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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 581

[UNUSUAL ENTERTAINERS]. Variety Contracts for Strong Men, Midgets, and Unusual Entertainers.

Estimate: $500 - $1,000
Starting Bid
$250

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

[UNUSUAL ENTERTAINERS]. Variety Contracts for Strong Men, Midgets, and Unusual Entertainers. 1910s - 50s. Twenty-two contracts for British variety theaters, each SIGNED by the performers or their representatives. Included are agreements for troupes of midgets, various boxing acts, wrestlers, strong men (Ben Hur, Recklow, Vansurt, and men advertised as having an "iron grip"), as well as a Mendel the blind pianist, and several for full variety companies with 10 acts inclusive (one of them a la Ripleys, being an entire show of unusual entertainers). 4to sheets, many with inked or typed marginalia.

Condition

Old folds and wear from handling; one with losses, but most in good or better condition. 

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