The 82-year-old carousel at Seaside Heights boardwalk which survived storm Sandy and a devastating fire is up for auction, according to The Associated Press.
The carousel is one of only 212 classic wood carousels left in North America, the AP reported. The company that owns the carousel is selling it to make room for new attractions with an auction planned for fall, with the hope that a buyer will take the entire ride and prevent it from being broken up and sold off piecemeal.
The National Carousel Association says it's one of only 212 classic wood carousels left in North America, according to the AP.
"We've had it for a long time, and it was very expensive to maintain and insure," said Maria Mastoris, a spokeswoman for the carousel's owners, the Storino family, which owns boardwalk attractions here and in Point Pleasant Beach, the AP reported.
"We recognize its contribution to the Seaside Heights community as well as the joy and excitement it has brought to the countless riders who have reveled in its magic and majesty for the better part of a century," she said, according to the AP. "Current market conditions, however, make it clear that all would be best served if this national treasure were to find a new home."
The carousel is a wholesome family-friendly attraction on the same boardwalk prowled for years by cast members of MTV's "Jersey Shore" reality show, the AP reported.
The carousel is a 1910 Dentzel model, hand-made by a Philadelphia family renowned for carousels, has 58 animals, 36 of which move up and down, according to the AP. It has two benches, and a Wurlitzer organ that operates with a pneumatic system using a leather bellows and perforated music rolls that play its individual notes and has operated in Seaside Heights since 1932.
Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's, the New York firm that will handle the auction, said that during the golden era of carousels in the United States, from the mid-1890s through the 1920s, there were 5,000 such amusements nationwide, the AP reported.
"A hundred years ago if you wanted to go out on a date on a Saturday night, you took your date to a carousel, much like you'd go to a movie nowadays," Ettinger said, according to the AP. "This carousel is a real survivor, it's one of the very last ones. If this were a car, it would be a Rolls Royce."
The Seaside Heights carousel should be worth more than $2 million if sold to a single buyer, which is the auctioneer's goal, the AP reported.
Ettinger said he has already heard from several potential buyers interested in acquiring the entire ride, according to the AP. The Storinos plan new family attractions for the space the carousel now occupies, but are not ready to announce those plans, Mastoris said.