Release Dates
There isn't much information available for the models released under the Dream Pony name, thus the dates provided, in general, simply span the life of the company. Magpie Models regular run release dates can be rather vague as well due to catalogues being used for multiple years and being issued without dates. I have pieced them together to the best of my ability; corrections and clarifications are welcome.
Thanks to the newsletters and Dream Pony Personality Collection fliers, special releases and Persies are easier to date. With few exceptions, newsletter specials were available until the release of the next newsletter (ex. Offered in Spring (March) newsletter and valid until June 30th, just before the mailing of the Summer (July) newsletter).
Dream Pony Personality Collections were usually offered for advanced order to newsletter subscribers in the Summer (July) issue, frequently at a discounted price from August 1st to August 30th. In September they would be made available to the general public. Collections One through Three were discontinued at the end of September. Collections Four through Eight were discontinued a month earlier, at the end of August.
After the sale of Magpie in 1995, there were a few changes. Personality Collections were no longer offered to the general public; only existing Magpie customers would be able to purchase them. Instead of offering newsletter subscribers an advance order period, a discount was offered during the first few months of release.
The time-line gets foggy again when Magpie was reborn as an online business. Dates are based on piecing together information from the sales records which were included in the company stock; these end in March of 2009.
In an attempt to make documentation as easy as possible, Heather Era models are all individually numbered - the first collection on their bellies, later collections on their hooves - and come with a certificate of authenticity.
The numbering system indicates more than the individual model - for example, #21H6102 tells us that the model was created in 2021 and is the Hunter mold; 6 indicates it is a special (0 for Persies, Easter Eggs were originally 6, but after 2020 are 7, C for Custom), the 1 tells us it is the first Hunter Special of the year; and the last two digits tell us which model of the run this particular model is, in this case, #2.