Horses and tigers and bears _ Oh, my! NYC auction to feature antique carousel creatures

Giddyup! NYC auction to trot out carousel horses

NEW YORK — Intricately hand-carved carousel horses, tigers and bears and exquisitely rendered circus posters evoking a bygone era of the fairground as a Disney-esque attraction are going on the auction block.

Sixty antique circus posters and 50 carousel horses and other menagerie figures from the early 1900s are being sold Sept. 25 at Guernsey’s auction house in New York.

Among the carousel figures — consigned by different collectors — is a life-size tiger created by the Dentzel carving studio.

It is the property of a woman who acquired it when she was 4 years old when she and her mother came upon two firefighters burning a carousel from the defunct Kiddy City Amusement Park in Queens, which closed in 1964.

The firefighters told her to pick a figure she liked, and as they carried it to the car, her mother tipped them $20, said Guernsey’s owner Arlan Ettinger.

The restored cat, painted in realistic tiger colors with an elaborate saddle and fringe, is estimated to sell for $60,000 to $70,000.

At one time, there were 6,000 carousels averaging 40-45 figures each, dotting carnivals around the country.

“It was a very popular pastime,” said Ettinger. “You would have been able to choose from multiple carousels” at a fairground, each competing against the other to attract riders.

By 1983, when Guernsey’s conducted its first carousel auction, the number of antique carousels had dwindled to about 150. Today, that number is fewer than 100, Ettinger said.

“The vast majority were intentionally destroyed to make way for newer, challenging rides,” he said.

Also for sale are a chariot and five figures from a carousel that stood in Dorney Park when the Allentown, Pa., amusement park opened in 1901. It belonged to a descendant of the Plarr family that owned and operated the park for eight decades after acquiring it from the original owner.

The September auction represents all nine American carousel carving companies famous for their chariots, horses, cats, seals, lions and other animals, each offering a distinctive style from stately to folksy.

These were all small studios with a carver and a few assistants, said Ettinger.

Another highlight includes a horse by carver Charles Carmel with decorative jewels by M.D. Borelli. The equestrian sculpture, about 3/4 the size of a real horse, is a stander — a stationary figure on a platform.

It is stripped of paint, a quality collectors cherish for the carving the musculature it reveals.

The circus posters offered at the auction are the property of a man who got hooked on them when the circus came to his small midwestern town in Illinois when he was a boy, said Ettinger.

“Collecting circus artifacts and memorabilia was a very popular hobby,” he said.

Before the Depression, circus posters “were the most beautiful posters created on this planet,” their artistry compared to the likes of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, said Ettinger.

Most are in excellent condition and are expected to bring $1,000 to $4,000 each.

Averaging 30 by 40 inches, they depict specific circus acts and scenes that were being promoted.

Among the standouts is a brightly colored 1912 Barnum & Bailey poster (before the merger with Ringing Brothers in 1919) that portrayed the excitement of an attraction the circus brought from Japan. Titled “A Congress of Japan’s Famous Strongmen, Gladiators, Swordsmen, Wrestlers, Jiu-jitsu and Athletic Champions,” it is estimated to fetch $2,000 to $3,000. It was produced by one of the most prolific creators of circus posters, the Strobridge Litho Company of Cincinnati.

Online:

www.guernseys.com