Freeman Leidy's Coach & Horses

Yesterday I stumbled onto a surprise on eBay. 

Listed as being made by Freeman Leidy, the piece looks like Cinderella's coach and horses. 

Those eyelashes sure looked like Freeman Leidy work. Compare the eyelashes here on a Head Down purple/green circus horse with those on the pair below.

The wagon wheels clinched it for me - the similarity was so strong, they had to be by Freeman Leidy.

I decided to take a closer look. There are tons of coaches and horses to be found, but I had never seen this piece among them.

The piece was signed Freeman Leidy, and the signature appeared old and authentic with the crazing fractures running though it. That signature confirmed that it was indeed a Freeman Leidy piece.

The horses' bodies and legs seem to be a merging of the Head Up/Head Down ponies.

Almost like they took elements of both pieces to create the Cinderella's horses. Or perhaps the Cinderella's horses are the original mold that was turned into two different molds to give us the pair of circus horses. (A chicken or the egg question!)

The top came off the coach and like the circus wagons, the inside was hollow, too.

 But surely that coach wasn't a planter, not with those windows that would spill out the dirt and have roots protruding.

But then, maybe the windows were to allow foliage to come through them. Who knows?

I am really on the fence about this set. I am now watching it on eBay, but the price point is higher than I'd like to pay. Still, as a collector of Freeman Leidys, I'd love to have this piece. 

But I also have to think ahead - not many people actively seek for Freeman Leidys and down the road, I don't think that Pony Pal Mila is going to ask for this set, if you know what I mean. (Haha!) While it just takes one buyer for a piece, finding that buyer can be tough, especially when the item for sale is only sought out by a few.

I'm not sure I want to risk that much money but I am thinking about it. 

A couple of other things:

~ In case you missed it, last night I posted a blog entry about a Go Fund Me to help blogger Jennifer Buxton pay the expenses her mare, Olive, incurred after an emergency colic surgery. Scroll down to see the full post, but the link is https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-jennifer-with-olives-recovery

~ I finally decided what the June give away would be. I need to get some photos of it and it should be posted Monday.

Stay 'tooned!

Carriage Clarification

 We have some more information on Cinderella's carriage thanks to someone who commented anonymously on the original post:

This is a rather typical Landau style of carriage. https://horseyhooves.com/types-of-horse-drawn-carriages/

Made by Les Voitures Robert Carriages, this is probably their Classic, though they also make them for ponies and miniature horses, Vis a Vis, they're one of the largest and one of the last remaining carriage makers in the world, it's a dying art form, sadly. They do actually make the true Cinderella style carriage which is essentially this carriage with a modified roof. http://voituresrobert.com/portfolio/classic-vis-a-vis/?lang=en

This one is set up for a single horse with shafts rather than a team with a central pole, and for some reason the top is not covering the rear facing seats, which it usually would. I am not sure what the knobs are, but would assume you're correct. The metal brake on the driver's foot well is hydraulic, a safety feature to prevent runaway. 

Thanks for sharing! And if you'd like to let us know who you are, you can email me at horsiemama8@yahoo.com.