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AS A CHILD, Robin Frielich bypassed the roller coaster and the flume ride at her local amusement park and headed straight for the merry-go-round.
"The horses were so beautiful and the music was great," she recalls. "There was just something so magical about the whole experience."
Four years ago, Frielich purchased a piece of that childhood memory when she bought a carved wooden carousel horse for her Manhattan apartment. "It was missing one leg and a part of its ear was gone, but I couldn't resist," says the collector, who is the secretary of the American Carousel Society.
Once prized solely by children, carousels are fast becoming a treasured part of America's past. Sought after by collectors, restored by craftspeople and even exhibited in museums, carousel figures are once more in the spotlight after years of neglect and abandonment. Along with the renewed interest comes skyrocketing prices. A record high was set last February when a rooster carved by Gustav Dentzel at the turn of the century fetched $148,500 at Sotheby's. Generally, prices at auction (which is the way the figures are usually sold) range between $2,500 and $20,000, according to Arlin Ettinger, president of Guernsey's, an auction house in Manhattan that holds two sales of carousel art a year.
"Clearly, these figures have become a valuable commodity," says Ettinger. "Everything from barnyard figures to exotic animals such as lions and tigers to mythical beasts like sea serpents. When these figures were carved in the early part of the century, they were considered daring rides. The parks advertised the fiercest animals, the wildest manes, the highest jumpers."
Though carvers made many animals for the carousel, the...