Round and Round We Go

By one of those odd coincidences that often happen in life, I recently learned two interesting facts about carousel horses.

First, courtesy of Laura J. Rock-Smith, who created this year's Breyerfest silent auction "Alter-Ego," I learned that carousel horses are decorated differently on each of their two sides.  The side that shows -- the one meant to tempt customers to mount a carousel horse (called a "romance" side) -- is usually elaborately decorated while the side that faces inward, towards the center of the carousel mechanism (the "non-romance" side), is usually decorated less elaborately.  All the same pieces are there, in the same colours, but the carving or molding is plain, without the intricate work you see on the showy side of the piece.

Secondly, I learned while watching a documentary on old amusement parks on PBS (the Public Broadcasting Service) that carousels in North America turn counter-clockwise to enable the right-handed majority to more easily grasp the brass rings that were once dispensed along the edges of the carousel, while carousels in Europe turn clockwise because equestrian etiquette demands mounting on the left (near) side of the horse.  According to my admittedly scanty subsequent research, Australia seems to have both clockwise and counter-clockwise carousels.

My one and only carousel horse

This got me thinking a lot about carousels.  I don't collect carousel horses (yet), but I can certainly see the appeal of a carousel horse collection, whether the horses involved are replicas of real carousel horses or objects of the sculptor's imagination.

Breyer has a very attractive selection of porcelain carousel horse ornaments (and one lion), released once per year since 2000.  They've also released a large porcelain carousel horse, and a Little Bit carousel horse and unicorn that have become highly desired collectibles since their initial release.

Hallmark Carousel Horse*

Other companies have well-known carousel horse lines as well.  Hallmark, like Breyer, was for a time releasing a new carousel horse every year (I'm not sure whether or not they're still doing this).  And whatever Hallmark does, other ornament makers, like Lenox, are pretty sure to do, so a lot of them have their own line of carousel horses to rival the Hallmark offerings.

Lenox Carousel Horse*

Similarly, the Franklin Mint has a series of carousel horses in its line, and as the Franklin Mint does, so does the Princeton Gallery.  Porcelain manufacturer Cybis, also brought out a collectible line of carousel horses and other animals, meant to rival the works of other porcelain studios like Connoisseur of Malvern, but not quite coming up to the mark.

Cybis Carousel Horse*

Franklin Mint Carousel Horse*

*Images courtesy of replacements.com

Princeton Gallery Carousel Horses 

(image courtesy of bonanza.com)

When I was a kid, we called carousels "merry-go-rounds," which led to a lot of disappointment and confusion whenever I was told (by someone outside the family) that we were going to a park that had a merry-go-round only to find one of those spinning platforms with bars on it that I think are also called "playground roundabouts."

I don't know whether the term "merry-go-round" for "carousel" was a regional thing, like the differences between "pop," "soda," "soft drink," and "tonic," but that was certainly what my family called the amusement park ride with the bobbing horses.

What I do know was that as a child I was very fond of a bouncy little tune called "Horace the Horse (on the Merry-Go-Round)" so using "merry-go-round" for "carousel" was not unique to my family.

In fact, there is an organization called the National Carousel Association whose newsletter is entitled The Merry-Go-Roundup.

Of course, carousels feature other animals besides horses, but being a horse-shaped object collector, it's the horses that intrigue me the most.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I can envision how nice a collection of carousel horses might look ...

Somebody stop me now!