Summary

This fully-functional 40' Menagerie carousel was the brain child of Allan Herschell. The carousel carries a collection of his favorite hand-carved characters that traveled and operated around the world. Sold as a pair with lot 5083.

Details

This fully-functional 40' Menagerie Carousel was the brain child of Allan Herschell. The carousel carries a collection of his favorite hand-carved and crafted characters that traveled and operated around the world. The 3-row carousel is home to some of Allan's most treasured pieces with 38 characters in action. Allan Herschell is known as the 'Henry Ford' of carousels, beginning his life's work in 1873 with his partner James Armitage. Armitage-Herschell Co. would dominate the carousel market until 1899 when the economy collapsed in real estate investments. Allan's marriage to Ida Spillman ultimately brought his genius back to carousels, when Ida's brothers merged the two companies to form Herschell-Spillman Co. Between 1903 and 1920, the Herschell-Spillman family produced more carousels than any other American factory. Health reasons forced Allan into semi-retirement in 1913, but only for two years before coming back with his reformed Allan Herschell Company to produce fair, carnival and travel-sized carousels. This left Spillman Engineering Co. to do the larger carousels over 32'. With Allan's declining health, his wife, Ida, took over a project that had been in the works since the inception of his first company in 1873. Allan began collecting his favorite pieces from his carousels and travels, wanting to create his own menagerie of his most-loved treasures. Always wrapped in his work, Allan was never able to see the idea take flight. That is until Ida took his characters and constructed this 40' masterpiece. Ida completed this project in 1922 in time for him to see it in full operation before his death in 1927. A project that began its journey in the 1870s had now come to fruition. The Spillman family would go on to own and operate it before selling it. Now, over 130 years later, the carousel and its characters still move in perfect harmony rotating at 10mph. With some of his hand-carved pieces from France and Europe dating back to his early years of manufacturing in 1875, the carousel is an electric time capsule that still captures the hearts of children and adults to this day. **SOLD AS A PAIR WITH LOT 5083**