Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

Circus, Sideshow & Oddities

Sat, Apr 30, 2022 12:00PM EDT
Lot 510

BARNUM, Phineas Taylor. Autograph Letter Signed (?P.T. Barn...

Estimate: $200 - $300

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$30 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
BARNUM, Phineas Taylor. Autograph Letter Signed (?P.T. Barnum?) to ?Cousin Frank? regarding a specimen?s delivery. Bridgeport, Conn: May 21, 1886. On a sheet of Waldemere lined stationery (9 x 5 ??), folded and tipped onto the pastedown of a detached cloth cover of Barnum?s Humbugs of the World (London: J.C. Hotten). Barnum writes to ?cousin Frank? concerning the delivery of an unnamed ?specimen,? in part: ??I have got to find a place in Tuft?s College Museum or else here for it to stand till our Historical Society in Bridgeport owns a building?which may not be in 20 years! Please inform me about what time you will want to send the specimen off so that I can have a place for him in some other city + not have him sent to Bridgeport as at first contemplated.? Signed ?Truly yours/P.T. Barnum?. Bottom left square cleanly detached at folds; brown spotting.