ANAHEIM : Carousel Fans Ride in for Auction

Marianne Stevens has fond memories of the old carousel ride at Coney Island.

She loved the delicately carved wooden horses with shiny glass black eyes. And today, more than 30 years later, she owns one of the largest and most exclusive carousel collections in the country.

In town this weekend for the auction of the Bud Hurlbut carousel collection at the Anaheim Convention Center, Stevens says America has once again fallen in love with the vintage musical horses.

“A few years ago they were considered nothing but pieces of wood left to dry-rot somewhere,” said Stevens, who lives in New Mexico. “Now they’re a hot item with people all around the country interested in buying them at whatever cost. There are not too many things out there built to endure the years like the wooden horses have. They are truly collectors’ items.”

Hundreds of collectors are expected to attend today’s auction that will showcase about 120 antique horses and other figures owned by Hurlbut, the one-time owner and operator of the rides at Knott’s Berry Farm. More than half the figures were located at Knott’s Lagoon area.

“Hurlbut just basically decided that it was time to let go of the figures,” said William Mann, a New York collector also in town for the auction.

“He said he’d held on to them long enough and that it was time for someone else to enjoy the antiques.”

Of the 6,000 hand-craved wooden carousels that were made in this country between 1900 and 1925, only 200 remain and just 80 are in working condition. Carousels that are now placed in amusement parks are made of fiberglass and aluminum.

Mann said the concept of carousels was developed in the 17th Century when European horsemen, playing an Arabian game, would ride at full speed to spear gold rings with their lances. To practice for this event, the rider used crude wooden horses attached by beams to a central pole that was rotated by servants.

Immigrants brought the craft to America and soon carousels were a common sight at fairs across the country.

The Dentzel factory and the Philadelphia Toboggan Co., both Philadelphia-based operations, were the largest producers of carousels before the Depression.

The Dentzel products currently have the highest value among collectors, with a piece made by Gustave Dentzel in 1900 selling for $148,000, the most ever paid for a figure, at an auction in 1989. On Saturday, collectors expect a 1903 Dentzel horse decorated with the American flag to draw the highest bid, $100,000.