GUEST: It's been in my family on my mother's side. It was my great-grandfather's when he was little. And it was in my aunt's garage, and she just asked me if I wanted it, and I said, "Sure," and it's been sitting in my living room ever since.
APPRAISER: Well, now, you played with this?
GUEST: I did, but mostly my mother and her brother rode on it when they were little. My children grew up riding on it. We decorate it for Christmas every year.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: Looks great with reindeer antlers.
APPRAISER: Well, he's a real charmer. In 1861, a man by the name of Jesse Crandall, who is one of the great toymakers, particularly of riding toys for children, patented this design...
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: ...with this spring mechanism. I think his company was in New York City, and Crandall started making this in the 1860s, probably stopped in the 1880s, 1890s. But it was a radical departure, because most rocking horses were on rockers like this and rocked back and forth. It has this monstrous, heavy-duty spring. I mean, I can actually ride this. It will hold a lot of, uh, avoirdupois. But it is quite an amazing thing, and on this beautiful painted base. Now, obviously, he's been through a lot of hard times. But he still has an amazing presence, even though the paint is worn. Just beautiful, flowing lines. Great survivor. And the last one of these I heard selling at auction had repaired legs and some other issues, sold for $1,600. I think this one would be easily in that range and maybe as much as $2,000 at auction. Just stunning. Think I could ride it?
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Let me see if I can give it a shot. See? There we go. I mean, if it holds me, it could hold anything.
