Antique of the Week: Half-and-Half Carousel Horse

As everyone in Kensington knows, Antique Row is one of the community’s points of pride. Howard Avenue and its side streets are lined with shops specializing in antique furniture, rugs, vintage toys, used books and more. This large presence in the community sparked our feature, Antique of the Week, where we will showcase a different item or curiosity each week to bring attention to pieces from the past.

This week, we’re featuring a carousel horse made by the Allan Herschell Company in North Tonawanda, N.Y. At , you can find it ensconced in a tight corner wrapped with a vintage American flag.

The owner of the shop, Diane Solomon, said that this horse is a typical “half and half,” i.e., half aluminum and half wood. The body is made of wood, and the head is made of aluminum.

Solomon said that the Allan Herschell Company was the only one that made half-and-half carousel horses. The half-and-half horse led to the manufacture and rise of the all-aluminum carousel horse, according to the North Tonawanda History Museum.

Solomon estimated this carousel horse to be from the 1940s or 1950s, coinciding with the portable carousels that the Herschell company specialized in the 1950s.

You can buy this special memento for $2,600 at Diane’s Antiques, located at 3758 Howard Ave. Solomon can be reached at 301-946-4242.