Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

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 390

P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth and Great London Circus courier.

Estimate: $200 - $400
Starting Bid
$100

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

P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth and Great London Circus courier. Circa 1886. Sixteen-page courier on pale pink paper, numerous illustrations including Jumbo's skeleton, the Hairy Family of Burmah, Alice (Jumbo's wife and widow), arctic monsters, and more. Printed for a date in New Brunswick, May 5, (1886). 

13 3/4 x 10".

Condition

Minor spotting and soiling, few areas with clear tape repairs.

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