Potter & Potter Auctions
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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 541

Lot of circus programs, heralds, and route sheets (8).

Estimate: $150 - $250
Starting Bid
$80

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

Lot of circus programs, heralds, and route sheets (8). Includes: two Barnum & Bailey programs (1893, 1897); Barnum & Bailey Official Route (1917); Hagenbeck-Wallace Official Route Sheet (1930); Van Amburgh & Co.'s New Great Golden Menagerie, Circus & Colosseum courier (ca. 1877), 16pp.; Ringling Bros. Grand Carnival of Fun herald (1883, but printed later); Gran Circo Santos Y Articas (1917); and John B. Doris' Great Inter-Ocean Shows courier (ca. 1887; trimmed cover only).  

Size 17 x 12" and smaller.

Condition

Van Amburgh courier disbound, each leaf held in sleeve; scattered tape repairs, chipping, and losses; dates inked or penciled on covers.

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