Marcus Illions

Marcus Charles Illions (c. 1871–1949) was a master carver of wooden carousel horses and other figures at Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City in the early 20th century. The New York Times referred to him as "the Michelangelo of carousel carvers".

Illions was born in 1870 or 1871 before emigrating to England, where he carved carousel horses. An alternative account in an obituary states that he was actually born in England. Carousel Name City and State Year San Francisco Zoo San Francisco, CA 1921 Six Flags New England Agawam, MA 1909 Worlds of Fun Kansas City, MO 1926 Flushing Meadows Carousel Flushing, NY 1903 Congress Park Saratoga Springs, NY 1904 Hempstead Lake State Park West Hempstead, NY 1914 Columbus Zoo Powell, OH 1914

During the restoration of the B&B Carousell for its 2013 reopening on the Coney Island Boardwalk, it was discovered that one of the horses is in fact by Marcus Illions. All of the other horses were executed in the early 1920s by another well-known Coney Island carver, Charles Carmel. The Illions horse was one of a set of four executed in 1909 to commemorate the centennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, and features colorful rhinestones and a relief of Lincoln's profile. This is the only one of the set that can be ridden by the public today, as the other three are all in private collections. The most recent prior owner of the B&B had used the Illions horse to replace one of the Carmel horses that an earlier owner had removed from the carousel.