Frederick Savage Co. English "Galloping Cockerel" Carousel Figure

An early 20th-century English "Galloping Cockerel" carousel figure by Frederick Savage Co., c. 1900. The figure has a hollow body construction with finely carved detail and presents the running bird with inset glass eyes, a hinged neck, a crisply carved comb, a double-seater saddle and a shaped tail. It retains the original iron brackets fitted to a later iron display stand with a brass pole. The piece has been carefully cleaned back to its original red oxide primer, revealing the period surfaces and construction methods.

Until recent years, few fairgrounds could boast a complete line-up without at least one Savage-built merry-go-round, switchback or showman’s engine. Each of these machines combined engineering innovation with flamboyant decorative art and exceptional craftsmanship. Savage’s fairground machinery was shipped worldwide; as their 1902 Catalogue for Roundabouts proudly stated, “we have patented and placed upon the market all the principal novelties that have delighted the many thousands of pleasure seekers at home and abroad.”