making me wonder if distribution got cancelled halfway through and it didn't reach everywhere. The only ones that we never got from new via this method were the Jewellery babies, all of whom came from a local collector who, somehow, did manage to get them new...

I think of them as some of the most htf ponies sold here. But the Daddies - Berrytown, Sunbright - I remember seeing them on shelves quite often at our local Children's World, where sister and I bought the babies. I don't think they were less available. Just they are rarer NOW...which says...they weren't bought? Where did they end up..? I often wonder...

[Carrehz]

Shortpacking, supply and demand, certain ponies being easier to find in some countries and not others... etc.

[millenium0chi]

I'm just reading Taffeta's reply now, but to her point, I did get a response from Hasbro last night.  Unfortunately, they've confirmed that they no longer have materials from the G1 era. 

I haven't given up, though, I feel like I'm on a mission.  LoL