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Step Right Up: Circus and Sideshow Memorabilia

Thu, Sep 3, 2026 11:00AM EDT
  2026-09-03 11:00:00 2026-09-03 11:00:00 America/New_York Potter & Potter Auctions Potter & Potter Auctions : Step Right Up: Circus and Sideshow Memorabilia https://auction.potterauctions.com/auctions/potter-potter/step-right-up-circus-and-sideshow-memorabilia-23625
Featuring the collection of lifelong circus collector John Diesso, this auction includes heralds, couriers, and posters advertising the "greatest shows" of yesteryear. Photographs, route books, scrapbooks, and circus costumes will be also be offered, spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A wide array of early European circus posters will be sold, along with a large library of circus books of several thousand volumes.
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Lot 513

Circus die cuts and trade cards. Collection of 32.

Estimate: $400 - $600
Starting Bid
$200

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

Circus diecuts and trade cards. Collection of 32. V.p., bulk late 19th century. Including 27 trade cards, and 5 diecuts, advertising various circuses and circus acts, or otherwise feature circus imagery. Some pieces include:

Direct to Barnum's Circus trolley diecut.

W.W. Cole's Samson the Largest Elephant diecut trade card.

Van Amburgh, Chas. Reiche & Bros. New Railroad Shows "Quedah" Only Living Specimen of the Supposed Extinct Mammoth.

Forepaugh's Equestrian Spectacular Tragedy. Battle of the Little Big Horn. 

Forepaugh's White Elephant of Siam.

Millie-Christine. The Renowned Two-Headed Lady.

Capadura Half Dime. The Only Cigar Sold by the Great London Circus and Sanger's English Menagerie.

Neatly organized in sleeves within a binder. NICE LOT.

Largest 10 1/2 x 6".

Condition

Various creases and edge-wear; three cards skinned on verso from scrapbook removal, a few with scrapbook adhesive stains.

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