Summary

Wooden horseshoe shaped stand, carved with various horse names and figures, and coated in varnish.

It was made by an unknown amateur craftsperson during the mid to late 1930s, featuring the champion race horse Phar Lap on the base, and three other horses, including Marabou who won the 1935 Melbourne Cup, on the top. The three inserts carved into the top suggest the item was made as a stand for a desk set, including space for an inkwell and pen stand.

Physical Description

Brown wooden horseshoe-shaped stand, which has been coated in varnish. It has been decorated on all sides with carvings, including the name and profile of Phar Lap on the base, three other racehorse names and silhouettes on the top, as well as shapes representing a horse shoe around both edges. A cross-hatch pattern has been carved around the sides of the stand. Three inserts have been carved into the top, probably to hold the components of a desk set.

Significance

This stand is significant as a rare surviving example of the often crudely made mementoes produced by people during Phar Lap's life, and in the years following his death.

Phar Lap's life and untimely death were commemorated in numerous commercial products marketed to a public hungry for the opportunity to show their devotion to and admiration for `Big Red' and his amazing achievements on the track. Those who could not afford to purchase these items, or chose to produce their own keepsakes, made items such as this, not letting ability or skill stop them from making a tangible symbol of the admiration they had for their beloved Phar Lap.

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