Stein & Goldstein - Horse
Catalog #009 138×126×26cm
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A hand-carved wooden inner row stander attributed by the owner to the firm of Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein, Brooklyn, New York (reported). The horse presents in a walking stander pose — all four feet on platform, left front leg slightly advanced — and is notably small, consistent with the owner's identification as an inner row figure on a machine whose outer row horses would have been substantially larger and more elaborately carved (reported). The body is painted silver-gray with white carved mane, dark horsehair tail, and white socks over dark hooves. The saddle is blue, and the saddlecloth is green with elaborate painted decoration: scroll and fleur-de-lis motifs on the romance side, gold wavy borders, and a blue wave/scallop trim at the breast area. The rump carries a distinctive vertical striped bar pattern in green and blue with gold accents, representing painted tassels or fringe. The bridle is blue with a gold spiral cheek medallion. A metal stirrup hangs from the pole bracket. The figure has been professionally restored — the surface throughout is clean, deliberate, and shows no park paint character.
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Owner reports having this figure "for a long time" and references a San Francisco source — phonetically "the armory" — as a possible acquisition venue (reported; uncertain). Acquisition date and price are unrecorded in the interview. The owner notes that documentation may exist in the collection records and should be retrievable (reported).
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Machine of origin unknown. No independent documentary trail has been established. The owner references a second Stein and Goldstein horse in the collection — described as an outer row figure that is currently broken (reported) — which may or may not share provenance with this piece.
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Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein began working in the William F. Mangels carousel factory in 1905, and also free-lanced for Marcus Illions. After honing their carving skills during their two-year employ with Mangels, they opened their own carving company in 1906 or 1907 to supply horses to other manufacturers in cramped quarters at 44 Boerum Street in Brooklyn, New York. In 1912, along with Henry Dorber who supplied the mechanical mechanism, they formed Stein, Goldstein and Dorber Company, first located at 128 Hopkins Street in Brooklyn but soon moving to larger quarters in an old trolley barn at 1455–1459 Gates Avenue.
Stein and Goldstein are firmly positioned within the Coney Island style of carousel carving — a tradition characterized by muscular, aggressive, flamboyant horses, often bedecked with jewels and gold leaf. Only three of the seventeen carousels built by Stein and Goldstein remain intact: Nunley's Carousel, the Michael Friedsam Memorial Carousel in Central Park, New York City, and the Bushnell Park Carousel in Hartford, Connecticut.
The scarcity of surviving intact machines means that individual Stein and Goldstein figures rarely appear on the private market. When they do, outer row horses — the large, dramatic lead figures that define the firm's reputation — command the highest attention and prices. Inner row standers, while less visually commanding, are carved to the same structural standard and represent the same limited production output. This figure's small scale and plain carving are entirely consistent with an inner row position on a Stein and Goldstein machine, where size and decoration decreased progressively from the outermost ring inward (inferred).
No directly comparable auction result for a Stein and Goldstein inner row stander was identified through searches of Morphy Auctions, Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams, Heritage Auctions, Skinner, Freeman's, Hindman, Cowan's, Langston, LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, WorthPoint, CarouselHistory.com, National Carousel Association, or allthingscarousel.org at this time.
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This figure has been professionally restored. The paint throughout — body, saddle, saddlecloth, bridle, hooves — is clean, uniform, and deliberately executed. The romance side trappings show skilled decorative brushwork (scroll motifs, gold borders). Some wear is visible at the saddle cantle edge (Image 4), consistent with use after restoration rather than original aging. This is not park paint; the owner does not describe it as such. The horsehair tail appears original or period-appropriate. The wood block at the front feet serves as a display mount. Structurally, the figure appears sound throughout.
Formal condition rating: Very Good — Restored.
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The Stein and Goldstein attribution is owner-reported and visually plausible — the Coney Island carving tradition, the stander pose, and the scale are all consistent — but no factory marks, machine provenance, or independent expert authentication are recorded at this time. The inner row designation is well-supported by the figure's small scale relative to documented outer row Stein and Goldstein work.
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Owner interview (audio transcript) (reported)
Four photographs: DSC_2310, DSC_2312, DSC_2314, DSC_2317 — both sides plus saddle close-up
VintageCarousels.com: Stein and Goldstein firm history, production, and surviving machines (sourced)
Wikipedia (Nunley's Carousel): surviving intact Stein and Goldstein carousels enumerated (sourced)
Central Park Carousel documentation (sourced)
The Jewish Museum: Coney Island carving tradition context (sourced)
Morphy Auctions, Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams, Heritage Auctions, Skinner, Freeman's, Hindman, Cowan's, Langston, LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, WorthPoint, CarouselHistory.com, National Carousel Association, allthingscarousel.org: searched; no specific comparable identified