Rocking Horse Studio

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Australia
Sydney, NSW
Rocking Horse Studio

Everything to do with antique and vintage rocking horses! Australia's first and only dedicated importer and restorer of fine antique rocking horses.

The BEST selection of antique and vintage rocking horses from English and Australian makers in Australia if not the world is right here online!

12/06/2025

Watch this space...

About 10 years ago I started to suffer from pain and inflammation in my hands. It was stable for a long time but has now progressed.

I have 35+ rocking horses not yet spoken for, and it's a sad and painful realisation that I won't be able to do them all without doctor's warnings coming true.

If you're waiting for a horse from me, please be reassured that it is being done. I'm not stopping, I just have to scale back on the restorations that are most taxing on my hands.

I'll be keeping the favourites of my "babies", but over the coming weeks and months I'll be putting others up for sale in as-is condition. Most were imported from the UK but there are a few wonderful Aussie horses too.

It's not doing them any good standing around waiting for a restoration that I won't be able to do!

(Pictured are a lovely extra carved Lines Bros for restoration and a pretty Ayres with all-original finish that doesn't need any work but it may be preferred with repaired saddle and saddle cloths. It has had a conservation to museum definition of conservation)

07/05/2025

Antique rocking horse on spring stand by Ayres, 43"

The lovely Jessie has had a makeover that is up to finishing touches and is offered for sale with the option to finish to your specifications. $12,500.

Jessie was previously advertised for $14,500 and is now available at a reduced price WITH a fresh restoration that can be customised with your choice of trims.

Ayres spring stands are fairly rare and highly prized as such. It is VERY rare for us to have a rocking horse that is ready to go let alone one of this quality. She is terrific all-rounder: beautiful, rare, newly restored, can be ridden and available now.

Sasha’s previous restoration of Jessie was in perfect condition when she came back to us last year aside from faded rosettes. After 10 years there was not a single chip or crack (amazingly!) but I felt she would benefit from a fresh paint job, so she now has new paint in a more familiar Ayres dapple style.

The mane, tail and saddle with oxblood top and vintage piping are in great condition and will be refitted, as will surviving original rosettes. The rest can be customised:
The medium antiquing can be distressed and/or deepened before final varnish.
Hair colour can be changed (subject to availability).
Saddle cloths and ribbon rosettes can be made in your choice of colour.
A card with a record of Jessie’s previous life that was tucked under the saddle will be put back along with an updated record. Your ownership or message to future owners can be added to that record.

If she is not spoken for by the time I next sew tack in a few weeks, she’ll get new blue saddlecloths in heavy cotton velvet trimmed with top quality European gold bullion fringe and blue silk ribbon rosettes. When that's done Jessie will be available for immediate delilvery, however without options to personalise.

Additional photos on request, viewing is welcome by appointment via video call or in person in Hunters Hill (Sydney).

There is a full description and previous history of Jessie that her owner prepared in the earlier listing. Link in comment.

23/04/2025

Pic from a while ago now, just realised that they might be interesting.
A bit of a production line happening! Although it's not the most horses in the workshop at one time, it is perhaps the most unique horses in the workshop around here.
Some have gone home, Some are in the "tack shop"
For one thing, the biggest and smallest horses ... here all at the same time!
From back to front:
Mandrake, gigantic special extra carved Lines.
Extra-carved Ayres, previously hide covered.
Trinket, the smallest rocking horse we have met. Ayres, 26" - and I will post about this at another time.
Then Jessie, an Ayres spring stand getting new paint.
And the wee littlie? A beaut little cart horse how believed to be by Ayres. It's too little to warrant dapples, but I simply couldn't resist. Watch this space for what happens with the cart...

09/04/2025

Lovely little Cedric has been keeping a gorgeous secret.
I was pretty sure there would be some original paint left on him, but this is so much more than I had hoped for!
Extra Carved J&G Lines bow, 34".

That brown goo does come off, and I'm looking forward to seeing him all cleaned up.

07/04/2025

Lots of kids missed out on a major rite of passage for Australian primary school students - the big Capital City excursion to Canberra. Our son included. We've been trying to catch up for years. This past weekend we had an opportunity so we took it!
The National Library has an exhibition of photos from the Fairfax photographic archives, our son picked up on this and (correctly) predicted I'd be excited.

18/03/2025

The lovely "Nimble" has arrived!
No 4 Bartlett - it's quite a while since there has been on of these here. She will keep her "brother" Smoke, an early No 4 Roebuck company while I work on him :-).

Nimble arrived with an early No 2 Bartlett, but I think I'll reattach that one's head before I post photos. ;-)

17/03/2025

My husband will confirm I'm terrible at surprises and can't keep things to myself until they happen 😂
Arriving tomorrow are 2 gorgeous Bartletts, both very special. One is rather worse for wear but really little and I think quite early. The other is a No 4, in beautiful and hopefully salvageable original condition, including the lovely original brass rosettes with scroll patterns.
It would have been 3! Only one of them was just a little bit far for the carrier to scoop up on his way.
Meet one of them, "Nimble".

