Friday, May 1, 2009

Tchotchke Challenge - Letter H.

H is for Horse

Back in the summer of 2006 I was visiting my Auntie Dar, who is an outstanding decorative painter (see her work here!) She has a studio at The Merry Go Round Museum in Sandusky Ohio. She gave me a wonderful tour of the museum that concluded in their gift shop, where some raffle tickets were for sale. I paid $5 for 6 raffle tickets, assuming I was making a contribution to the museum, and promptly forgot about the drawing, which wasn’t being held until New Year’s Day.


Six months later, I got a phone call on New Year’s Day. I had won a carousel horse! I envisioned something like this:


But no, the caller went on to tell me that I needed to make arrangements to pick it up or have it shipped from Sandusky because it was a FULL SIZE, hand carved, hand painted, work of art.

Now I know that this is way too big to qualify as tchotcke (and I'm all for stretching the definition!), but I wanted to show you. My cousin Carrie and her friend Linda carted it here in the back of their van. We keep her on the landing of the entryway to our house. So there is just no avoiding her. She was named Sanduskia,by my cousin Brandon because of her Native American origins.








I’ve been told that the sale of this item to an appreciative collector could finance a trip to Greece, Prague, Egypt or just about anywhere else in the world that I might want to go, but for now we’re happy to enjoy her in our living room, where she is the most frequently dusted (mostly by children’s bottoms) article in the house.


If you’re into carousel horses, the Merry Go Round Museum is not to be missed!

And don’t miss the tchotchke posted at Pam J and God Bless Ya’ll Real Good. They always have cool stuff! What are you gonna post for letter I?

10 comments:

tina said...

You are so LUCKY! What an awesome awesome win!! I love it and don't blame you for enjoying it at your house!

Squirrel said...

love it! love the papoose!

Karen said...

Oh my goodness, I think that is the best $5 you ever spent! If I show this to my daughter, she will practically die of jealousy. She loves carousels and someday we will need to get out to that museum. Love it! Best (gigantic) tchotchke ever.

Joanne said...

What a beautiful horse, and amazing raffle prize! We have a large carousel here in Hartford, I love taking a ride every now and then.

Anne said...

Well, that is about the most amazing thing I've ever seen! It's the PERFECT tchotchke.

Your kids must be the envy of the entire kid community.

What a wonderful story, too. Great--and I mean GREAT--entry!

(I wonder how Pilot would look with a little decorative painting and a few coats of shellac?)

Kitt said...

How fun! I always wanted one of those.

California Girl said...

gosh this is a nice post and blog and great images and everything! where have I been?

Love that Obama poster. Did you photoshop?

Pam J. said...

I want one too....Just wonderful. He cheers me up! And definitely qualifies for a tchotchke.

Mayberry said...

Oh, I love it, especially the papoose!

Anonymous said...

That is a very cool win. I like the wool blanket on his back. I heard too that if you have one of those original blankets---it could finance the rest of your life. Interesting how these things are so valued. Congrats and cute that your kids enjoy it so much.