Heritage AMERICANA & POLITICAL
May 14 | Dallas | Live & Online Don’t Miss Our Historical Auction
Pictured below is an assortment of offerings from this eclectic auction.

Iconic Flagg WW I recruiting poster
Opening bid $3,500
Gold cigarette case owned and used
by President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Opening bid $7,000
One of the few surviving
complete examples of an
early 19th century cotton gin
Opening bid $5,000
Very unusual
1860 Stephen A. Douglas
campaign flag
Opening bid $6,000
These twice yearly sales consistently feature the finest selections of historical Americana available anywhere! To order a glossy, full-color auction catalog, please email HA.com/catalogs or peruse the auction online and bid at HA.com/6153 starting around April 25. Go to HERITAGE Live!®, to follow the auction and bid in real time.
To discuss a consignment, please call 877-HERITAGE (437-4824)
Tom Slater | Director of Americana | Ext. 1441 | TomS@HA.com
Don Ackerman | Consignment Director | Ext. 1736 | DonA@HA.com
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PRESENTING ONE OF THE GREAT SURVIVING TREASURES FROM THE GOLDEN ERA OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUS

Our May 14th Political and Americana auction will feature the iconic Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey

“Two Hemispheres” band wagon, the largest and most famous of its type ever built!

The ”Two Hemispheres” wagon was commissioned around 1900, and its name derived from the prominent high-relief Eastern and Western Hemispheres on each side. Called “the aristocrat of the circus band wagon family” by circus historian A.L. Chumley, it is 28 feet long, and required a team of 40 horses to pull it! The reins weighed 40 pounds, and the wagon was driven by the circus giant, Jack Posey. Its body and under-carriage was fabricated by the Sebastian Wagon Company of New York, and the elaborate decorations were carved by artisans working under famed woodcarver Samuel Robb. The “Two Hemispheres” cost $4,400 to build_-_an amount which would have bought a very nice home at the turn of the century._It made its debut in the grand parade celebrating the 1903 return to America of the “Greatest Show on Earth” after a triumphant fi ve year European tour.

The band wagon was the heart and soul of the parade through town which heralded the arrival of the circus. The “Two Hemispheres” had the distinction of being the only such wagon used exclusively in circus parades. Lesser wagons were also used to transport circus paraphernalia as the circus moved from town to town. The “Two Hemispheres” was used by Barnum and Bailey until around 1919, and it is believed to have made its last appearance for the Fred Buchanan’s Robbins Circus in the early 1930s._Sadly, very few of these dazzling transports have survived intact. Their bulk and the need for constant maintenance led most to be abandoned, although sometimes the decorative carved elements may still be found. In remarkable condition, the “Two Hemispheres” was long a featured exhibit at the Circus Hall of Fame in Sarasota, Florida, and is appearing on the market for the fi rst time in our May 14th auction. The total absence of meaningful price comparables make setting a meaningful estimate of value all but impossible, but the wagon will carry a minimum opening bid of $200,000.