The Charlotte Dinger Collection Go The Merry-Go-Round Museum
Three Special Horses Donated, 90 More Carousel Figures on Extended Loan
Click here for a Small Gallery of Dinger figures and the MGR Museum
By Veronica Vanden Bout
Executive Director, The Merry-Go-Round Museum
SANDUSKY, OH – In cooperation with The Dinger Family, The Merry-Go-Round Museum is proud to announce Charlotte Dinger’s collection to be housed at the Sandusky museum.
Ca. 1905 Dentzel Patriotic Flag and Eagle lead horse from the Charlotte Dinger Collection.
For more than 20 years, the Merry-Go-Round Museum has exhibited carousel artworks on loan from The Charlotte Dinger collection in cooperation with her family. This relationship continues as Mrs. Dinger’s son Jeff has donated three of these amazing carousel horses to honor her memory within an exhibit. The Gustav Dentzel stander, Charles Carmel stander, and a C.W. Parker “Lille Belle” jumper, currently in primer, are in a display area designated specifically to honor her work within the carousel history community.
This elegant jeweled Carmel stander was one of three special horses donated by The Dinger Family to the Merry-Go-Round Museum
In addition to the donation made by Jeff, the Dinger family members have recently selected the Sandusky museum to house the majority of the entire Dinger Collection. Ninety animals, along with decorative elements from various carousels, will be on extended loan to provide a substantial range of carousel art for exhibit and display from different time periods, carvers, and factories. (Click here for a photo gallery showing a small sample of the Dinger Collection figures).
Impressed by the charm and artistic beauty of the American carousel, Charlotte Dinger began her collection of carousel art in 1972. Her collection grew to become one of the finest and most comprehensive in the world, and has been exhibited in museums throughout the United States. In addition to promoting the American carousel’s rich history, these exhibits have been instrumental in drawing attention to the unmatched quality, beauty and artistry as well as the mystique of the American carousel.
Charlotte and Carl Dinger at a book signing for “Art of the Carousel” in the 1980s.
Mrs. Dinger traveled extensively, researching, photographing, and encouraging the preservation of carousel art. She was an international authority on the carousel and wrote magazine and newspaper articles, museum catalogs, and the chapter, “Carousel Animals”, for Time Life’s Encyclopedia of Collectibles. She was a founder and board member of the American Carousel Society, a carousel art consultant to Sotheby’s, a member of the International Advisory Council of the Museum of American Folk Art, and was owner and president of Carousel Art, Inc. Her book “Art of the Carousel” is still in print and provides information on carvers, their companies, and their own contributions to this particular sculpture. Well-researched and clear, “Carousel Art” gives both collectors and those just learning about this art form details allowing all to expand their knowledge in carousels and carvings.
The United States Postal Service based three of its carousel stamp animals on photographs from “Art of the Carousel’, including the Dentzel deer from her collection. The artist, Paul Calle, created the first stamp designs for issue in 1988. With only the Kiddieland carousel armored horse on a working machine, Cedar Point in Sandusky was the host for the first day issue ceremonies. The gathering held at the old vacant Sandusky Post Office was also the beginning of the current Merry-Go-Round Museum.
But, that is another story…
A story which you can actually read in the
July 2008 Carousel News & Trader Online.
Click to visit The Merry-Go-Round Museum Online,
or better yet, in person:
The Merry-Go-Round Museum
301 Jackson St, Sandusky, OH 44870
(419) 626-6111
