How do you recognize a pony made in Italy?
Italian
ponies are pretty obvious to anyone familiar with them. However, they
can puzzle the untrained eye. In this page, I'll describe for your
convenience the most noticeable features of ponies made in Italy.
1. Marks on hooves:
Ponies made in Italy always have their country of make carved on their hooves. It may vary in that it may be on two hooves only or on all four, and it may include or lack the 'PAT PEND' mark, but the country is always indicated.
Ponies made in Italy always have their country of make carved on their hooves. It may vary in that it may be on two hooves only or on all four, and it may include or lack the 'PAT PEND' mark, but the country is always indicated.
2. Eyes:
Italian ponies typically have blue eyes, no matter what colour the US counterpart's eyes are. However, Italian ponies in the "collector pose", that is the 1982 mold, can have cyan (dark blue), light blue (similar to Macau ponies) or turquoise (dark aqua) eyes. Different eyes colours in collector pose Italian ponies are not mere factory faults or due to fading, but are typically associated with major mold variants.
3. Forelock
Italian ponies do not have a forelock, unlike ponies made in Hong Kong. They have two lines of hir plugs that end at the same lenghts.
Italian ponies often differ in symbol design compared to
their Hong Kong counterparts. They may have larger or smaller symbols,
or more elements, or darker colours, or even reverse. Typically, there
are different symbol variants of each Italian ponies, and because of
factory faults it is hard to find two with exactly the same symbol
design. The most noticeable difference between
Italian ponies and their Hong Kong counterparts is that on Italian
pegasi and unicorns metallic paint was used instead of glitter.
Italian ponies typically have blue eyes, no matter what colour the US counterpart's eyes are. However, Italian ponies in the "collector pose", that is the 1982 mold, can have cyan (dark blue), light blue (similar to Macau ponies) or turquoise (dark aqua) eyes. Different eyes colours in collector pose Italian ponies are not mere factory faults or due to fading, but are typically associated with major mold variants.
3. Forelock
Italian ponies do not have a forelock, unlike ponies made in Hong Kong. They have two lines of hir plugs that end at the same lenghts.
4. Symbol
5. Tail washer
Italian ponies typically don't have a tail washer. The tail is secured with a thread and pressed in a small metal cylinder.
6. Body shape
Italian ponies in the collector pose were made in different molds: regular (A - similar to their Hong Kong counterparts), hunchback (B) and Macau-like (C - thinner bodies, with longer legs, longer hair, light blue eyes... just like Macau ponies). A fourth mold is the so-called "dwarf" mold (smaller ponies with lower necks and wider rumps, similar to Hong kong flat-footed ponies, but with concave hooves). Italian unicorns are sometimes in an alternate pose compared to their Hong Kong counterparts.
Italian ponies typically don't have a tail washer. The tail is secured with a thread and pressed in a small metal cylinder.
6. Body shape
Italian ponies in the collector pose were made in different molds: regular (A - similar to their Hong Kong counterparts), hunchback (B) and Macau-like (C - thinner bodies, with longer legs, longer hair, light blue eyes... just like Macau ponies). A fourth mold is the so-called "dwarf" mold (smaller ponies with lower necks and wider rumps, similar to Hong kong flat-footed ponies, but with concave hooves). Italian unicorns are sometimes in an alternate pose compared to their Hong Kong counterparts.
