ICA conservators have begun treatment of the historic B & B Carousell (sic), the last remaining carousel from New York’s world-famous Coney Island amusement park. Restoration of the ride, which dates from 1919, is only a small part of a multi-year, multi-million dollar redevelopment of Coney Island and its boardwalk.
Over the next twelve months, conservators will clean some fifty component pieces of the carousel, with names like inner rim panels, rounding boards, band organ panels, and chariot backs. The central band organ of the B & B Carousell is particularly interesting, as it was manufactured by a famous organ manufacturer in Munich, Germany; the company produced organs in series and the B & B is the only functional instrument still in existence from its particular series.
The carousel horses are being treated by a company in Marion, Ohio called Carousels and Carvings. Because they were used so heavily, the horses had been repainted many times and had very little original paint. ICA assisted with the color analysis process and C & C will now completely repaint the animals in accordance with the original color scheme.
