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 205

[STRONGMAN]. Pair of Cabinet Cards of Tullus Wright. Circa 1890s. 

Estimate: $200 - $300
Starting Bid
$100

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[STRONGMAN]. Pair of Cabinet Cards of Tullus Wright. NY: Obermüller & Kern, ca. 1890s. Cardstock with scalloped edges. Two studio portraits of the "American Sampson," a 19th-century strongman and carnival performer from Pittsburgh, PA. One stamped "Tullus Wright / Heavy Weight Manipulator / Phillad'a, PA" on the reverse and the other inscribed "Tullus Wright / Age 20 years / Weight 170 lbs. / Phila. / Pa." 6 1/2 x 4 1/4".

Condition

Toning and staining. 

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