New Circus Ponies!

I found some more circus ponies on eBay. The one on the left is definitely a Hagen Renaker knock-off while the others are made to be part of a set to go with it.

Both the HR knock-off and the rearing horse have broken front legs. I was okay with that since I already have them. The seller was not sure just who the leg belonged to. (It belongs to the HR knock-off.)

These imitations and other set pieces were made by several Japanese companies, including Shiken and Kelvin. (My first one is on the right.)

Sometimes the Japan copies are larger or smaller than the original HRs. These two copies show the difference in size that these ponies can be found in. (I love the copies - I'll try to get all mine out and post photos in the next day or so.)

I bought the set knowing that the two were broken because I wanted this piece.

It is yet another variation in the circus ponies, and I did not have it nor had I seen it before.

But you can see by the color of the body, mane, and tail, and by the gold harness with the red heart that they are clearly copied from Hagen Renaker. The HRs have gold hooves while the copies have black.

From what I can tell from my small collection of the copies, there are three size scales and several companies who produced them. My guess is that they were made in the late 1950s/early 1960s as the HR Head Up and Head Down circus ponies were released in 1955.

I have nine of the Hagen Renaker circus ponies, both the early pieces as well as the 1980s ones with the different colored harnesses. I like them a lot. But I have at least eleven of the imitations and copies, and I find them equally charming.

As Susan Bensema Young told me once, referring to my love of circus ponies, "Really, the restriction of your collection to one subject seems to have resulted in the most amazingly unrestricted explorations imaginable!!"

She's right - who would've thought that a love of circus ponies would lead to so many varied pieces!