C.W. Parker - Horse

Catalogue Piece #093 tbd

  • A full-size carousel horse in extended stretched-jumper pose, romance side photographed: forelegs tucked back at the chest, hindlegs extended fully at the gallop, body suspended on the carousel pole with the head extended forward and turned slightly outward, mouth open with bared teeth and tongue showing, eye alert and forward-facing, ears pricked. The figure is mounted on its original twisted brass pole with ornamental cap finial. The body is finished in an antique cream/white palette with substantial darker shading at the musculature and lower legs — a deliberate aged park-paint restoration register rather than fresh polychrome (inferred from photograph). The mane is a heavy windswept high-relief carving in cream-and-shadow, lying along the right neck; the tail is carved wood in matching color, flowing back along the body. The defining decorative feature is a carved revolver mounted as a secondary figure on the near shoulder, holstered against the harness, with what appears to be a coiled lariat element rendered prominently at the saddle pommel. Layered trappings include an orange/red Western-style cantle saddle over a teal-green saddle blanket with red and green cabochon jewel insets, an orange chest harness band with red jewels, and a scrolled green hindquarter panel with carved feather striations and additional jewels along the croup. The owner records the piece as a C.W. Parker outside-row jumper "cowboy horse" (reported).

  • Acquired in July (reported). The piece was obtained as part of a trade-up exchange — the previous Parker piece in the collection, a smaller Parker flag horse, was sold to fund this acquisition (reported). The horse was restored by Mary Lawrence Youree (reported; "Mary Lawrence Yorey" in raw transcript is the phonetic rendering of Mary Lawrence Youree, the documented restorer who appears across multiple acquisitions in this collection — IDs 004, 091, and others). The owner attributes a manufacture date of 1917 to the piece (reported); this sits squarely within Parker's Leavenworth wooden production window and is independently consistent with the carving style and outside-row designation (inferred).

    • Mary Lawrence Youree (restoration) — restored the piece prior to or at the time of sale; Mary Lawrence Youree is documented across this collection as both a working restorer-painter and the proprietor of Cast Iron and Cast Offs, Oregon City, Oregon (sourced — Youree appraisal letterhead on multiple collection records; CarouselHistory.com Walt Youree memorial; American Folk Art Museum donation records).

    • Owner's records locate the sale to the current owner in July 1989. The 1989 acquisition fits the established cluster of Youree-era acquisitions in this collection (IDs 002, 004 from 1988; ID 086 from May 1989; ID 088 from May 1994).

    • Prior to Youree: undocumented in the records currently available. No carousel of origin, park history, or chain of intermediate owners is recorded.

  • Charles Wallace Parker (1864–1932) founded the C.W. Parker Amusement Company in Abilene, Kansas in 1894, relocating production to Leavenworth, Kansas in 1911. Parker built approximately 1,000 carousels — far more than any of his contemporaries — and dominated the American carnival/traveling-carousel market through the early twentieth century. Parker carousels were designed for portability and transportation, which is reflected in their figures: Parker horses are documented as "compact, easy to transport" relative to fixed-park figures from East Coast makers such as Dentzel or PTC (sourced — Carousel Workshop dealer documentation; AntiqueCarousels.com Parker manufacturer page). Parker production transitioned from carved wood to cast aluminum around 1925, with aluminum production complete by 1930; the all-wood construction of this figure places it firmly in the Leavenworth wooden production window of c.1911–1925 (sourced — Wikipedia, AntiqueCarousels.com, Carousel Workshop), consistent with the owner's reported 1917 manufacture date.

    The Parker decorative vocabulary is well documented: roses, hound's heads, tobacco leaves, bull horns, fish, shields, and ears of corn appear repeatedly across the company's outside-row production. The most heavily decorated figures were typically the lead horses for their carousels (sourced — Carousel Workshop). Parker is also distinguished from other major American makers by his use of unfaceted glass cabochon jewels rather than faceted stones — a feature visible on the present piece in the round red and green cabochons set into the saddle blanket and chest harness (sourced).

    The defining decorative feature of this figure — a carved revolver mounted as secondary trapping — places it within a documented Parker production category. Parker outside-row jumpers with carved weapons and frontier-themed secondary carvings are an established sub-type. Carousel Workshop documents a Parker outside-row jumper carrying a carved rifle scabbard, sword, and rabbit on the saddle blanket, designated "Hunter with Rifle and Rabbit" or "Hunter's Pride" — a c.1900–1918 traveling jumper from the Abilene/Leavenworth production (sourced — Carousel Workshop "Abilene Parker Hunter's w/ Rifle & Rabbit" listing; LiveAuctioneers "Antique Parker Carousel Horse, Hunter's Pride" c.1918 listing). The present figure carries a carved revolver in place of the rifle scabbard and a lariat ornament rather than a rabbit, but represents the same Western/frontier-themed Parker production tradition — the cowboy variant of the hunter form. Parker's carnival trade serviced the Western and Midwestern fair circuit, and the firm's "Carry-Us-All" carousels were promoted with frontier and patriotic imagery (sourced — Parker's Perfect Pleasure Producer poster, c.1910). A separately documented Parker "Patriotic Grand Jubilee" jumper of c.1920 features carved American flags and matching jeweled trappings, confirming Parker's broader pattern of producing thematic outside-row jumpers — patriotic, hunter, cowboy — with elaborate carved secondary figures (sourced — LiveAuctioneers Patriotic Grand Jubilee listing).

