Welcome to the carousel figurine database

I have designed this site to both preserve "history," and allow fellow collectors to identify their carousel figurines as that information is disappearing from the internet at a fairly rapid pace. You can currently search for carousel figurines by badge images/stickers if it has one, by manufacturer if you know who made it, or (the real reason I started this site) by the color, pose, and style of carousel figurine if there are no identifying markings. While there are still thousands to go, I have added nearly 700 figurines into the database so far, mostly from my personal collection, but I am adding ones I do not have yet when I am able to find pictures of them on auction sites and have the time to input their information.

If you have any questions, feel free to find me on Facebook as TheCarouselCollector  (That is the location of my first attempt at the carousel database, but then I found Omeka S, the wonderful museum website software that runs this website.)

Note: The site is still under construction so I do apologize if you happen upon any blank sections.  I am currently working on articles about cleaning, maintenance, repairs, and my past and present restorations of carousel figurines.  Unfortunately, the "My Collection" section of the site is not setup yet (That is the little carousel horse picture at the top of every carousel figurine's information page) - When I get it working, it would allow you to log-in and add carousel horse figurines to a private personal collection page - meaning you could visit this site while shopping and check if you already have that one in your collection (aka cut down on duplicate purchases,) or perhaps to ID a figurine you spot at the flee market. I also hope to eventually allow my fellow collectors to add figurines they have found into the database as well, but I haven't had time to code the back-end and forms for that yet - it is on the lower priority to do list.

About

I call myself a carousel figurine historian. I have some sort of OCD where it is not enough for me to just look at them and love them, oh no, I need to know who made it and more importantly, was it part of a series? I must complete all series!! I greatly enjoy the hunt for carousel pieces and many, many hours are spent looking for the special ones I need to complete a set, or have wanted to find for years. 

I started collecting carousel figurines roughly 45 to 47 years ago when I was a child. Someone had given me a carousel music box for Christmas. I am pretty sure it was a Linden full carousel and I absolutely loved it. I would wind it up every night when I went to bed and watch it turn. I had a night light across the room that bounced off the mirror over my dresser and then caught the mirrored platform's beveled edge, putting a slightly curved rectangle on the ceiling like a cubic crescent moon. Unfortunately, it met a rather messy demise when I decided to climb up one of the posts of my four poster bed, which obviously could not support my weight. No idea why I did it to this day, but the post snapped in half, the metal and fabric canopy collapsed, and I went flailing to the floor. I was not hurt (other than my ears from the yelling I got for the stupid stunt,) but my poor carousel did not survive the ordeal.

Mother, being a softy, was going to get me a new one, and I went through every single catalog that came in the mail trying to find "the one." It was the late 70s, so carousel figurines were out there, but not all that heavily - the 90s craze, the Tobin Fraley days, had not hit yet. Worse, carousel figurines were not in Alaska and not in the mostly clothing catalogs my Mother got either. I think I only ever saw them at the JC Penny's during Christmas.  (For the younger collectors, there was no internet, no mobile phones, and computers were not really on the public market yet so no online shopping - everything was either bought in the store or ordered from paper magazines that were mailed to you, often by request only.)  Anyway, I did not want a Christmas themed carousel so I just kept looking, and looking, but sadly not really finding anything. 

Unbeknownst to me, my mother sent out letters asking family in the lower 48 for help with "the carousel problem."  For Christmas that year I received something like 15 carousels from family, a number of which survived my children and I still have them today. For basically my entire life since then, in addition to regularly buying my own, I often receive carousels from family, friends, and my, now adult, sons.  (I can usually tell if the boys think they found one I don't have because they will make excuses to come visit and check out the ever growing collection.)  More recently, in the past 10 or so years, I also started buying and restoring figurines to save them from the garbage.