A MERRY-GO-ROUND Stable of carousel horses found at sale
PENN TWP — Bargain hunters were chomping at the bit to get into the building at 360 Pittsburgh Road Saturday morning.
When the door was opened at 7 a.m. shoppers could browse a collection of carousel horses, pieces from amusement park rides, furniture, books, ornaments and toys.
Jeff Harshman, the co-owner of Turn Key Clean-outs and Estate Sales of Sarver, said at least 50 people were lined up before the opening eager to survey the offerings from the defunct business Artistic Carousel of Etna.
Harshman said the business made carousel horses for individuals and amusement parks.
The owner fell in love with amusement park memorabilia and began collecting pieces from the White Swan and Westview amusement parks.When a road project in Etna led to the demolition of the Artistic Carousel building, the owner moved the collected items to the building along Pittsburgh Road.Turn Key was contracted to sell off the collection in preparation to selling the building.Harshman said he filled up dumpsters with garbage before the sale and priced the remaining items for sale.He called the collection part estate sale and part business liquidation.“We've been doing this for nine years. We started doing close-outs first. We saw in this area there was a need for liquidators,” Harshman said. “We must do 100 liquidations a year.”
On Saturday, browsers could choose from unpainted and painted carousel horses, the molds used to create them, coin-operated horses that used to stand in front of supermarkets, lighting fixtures, vinyl records and other items.Bob Schiavone of Allison Park said he's a regular at such sales.“It always a nice mix. I always find stuff. I'm looking for man cave stuff,” he said.Missy Phillips of Cabot was looking for Christmas ornaments.“I got a few little things,” she said. “It's different. I go to flea markets, yard sales, estate sales.”
