Miranda Worby says she will never sell her My Little Pony collection even though it is now worth roughly $94,000.
Worby, 42, from Suffolk, United Kingdom, has spent between $47,000 and $54,000 building what became a Guinness World Record-holding hoard of more than 4,550 items, a total that has since climbed past 7,000. She moved house eight years ago specifically to accommodate the volume, converting what had been a spare bedroom into a dedicated display space stripped of its bed, wardrobes and other furniture.
“I’ve spent about £35,000 – £40,000 ($47,000 – $54,000) which is ridiculous when you say it like that,” Worby said in an interview.
Her current valuation runs higher. “There’s some rare ones in there that I can’t put a price on because they’ve never come up for sale, but I would say it would be worth at least that,” she said, estimating the full collection at £60,000 to £70,000, or $81,000 to $94,000.
The refusal to cash in is not about market timing. “I would miss them. As silly as it sounds, I would miss the collection,” Worby explained. She added that selling would be pointless because she would only want to repurchase everything.
The collection traces back nearly three decades to when Worby was three years old. Her parents told her she could not have a real horse, so she settled for the plastic alternative. She has kept acquiring ever since, now buying new items three or four times a week.
The house move was driven by a principle: “I moved house so that I could display them because they were just in boxes, and I didn’t really like the idea of collecting if I was just going to keep it in a box,” Worby said. “I want to be able to see them and I want others to appreciate the collection as well.”
The display room has polarized visitors. “Some people can’t handle it and I don’t know why. I suppose because I’m used to it. But so for me, it just, I don’t really take notice of it as such,” Worby said during a Zoom call showcasing the space. She noted that some friends simply “couldn’t handle it” upon entering.
Worby uses her platform to encourage other collectors. “If someone starts collecting, whether it’s My Little Pony or something else, I want them to know it’s okay to collect what you love,” she said. “Just enjoy it. You’re not hurting anyone, there’s nothing wrong with it.”
The spare bedroom conversion required stripping out all standard furnishings. “This was obviously the spare bedroom in the house originally,” Worby said. “The bed had to go, the wardrobe had to go, everything like that had to go so that I could move them into here. I didn’t want a bed in here I wanted it to be completed dedicated to My Little Pony. So everything got moved out for that.”