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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 377

Seven pieces of circus-themed sheet music.

Estimate: $200 - $300
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

Seven pieces of circus-themed sheet music. American, 19th / early 20th century. Including:

SNOW, J. Albert. Jumbo Song and Chorus. Boston: W.A. Evans & Bro., 1882.

W.W. Cole's Grand Zoological March. Cincinnati: John Church & Co., 1879. Lithographed wrappers by Strobridge. 

PAULL, E.T. The Circus Parade March - Two-Step. New York: E.T. Paull Music Co., 1904.

DODGE, Ossian. Ossian's Serenade. Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1850. Lithographed wrappers depicting Barnum introducing Jenny Lind to Dodge.

When It's Circus Day Back Home. New York: M. Witmark & Sons, 1917.

Under the Big Tent. Chicago: Forster, 1913.

The Circus: Six Brilliant Little Dances for the piano. Philadelphia: Theodore Presser, 1904.

Original wrappers. Size generally 13 1/2 x 11".

Condition

Scattered chipping, tears, and spotting; Ossian's Serenade removed from a bound volume.

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