Sunday, June 13, 2010
Antique Shoofly Rocking Horse
On my birthday antiquing trip this past weekend, I found two old rocking horses, this 40 inch long shoofly rocker circa 1900, and the 1930s homemade spring horse shown in the previous post. Like most old shooflys, he's been painted over, although it looks like this was done long ago. I'll probably strip and refinish him, since the repaint covers all his impressed details, including his mane and tack. Still, I thought he was a nice horse, and he was a steal at $20. The teddy bears are going to enjoy riding in him.
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Look forward to seeing him returned to original glory :)
ReplyDeleteMe too...it's gonna take awhile though! Usually what happens is: I start projects like this, it doesn't go well, and my mom takes over. Here's hoping she'll say we can just skip that first step.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great find
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy.. just wondering if you refinished this shoofly horse.. I am in the process of redoing one for someone and it is similiar in shape and is about 90 year or more old. Please contact me thru my blog, I would love to hear and share about the pieces we have!
ReplyDeleteHello Tracy, I just purchased one like this one at a estate sale. It is white with black spots. Would like to know why you call it a "Shoofly" was that a style or the maker? My is in good shape, still has the original red velvet set cover.
ReplyDeleteHello, congrats on your find! Shoofly refers to this style of horse: a seat suspended between 2 flat cut out horses. They date back to the mid-late 1800s, and there were a wide variety of makers. They were made all the way into the 1970s, and occasionally still today. No one really knows why they are called shooflys, though...
ReplyDeleteMom, grandma or the hired cook rocked the baby in the rocker with her foot on the front or rear bar; this left both hands free to shoo the flies away from her hot baked pies as they cooled on the counter. Once they were cool she would put them in the pie safe or the ice box, depending on the type of pie.
ReplyDeleteFor only $20, I guess this is not a bad deal after all. With a little cleaning and repainting, this would surely look great. But I guess it would be better to repaint it with the same colours. It looks good on black and red paint.
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