Fantastic Finds: Thrift Store Love Classics

I mentioned in my last blog post that a potential liberation was in the works. It didn’t turn out to be quite what we thought, but it was a liberation nonetheless, so I’m shuffling the order of my posts around so Fantastic Finds is up first this month.

 

 

The liberation started on Sunday afternoon when Heather B sent me this picture from a random thrift store group. Someone was asking about the set of cat dishware. Heather said, “Peek the ponies below! That’s a CMM!”

The Jet Run on the right was obvious, but I found it absolutely hilarious that she could recognize the Classic Mustang Mare in the bottom center from only 1/8 of its shadowed rear end. We were both convinced it was the JCP bay.

The store was closer to me than Heather, but closed on Sunday, so I made plans to head down Monday after work. I spent a goodly amount of time walking through the store, looking for the cat dishware or any horse-shaped object, but saw absolutely nothing. I thought maybe I was at the wrong store, since they have multiple locations. After one more careful pass, I finally spotted the cats, but the horses were definitely not on the shelves. I thought I was too late.

 

 

Cue the “jumbled models in a box on the floor” scene.

There were nine in total - the CMM, a Classic QH Family, a Nursing Mare & Foal, a charcoal FAF, a black appy Scratching Foal, and the Jet Run. 

 

The Sears CMM was pretty rubbed up and clearly wasn't the JCP bay that had prompted the liberation in the first place, but between her cheap price tag and Heather’s “No Love left behind” mentality, I bought her. I'll get her to Heather in early October when I see her at the GPMHS show - and she better not get any funny ideas about trying to pay me, after all the models she's given to me for free over the years!

 

Almost all the rest of the models had custom green felt pads stuck to the bottom of their feet, and the trads had clear nail polish on their hooves. I left the Nursing Mare & Foal, Jet Run, FAF, and Scratching Foal for someone else to find.

 

This set - #3045 Quarter Horse Family, a regular run from 1974-1993 - came home with me. Twenty years of production leaves lots of room for fun variations, as you'll see with the Mare.

The Mare is the reason for the purchase - she has black paint all the way up onto her belly. I included the pic I snapped of her at the thrift store because my dining room lighting kinda blunted the effect. She's awesome. And by now, yinz are familiar with my rules about sets - once I decided I wanted the Mare, I couldn’t leave the Stallion and Foal behind, despite their unfortunate nail-polish-remover socks.

I’m probably gonna show the Mare in October for funsies, provided I can find a way to remove the felt pads. [Taking suggestions if readers know any; if not, I'll turn to one of the model groups on Facebook.] Her show name will be La Brea.