24/12/2024

Wishing all of our lovely friends and clients a very Merry Christmas!
May you all have a joyful break with your loved ones, a well-earned rest and a wonderful start to the new year.

10/12/2024

Here is a beautiful fellow that arrived in 2017. I've been keeping him under my hat, hoping that nobody would fall in love with him and he would stay longer.

I had a fiddle with him last week while waiting for glues/paints to dry on others and after a brief "squeeee!" the little bit of original paint I found was just that - a little bit. But I did clean out around the strapping that holds his head on to find a gorgeous, refined gullet and under a layer of fibreglass lumpy lumps was a very elegant old horse with a stunning head and beautiful legs. And other than the obvious decapitation, chipped ears and eroded flared nostrils (straightforward repairs) - in rather good condition, and complete stand. I knew he was an ugly duckling waiting to become a swan again, but he's even better under the mess than I thought.

Once I found his face, he told me that he would like to have a name.

He is among the loveliest of the Lines horses to come through, which - by sheer coincidence - all have names starting with M.

I couldn't think of an "M" name to fit him soooo...

Meet "Diego".

J&G Lines.

49" extra carved, circa 1890.

20/11/2024

For sale: beautiful copy of The Rocking Horse - A History of Moving Toy Horses by Patricia Mullins. Complete with supplement by Marguerite Fawdry, An International Survery of Rocking Horse Manufacture. Books are in mint condition, slip cover with some wear.

A perfect gift for lovers of vintage and antique rocking horses.

This is one of the must-have books for any rocking horse enthusiast, and a goldmine of information as well as gorgeous photos.

This particular copy has some inevitable light wear to the slip cover, which considering the book was published in the 1990s is very minor and I would rate the condition as excellent for its age. There is a little hazing on the back of the dust jacket and almost none on the front. Again this is inevitable as a result of removing the book from the slip cover. Overall the dust jacket is bright and glossy. The white spots on the cover are just reflections of a light fitting.

The book itself appears never to have been opened. It hasn't been out of the cover in the time I've had it - I have my "working" copy that I refer to, this one has been almost untouched. The main book and the Marguerite Fawdry supplement are in mint condition. I have not opened either myself.

This book sells on Amazon for $660-900 in similar condition.

$500
Express postage within Australia included.
$250 if purchasing with a rocking horse.

19/11/2024

SOLD
“Signet” – very small antique Simpson and Fawcett “Swan” rocking horse, ready to make someone very happy this Christmas. (Sounds like cygnet 😉 )
Signet is a petite jewel of a rocking horse, standing 77.5cm high, 62.5cm to saddle, 80cm long and 33cmm wide. Going by the table from 1914-15 (see page 428 in A Kiss of Rocking Horses by David Kiss), this makes her halfway between size 0 and A/small. She is ideally suited to display on a dresser or in a tight nook, or to display smaller teddy bears and dolls.
Signet has the distinctive pillar profile, serial number plate on belly ( #391900 or 391909) and “crank” in the swing arms that identify her as a Swan.
“Swan” horses are rare and hard to come by anywhere in the world. These little ones especially are rare and highly prized by collectors who adore them.
Signet arrived from the UK in the middle of the year with a view to us keeping her but she is now available. She was restored in England before I bought her, but unless whoever did the work comes contacts me I don’t know who did the work or when. She had a tasteful and sensitive restoration with lovely antiqued finish, all leather tack and felt saddle cloths in lovely colours. Everything is in immaculate fresh-looking condition, I have not noticed any signs of new wear since the restoration was done. The stand is in good order. There are signs that the original paint could still be there under the current restoration. I haven’t investigated as doing that would mean repainting everything if nothing is there and the paint is too good to destroy on the off chance there is original paint in decent condition remaining.
Price includes delivery anywhere in the Sydney metro area. I can also deliver within 2 hours’ drive from Ryde, ie between Wollongong/Southern Highlands/Blue Mountains/Hunter Valley/Newcastle for the cost of petrol and a cup of coffee.
Viewing welcome by appointment.

$3950

15/10/2024

This is the third of the 3 horses that just arrived.

Extra carved bow horse, 41"

His working name is Puzzle as still not 100% confident about attribution. Some features are typically JR Smith, others Lines and yet others Lines Bros. Sportiboy details have been pointed out, but pommel holes indicate he pre-dates Lines Bros production.

Regardless, Puzzle has a super pretty refined face, turned head, beautiful neck and an elegant silhouette. The twin stretchers are unusual.

He will get new paint, new eyes, repaired ears, new hair and tack and the bows will either be stripped and varnished or repainted a traditional green.

Address

Sydney, NSW
2111

Website

http://www.rockinghorsestudio.com.au/

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