Vintage Cherished Teddies June Carousel Birthstone Bear – Angel Teddy on Horse, Enesco Priscilla Hillman, Alexandrite Gem Collectible, 2000

A carousel horse mid-canter, white with a grey mane, and on its back a small tan teddy bear with gold wings, holding the gilded pole with both paws. The horse wears a purple bridle with tiny white daisies at the brow and cheek; a purple heart-shaped stone is set into the saddle blanket, and the whole thing stands on a hexagonal lilac base painted with a row of little hearts.

For a mass-moulded resin piece the hand-work is better than it needs to be. The bear's coat is stippled all over to suggest plush, then dry-brushed lighter at the ears and muzzle; the horse's mane is combed in fine grooves and washed grey, and its harness has been picked out with a brush fine enough to put a white dot at the centre of every daisy. Turn it and you can see the seam where the two halves of the horse met in the mould, tidied by hand at the belly.

Underneath: June / Juin, and Enesco · © Enesco Corp · Made in China / Fait en Chine — the bilingual printing of the Canadian market. The purple stone is the point of it: this is the June horse from the Cherished Teddies carousel birthstone set, twelve of them, one to a month, each with its own gem.

For a Cherished Teddies collector, a June birthday, or anyone charmed by an angel bear on a carousel.