On these pages, you will find the culmination (and continuation) of a truly lifelong passion for plastic horses and every toy that could conceivably accompany them.
Who or what is Ponylope?
This prancing alter ego of a mild-mannered collector emerged from wordplay on her name and was first used as an Internet ID and eBay handle. What else can you do when nobody seems to know how to pronounce your name? Flip it, turn it, slice it and make lemonade. Click on the About button on the left side of the page for the Ponylope story.
Schleich Falabella pony painted by J. R. Lane
What kinds of horses are we talking about?
Ponylope specializes in vintage 1950s and 1960s plastic horses approximately two to four inches tall. Give or take. Hard or soft plastic, or somewhere in between. Modeled on the mounts cowboys and Indians would ride in the Western movies (and playsets) of that era. Or the types of horses still at work on American farms when Ponylope was a girl. Click on the names of various manufacturers at the left to see examples. These pages are also intended as resources to identify and learn a bit more about plastic toys. Ponylope also loves Model Horses, Breyers, Hartlands, Britains, carnival horses, and metal and ceramic horses, but happily defers to established collector groups and published guides for authoritative information on them. This site is all about handheld plastic toys, an innovation of midcentury, meant to be handled and really played with, not just admired on a display shelf.
Bergen Toy & Novelty Company (Beton) was one of the most prolific and is a Ponylope favorite for its myriad plastic colors and handpainted detail. Much space is devoted to Beton toys on Ponylope.com. Stuart horses are much less varied, but Ponylope thinks these are some of the best-sculpted in any toy scale. Tim-Mee horses cannot be beat for sturdiness and simplicity, yet their poses are the essence of equine action. Marx horses are here too, in all their variety, and miscellaneous others. Horses were only one part of the landscape for most toy companies, who made complete farms and forts, ranches and circuses for imaginative kids. So you will also find here many companions, settings, and accessories for small plastic horses.
How can you acquire some of these toys?
Each of the brand pages lists items for sale. See How to Order for details.
What else is there to do here?
A number of Feature pages (marked with an asterisk in the list at the left) offer insights into toy history, collections, and ways of playing with your horses. Articles by Bergen Toy & Novelty Co. collector Ron Steiner can be found on three pages, and two other collectors show off their photography and storytelling skills.
Or, you can e-mail pony@ponylope.com to chat about vintage horses! Ponylope welcomes contributions to the feature pages and letters.
A word about price
Ponylope sells only the best stuff she can find, and sometimes that means buying five or ten pieces that don’t make it to these pages for every one that does. She figures a savvy buyer would rather pay a little more up front and get a nice toy, rather than buy a bunch of cheaper ones and hope to get lucky. Eventually. (That doesn’t work very well in today’s old toy market, unless you enjoy The Hunt more than the toy itself. Sadly, there just isn’t as much nice stuff out there anymore.) Ponylope can help take some of the time, money, and effort out of the collecting process for you by weeding out the junk and promoting the good stuff. She enjoys the role of Finder. But the bottom line is, Ponylope has to set prices based on her costs and the relative quality of the toys. Perhaps it is a truism that You Get What You Pay For. The Good News: You DO get what you pay for with Ponylope!
It’s copyrighted, friends
This site is “an original work of authorship in a tangible medium,” and as such is protected under U.S. law. Please do not reproduce Ponylope’s words or photographs, or the words or images of other authors who have contributed to Ponylope.com, without express written permission. This includes excerpts used on personal or auction Web sites. (Yes, this is becoming more common.) Reasonable fair use with advance permission and proper credit to this site will gladly be granted. Contact pony@ponylope.com.
Compatibility Issues
Some customers are reporting that the Stuart page is “messed up,” “scrambled,” or otherwise odd looking. Well, Ponylope recently upgraded her Microsoft operating system AND her Web site application, and now some users may be experiencing compatibility problems between the two that causes this jumbled appearance. Mozilla Firefox works fine, but Internet Explorer has issues. (Ponylope hasn’t been able to verify how the site looks in other browsers, or on the Mac.) An easy fix is to run the site in Compatibility View, which automatically smooths things out. To do that, go to the Tools pull-down menu in Explorer’s toolbar and click on Compatibility View. If you don’t want to do this every time you view Ponylope.com, choose Compatibility View Settings and add this site to a permanent list. Recent updates suggest that the problems may be fixed, but if not, please try this simple interim work-around until the bugs are exterminated.
News May 2014
Please . . . take a minute to browse through the entire site, even if you’ve been here before. Every sales page shows items for sale in at least one good-size photograph, and details about condition are also given in writing. Ponylope begs for your patience with the sales pages. Updating is slow, and some items may no longer be available. The up side is that there is a ton of merchandise in the wings, and you may get what you want even if you can’t see it listed. This goes especially for Bergen and Stuart items.
Ponylope has moved - again! Customers and friends, please note - the e-mail is the same (pony@ponylope.com), but address and phone may be new since you last checked. Here is a cell phone number to call if you prefer that time-honored method of communication: (818) 324-1681. Please leave a message and she will get back to you.
Facebook Ponylope is not going to create a presence on Facebook. The privacy issues are just too worrisome.
Vintage Toy Horses and Plastic Playset Miscellany from the 1950s On . . .
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