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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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Van Amburgh & Co's Mammoth Menagerie and Egyptian Caravan Combined with Gardner, Hemmings & Co's American Circus. N.p., 1866.
Lot 600

Van Amburgh & Co's Mammoth Menagerie and Egyptian Caravan Combined with Gardner, Hemmings & Co's American Circus. N.p., 1866.

Estimate: $400 - $600
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Starting Bid
$200
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Van Amburgh & Co's Mammoth Menagerie and Egyptian Caravan Combined with Gardner, Hemmings & Co's American Circus. N.p., 1866. Double-sided pictorial letterpress herald advertising the combined traveling circus and exotic animal exhibition held in Dauphin, PA, on August 6th, 1866. Descriptive text on both sides is bordered on each left side by dozens of wood-engraved images of the equestrians, foot jugglers (on horseback), balancing acts, acrobats, exotic animals, and more that made up the show.

28 x 7".

By merging these massive troupes—Isaac Van Amburgh's famed menagerie with the equestrian and acrobatic acts of Gardner, Hemmings & Co.—showmen capitalized on the rising popularity of combining exotic animals with traditional circus performances.

Condition

Creasing, staining, foxing, and marginal tears and losses. Top with holes and a 1 x 1 3/4" portion missing.

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