Sue restores a rocking horse in her workshop (©AAH/Toby Phillips)
KEEP ON ROCKING SUE GRAHAM’S DEVOTION TO VINTAGE ROCKING HORSES
A
mong the many amazing artefacts at the V&A Museum in London is a wooden rocking horse dating back to the early 1600s. It’s the earliest bow rocking horse to have survived and is believed to have been used by a young King Charles I. Nearly three centuries later, another monarch triggered a boom in the popularity of rocking horses. Queen Victoria arrived on a dapple-grey horse for her visit to J. Collinson and Sons, a Liverpool rocking horse company. From that day forth, they only ever used grey paint for their products! The heyday of traditional rocking horse makers has long passed, as children were enticed instead by exciting new toys, from bicycles to computers. Yet there remains a market driven not only by nostalgia, but also for quality craftsmanship. Sue Graham is among those with a passion for restoring the horses, focusing on the famous Collinson brand.
“Having done some furniture restoration before, I had thought about working on a rocking horse but wasn’t sure if I had the skills to do it,” said Sue. “Finally, I bought a small Collinson horse on eBay and it was in such bad condition that I had no choice but to strip it down to the bare wood and see what was underneath. That’s where my interest started.” “Some models were very expensive and targeted at the children of wealthy families. But Collinson made a more affordable horse. There’s was a workhorse; the cob of the trade! They sold in large numbers and many have survived. Because of that, they’re not the most desirable name for collectors and are relatively cheap to buy.” “However, most are in a poor condition, as they haven't been used in decades. They might have been kept for future generations, but ended up sitting in a shed or attic, gradually deteriorating.”
29
