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 228

[TATTOO]. HOWARD, Frank (1857-1925). CDV of Frank Howard, Tattooed Man. Circa 1890s.

Estimate: $200 - $400
Current Bid
$100

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$100,000 $10,000

[TATTOO]. HOWARD, Frank (1857-1925). CDV of Frank Howard, Tattooed Man. New York: Charles Eisenmann, ca. 1890s. Albumen print on studio mount. Depicting Howard’s torso covered in tattoos. Verso stamped "Prof. Frank Howard [illegible] Tattooed Man. 88 & 90 Centre St. New York City." 6 1/2 x 4 1/4”.

Frank Howard Packer, known professionally as "Professor" Frank Howard, was one of the most prominent American sideshow performers and pioneering tattoo artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Alongside his wife Annie, he achieved international fame as an exhibitionist for the Barnum & Bailey Circus before establishing Boston's premier early tattoo parlor.

Condition

Spotting and light soiling to surface. Mount with edgewear. Good.

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