Yesterday Tracy Schaff and I visited long time collector Fred Collier in Virginia and had a wonderful several hours looking at all of his incredible finds... Fred is perhaps one of the most consistently lucky flee marked and antique shop hunters alive today and has dozens of high dollar pieces that he has picked up for pennies at such places ... being a general collector of both glass and porcelain and an ultra friendly guy he was happy to show off his goodies and share many stories with Tracy and I . I learned that Fred seems to live in the local area where the elusive light blue with dark blue specs Lima pony's were used ... he had found four of them over the years in the area... Well he needed only one for his collection so I was finally convinced I needed one and a modest offer was made and a deal was made ... ME HAPPY ... :-) ! I asked what about the other two ? Fred said they were up for grabs as well and I immediately yanked out my cell phone and called my collector friends Elton Gish and Robin Harison who are both Lima and Fred Locke specialists ... Deals were made over the phone and checks are on there way to Fred . I am now going to deliver the other two pony's to Elton and Robin respectively... you can really tell when Elton is happy as he gets a particular inflection in his voice that happens only when he is about to acquire some new porcelain jewel he really is after... I love moments in life like this! Every time I look at that little blue pony on my shelf, I will always be reminded our wonderful visit to see Fred Collier!