Cleveland, OH (PRWEB) July 25, 2013 -- July 25 is National Carousel Day. The holiday celebrates the first U.S. patent for a carousel, granted to Willhelm Schneider of Davenport, Iowa, in 1871. Though carousels were around for centuries, Davenport is considered the inventor of the modern carousel.
Terry Kovel, author and antiques expert at Kovels.com, is spearheading the effort to restore Cleveland's Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel. She reports that the recently-completed Glass Pavilion housing the carousel is now open to the public. The pavilion is attached to Cleveland's Western Reserve Historical Society building. Fifty horses are there on display, waiting for the center pole and main mechanism to be finished. The carousel will be ready to ride in 2014. Kovel adds that carousel or merry-go-round figures were first carved in the United States in 1867 by Gustav Dentzel. Collectors discovered the charm of the hand-carved figures in the 1970s, and they are now classified as folk art. Here are ten things few know about carousels:
1. Americans have spelled the name "carousel" in many ways— carousel, caroussel, carousell.
2. Carousels date back to at least 17th-century Europe.
3. The horses are carved from wood by experienced workmen. No two are exactly alike. It takes from 3 to 5 days to 3 to 5 weeks to carve a carousel horse depending on the carver and the complexity of design.
4. All carousel horses are female.
5. Horses are made with solid wood heads and tails and hollow bodies.
6. All of the carousel horses are moved by a metal ring on the center pole. The platform they stand on is above the floor.
7. The most important horse on most antique carousels is the armour horse.
8. There are about 150 working antique carousels in the United States. The Cleveland Euclid Beach Carousel is the only one we know that is now being restored with the original horses.
9. In Europe merry-go-round figures move in a clockwise direction, while in the U.S.A., they move counter-clockwise. The "outsides" of the figures have the most decoration, so you can tell an American-carved figure from a European-carved figure.
10. One of the world's first solar-powered carousels opened at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington D.C. in 2012. It features 58 hand-carved endangered animal figures and 162 solar panels.
Terry Kovel, well-known columnist and author, gives information and advice on collecting. She will discuss carousels, antiques and collectibles topics with accredited media. Photographs are available. Contact pr(at)kovels.com. Learn more about the Cleveland Euclid Beach Carousel at ClevelandCarousel.org.
About Kovels.com
Kovels.com, created by Terry Kovel and Kim Kovel, provides collectors and researchers with up-to-date and accurate information on antiques and collectibles. Kovels’ Antiques was founded in 1953 by Terry Kovel and her late husband, Ralph. Since then, Kovels’ Antiques has continually published some of America’s most popular books and articles about antiques, including the best-selling “Kovels’ Antiques and Collectibles Price Guide,” now in its 45th edition. The Kovels’ website, online since 1998, and free weekly email, “Kovels Komments,” give readers a bird's-eye view of the market through up-to-date news, auction reports, free online Price Guide, a Marks Dictionary, readers’ questions with Kovels’ answers and much more.
Contact Information:
Liz Lillis
216.752.2252
Pr(at)kovels(dot)com
Kim Kovel, Kovels.com, http://www.Kovels.com, 216-752-2252, [email protected]
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