CAROUSEL HORSE FULL SIZE APPLEBEE'S HAND PAINTED WH (03/28/2011)...

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CAROUSEL HORSE FULL SIZE APPLEBEE'S HAND PAINTED WHITE

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CAROUSEL HORSE FULL SIZE APPLEBEE'S HAND PAINTED WHITE

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Sold Date: 03/28/2011
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Fraternal, Political, Organizations

carousel horse's made for Applebee's by Bruce A. White. There were approximately 1500 made.
this auction is for 1 horse .
I HAVE A TOTAL OF 9 OF THESE HORSES.
THERE SIZES ARE APPROX 50" TALL 52" LONG 12' WIDE . THEY WEIGHT APPROX 30 LBS
THESE ARE TRULY BEAUTIFUL !!!
MAKE AN OFFER ON 1 OR ON ALL 9 !!! HAVE YOUR OWN MERRY GO ROUND
HERE IS A INTERVIEW OF THE MAKER OF THESE HORSES:
Bruce White is one of the world's leading exerts on these painted ponies. He's been creating them for years, and is now the author of a book entitled "Carousel Carving." But even he admits this was all something of an accident.
Bruce White: I just kind of fell into it. When I was a kid, I never rode on a carousel. I wanted to go ride the tilt-a-whirl and crazy, scary rides. I never took an art class in my entire life. I got kicked out of art when I was in junior high, and I never took any more after that.
Narrator: Bruce did eventually find an interest in art while traveling the world during his service in the army. Then one day, he saw an artist at work at a fair, and decided to give woodcarving a try.
Bruce White: I was watching a guy carve at an art show. He was carving this owl. It was just fabulous. And they are like that is so beautiful and that's so great. And I said, "I wish I could do that." And the guy just looked at me and said you know, "The proof of desire is pursuit." And so I did. I started pursuing it. Took my wife's cutting board. The first thing I tried to do, I did this little sailing ship on this cutting board. It turned out pretty good. I was still in the Navy. I started making plaques for people as each parted. And I guess I had a knack for it. Before I knew what was happening, I had people calling me from actually all over the world --because my plaques were going all over the world-saying can you make me a plaque for this, or make me a plaque for that.
Narrator: He graduated from plaques to carving furniture - then decided to trying his hand at a carousel horse.
Bruce White: And man, I made a lot of cedar chests. One day this lady asked me, "Can you make a carousel horse?" Well, I've never tried but I'll give it a try. So I started working on this carousel horse. And the newspaper there in town-I was working on my first porch-and this newspaper came by and saw this crazy guy working on a carousel horse in his front yard, and they came did a little story about it.
Narrator: The head of a major toy company say the article about Bruce's carving in the local newspaper, and offered him a job.
Bruce White: And he gave me a call and said, "Our molds are about forty years old, and we need a new line of hobby horses for our toy market. Would you be interested in doing that? Well, being a starving artist, I wasn't going to say no. So, I did and I worked for Wonder Toys for about five years.
So then the carousel companies that make the big carousels-there are about a dozen of them worldwide-they've starting calling me and having me make their plugs for them. You'll see my figures on carousels literally all over the world.
Narrator: Once carousel horses became his mainstay, Bruce and his family moved back to his native Kansas. They settled in Kinsley, a town which happens to boast a rich carnival heritage. Bruce built a workshop there and cranked out carousel horses for amusement companies, restaurant chains and private collectors.
Then, in June of 2000, a fire devastated the entire workshop. Left with almost nothing, Bruce relocated to Saint Joseph, Missouri, and is now in the process of rebuilding his studio.
He makes his living creating signature carousel horses for Applebees restaurants.
Bruce White: Everybody always tells me, "Oh, you're such a good artist and everything." And I don't actually consider myself an artist at all, believe it or not. I take more of a technical step-by-step approach. I consider myself more of an engineer. I engineer a carousel horse. And I can a...