DAR | Museum - Featured Objects

In each issue, the bimonthly DAR magazine, American Spirit, highlights an object from the DAR Museum collection in its "National Treasures" feature. These objects, often recent accessions or important pieces in the current exhibit, always have a story to tell about American history.

National Treasures

A Rockin' Good Toy

This dapple-gray wooden rocking horse was probably made in either the United States or England in the second half of the 19th century, when the carved toy became most prevalent.

Folklore holds that Queen Victoria visited rocking horse maker J. Collinson in Liverpool in 1851 and gave his dapple-gray version her royal approval, helping spur it to become the most popular “breed” of rocking horse.

The rocking horse design evolved in 1877 when P.J. Marqua of Cincinnati patented the safety stand. Instead of the original bow rocker, the safety or swinger stand provided a fixed frame on which the rocking horse could swing.