    Across the Parker production record, outside-row jumpers with named themes (Hunter's Pride, Patriotic Grand Jubilee, and a smaller number of frontier/cowboy variants) appear less frequently on the private market than standard Parker middle-row jumpers and flower-and-garland outside-row figures. Carousel Workshop characterizes the Hunter form as a "Stargazer head position" outside-row figure of standard traveling-jumper proportions (approximately 55" × 44") and presents the form as comparatively rare in the dealer's documented inventory (sourced). The owner's report that the horse was acquired in trade for a smaller Parker flag horse is consistent with the value differential between a thematic outside-row cowboy jumper and a less elaborate flag-themed middle or inside-row figure (reported).

    Auction comparables for Parker outside-row wood jumpers in restored condition: a c.1919 stretched Parker jumper with jewels offered through AntiqueCarousels.com (price not retrieved); a c.1915 Parker jeweled and flowered jumper with one retained Leavenworth horseshoe offered at approximately $9,995 through Carousel Workshop; the Hunter's Pride form offered through LiveAuctioneers (hammer price not retrieved); other Parker jeweled and flowered outside-row jumpers documented across LiveAuctioneers sold records in the high four-figure to low five-figure range (sourced). Thematic outside-row figures (patriotic, hunter, cowboy) command the upper end of the Parker market when they appear. The 1989 acquisition price is consistent with the late-1980s peak of the secondary carousel market for restored outside-row Parker pieces (sourced — AntiqueCarousels.com market commentary).

  • Surface presents as fully restored in an antique-shaded park paint register — a deliberate restoration choice that preserves the appearance of aged factory paint without reproducing fresh polychrome (inferred from photograph). The cream body, dark shading at musculature, and tonal mane and tail are consistent with Mary Lawrence Youree's documented restoration style across this collection. Jewels appear secure and complete in the visible (romance) side trappings — red and green cabochons in saddle blanket, breast harness, and croup, plus the prominent black cabochon at the rope coil at the saddle pommel. The figure is mounted on its original twisted brass carousel pole with both ornamental cap and lower brass collar visible. Construction details (single-piece versus joined body, horseshoe stamping for independent Parker confirmation, eye material, any factory marks on the non-romance side or underside) and the non-romance side trappings have not been photographed and remain to be assessed. Formal condition rating: excellent, pending physical inspection — consistent with the owner's restoration record and the visible state of the piece.

    • Owner interview transcript — Parker attribution, outside-row designation, cowboy theme, trade-up from prior Parker flag horse, Mary Lawrence Youree restoration credit, July 1989 acquisition, c.1917 manufacture date (reported)

    • Owner pricing sheet entry 93: "CWPARKER; Jumping outside road horse with excellent trappings. This cowboy horse was obtained when we sold a smaller Parker flag horse. Restored by Mary Lawrence Youree. We paid $7,000 in July 1989. Circa 1917" (reported)

    • Photograph DSC_2764 (romance side, single view) (primary visual evidence)

    • Carousel Workshop — "Abilene Parker Hunter's w/ Rifle & Rabbit Mane Outer Row" listing documenting weapon secondary carvings as a Parker outside-row production type; "Parker Flowered Jumper" listing documenting decorative vocabulary; "Abilene Parker Semi Armored Outer Row" documenting thematic outside-row Parker production (sourced)

    • AntiqueCarousels.com — Parker manufacturer page; c.1919 Parker stretched jumper listing; market commentary on Parker production and pricing (sourced)

    • LiveAuctioneers — Parker "Hunter's Pride" c.1918 outside-row listing; "Patriotic Grand Jubilee" c.1920 listing; multiple Parker jeweled jumper price records (sourced)

    • Wikipedia and CarouselHistory.com — C.W. Parker Amusement Company history; Leavenworth production window; transition to cast aluminum c.1925 (sourced)

    • Art of the Carousel, Charlotte Dinger, 1983 — standard reference for American carousel makers including Parker (sourced — referenced as standard literature)

    • Cross-reference to ID 004 (Youree restoration of Armitage-Herschell jumper), ID 091 (Youree-acquired Illions stander), and prior Parker entries in this collection — establishing Mary Lawrence Youree as the documented restorer-painter and dealer of record across multiple acquisitions (internal collection records)

  • High. Maker attribution is supported by (1) the owner's direct identification, (2) every documented Parker stylistic marker visible in the photograph — unfaceted cabochon jewels, compact outside-row jumper proportions, stretched-jumper pose, decorative vocabulary — and (3) direct correspondence to a documented Parker outside-row weapon-themed production sub-type (Hunter with Rifle and Rabbit / Hunter's Pride). The acquisition is documented by date, price, dealer, and trade record. The c.1917 manufacture date is consistent with the Leavenworth wooden production window. The only items preventing this from being a "fully resolved" entry are (a) horseshoe stamping has not been independently confirmed (Parker shoes are stamped "C.W. Parker Leavenworth Kansas" and would close the question definitively), and (b) the carousel of origin is not documented.

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