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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. Potter & Potter Auctions info@potterauctions.com
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[SWORD SWALLOWER]. CLIFFORD, Edith. Pair of Cabinet Cards and a Postcard of Mademoiselle Clifford, Champion Sword Swallower of the World, three. Circa
Lot 217

[SWORD SWALLOWER]. CLIFFORD, Edith. Pair of Cabinet Cards and a Postcard of Mademoiselle Clifford, Champion Sword Swallower of the World, three. Circa

Estimate: $250 - $350
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Starting Bid
$125
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[SWORD SWALLOWER]. CLIFFORD, Edith. Pair of Cabinet Cards and a Postcard of Mademoiselle Clifford, Champion Sword Swallower of the World, three. Circa 1900. Two full-length cabinet cards and a bust portrait postcard of the sideshow performer posing, inscribed "Melle Clifford, Champion Sword Swallower of the World." at bottom margin. With poems inscribed on verso of each cabinet card (possibly by Clifford). The first: "The winter is long and the nights are cold, it is better for 2 to sleep together than for one to sleep alone." 6 1/2 x 4 1/4".

Clifford began swallowing swords at age 13, after learning from sword swallower Delno Fritz. Her greatest successes were in Europe.

Condition

Toning, fading, staining, edgewear, and top right corner of one card missing. Red staining to one card. 

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