The
Schoenhut
White Horses
The ring size of a real circus is made to be just
right for a galloping horse. Horses are as much a part of a circus as
elephants. The white horse was introduced in 1905. |
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Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Kramer
Glass eyes
The ears are leather, the mane a cloth strip, and the tail is a
bundle of string. The platform is red with a yellow fringe or sometimes
a gold braid fringe. There is a halter on some of the GE white horses.
Keller Style I - Very Scarce

Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Sneed

Photo courtesy of Bertoia Auctions

Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner |
Photo by Judith Lile
Painted eyes
The main change in this design was to the horse's head. The mane was
painted. A leather halter is always present.
Keller Style II - Scarce

Photo by Judith Lile
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Photo by Jim Sneed
Decal Eyes
Later, the eyes were applied using decals. This
example, ca 1933, came with its colorful box.
Rare
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(Need reduced open mouth)(
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Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Kramer
Reduced size, closed mouth, decal eyes

Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Kramer
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Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Sneed
In the late 1920s, Schoenhut produced a few of their most popular
animals and actors with colorful boxes. They must not have produced them
for long as these are scarce today. We have found boxes for the DE Bear,
DE White Horse (shown above), PE lion , Ringmaster and the Hobo.
Certainly others were boxed. |

Humpty Dumpty Buttons
Sometimes, though rarely, Schoenhut put a very small metal button on
the belly of certain animals. The button reads: "Humpty
Dumpty".
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Pony Blitz
While not really part of the circus, the Pony Blitz was nevertheless
an interesting ride-on toy. The ad shown below illustrates this. The
photo above shows the Pony Blitz next to a regular size glass eyes white
horse. This hobby horse was mounted on a pull platform. This is a very
rare Schoenhut horse - only a few are known - perhaps only this one and
one other.

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A ca 1905 ad for the Pony Blitz.
Click on thumbnail to enlarge.

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