One would be hard pressed to find something this 1879 P.T. Barnum “Greatest Show on Earth” original poster did not advertise. The 48-by-32-inch professionally restored one-sheet poster traded hands for $32,500, high enough to earn it the distinction of “Greatest Price At The Auction.” It will be staying in the United States ($20/30,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Photos Courtesy Freedom Auction Company
SARASOTA, FLA. — All but a few of the nearly 950 lots auctioned by Brian Hollifield and Freedom Auction Company on February 17 sold, garnering the house approximately $350,000 from its Circus Memorabilia Auction. The auction featured the collections of two noted circus historians: Larry Kellogg and Bill Biggerstaff and was, in the words of Freedom’s owner, Brian Hollifield, “one of the most historically significant sales we’ve ever seen. It represented more than 125 combined years of collecting, most of which hadn’t been on the market in years.
“We’ve been seeing a new trend over the past few auctions. While buyers in the United States buy most of the quantity, more of the higher priced lots go to overseas buyers. Private collectors are the majority of our buyers but some of them are buying for museums, and we also see museums who are purchasing.”
As they often are, posters were among the strongest categories in the sale, posting the majority of the highest prices of the day. Achieving an above-estimate result at $32,500 was an original 1879 one-sheet poster for P.T. Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth that had been printed in Buffalo, N.Y., by the Courier Company Show printing house. No square inch of the poster was wasted space for the publicity piece, which advertised rare novelties, enlarged menageries, black and white camels, elephants, as many as 50 cages of animals, a two-horned rhino, 50 imported stallions and 300 monkeys, as well as named Big Tent personalities. The poster had been professionally conserved and restored on archival linen and found a new home with a private US collector.
Johnny Baker could shoot while standing on his head and bent over backwards, or so this 1908 Strobridge Litho poster for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show advertised. In lightly but professionally restored condition, this 82-by-39-inch three-sheet example brought the second highest price of the day: $13,750 from an international buyer ($10/15,000).
Hollifield noted that the P.T. Barnum poster was one of two lots that stood out to him for both rarity and importance. “It’s a very scarce poster and also very early. The fact that it still survives is very special.”
An international buyer paid the next highest price — $13,750 — for a three-sheet original poster, printed by Strobridge Lithograph in 1908, that advertised the expert marksmanship of Johnny Baker, a trick-shot champion on the Wild West show. Of the three images featured, Baker is shown shooting upside down in two of them. According to the catalog notes, Baker was the informally adoptive son of Buffalo Bill Cody. Like many of the posters in the sale, its condition was described as professionally conserved on archival linen, with very light expert restoration.
The same international buyer added another Buffalo Bill Wild West poster to their invoice: an 1909 example that advertised Pawnee Bill Great Far East and which provided some exotic flavor to the offerings. Printed on three sheets by Strobridge Litho, it was described in the catalog as “a rare example that seldom comes to market.” Bidders agreed, pushing it to $9,688, just shy of its high estimate.
Miss Lillian Leitzel was billed by Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus as the “World’s Most Marvelous Lady Gymnast” which was another rare poster in the sale that had minimal in-painting to its 1924 Strobridge Litho single-sheet. It flew to a buyer in the United States for $5,000, matching its high estimate.
Leitzel died tragically after her rigging failed in February 1931. An original photograph that Hollifield believes was the one that accompanied her death notice. Though it brought the comparatively modest price of $344, Hollifield said it was a very historically significant document.
She may have been described as “dainty” but Miss Lillian Leitzel — who Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey promoted as the “World’s Most Marvelous Lady Gymnast” earned a robust $5,000 ($4/5,000).
Two posters that had distinctive animal themes — tigers and elephants — each achieved $3,438. The first to do so was a circa 1920 three-sheet Riverside poster for Christy Bros’ five-ring Wild Animal Circus. An interesting note in the catalog was that it lacked the owner portraits in the header that most posters from the period include. It was followed across the podium for the same amount, realized by a circa 1909 Strobridge Litho Ringling Bros poster that advertised 40 elephants in “Hello Elephants,” a “New Comedy Stunt by Expert Pachyderm Actors.”
Photos — either individual examples or entire archives — were another significant category. A collection of photo slides from the Pop Haussman collection that featured photos from the early to mid-Twentieth Century sold below estimate but still brought the highest price of $5,625. A three-ring binder from the Robert MacDougall collection featured more than 425 photos of primarily midcentury Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey models, performances, backyard, railroad, wagons, floats, performers and the hospital car outperformed expectations to earn $4,375, more than eight times its high estimate. Rounding out the top archival photo lot at $3,125 was a group of scrapbooks from the estate of Katherine Nelson. She was a member of the Nelson family who performed for more than 100 years with American circuses, including the Dan Rice Circus, Orrin Bros, Ringling Bros, Hagenback Wallace, Wirth Circus, Cole Bros and others.
This Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey elephant headdress is considered a rare artifact and sold for $3,438. The name of the elephant and some of her history was detailed in the catalog ($2/4,000).
As with many collectibles, those that were used by performers during shows continue to attract interest and high bids. An original Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey elephant headdress that was inscribed “Rebecca” on the reverse achieved $3,438, within estimate. According to the catalog note, the elephant Rebecca had been imported from the Billy Smart circus in England to perform in the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus World in Central Florida before she worked the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Blue show.
Freedom will conduct more circus-themed auctions over the summer. One in July will be held in conjunction with the Central States Circus Soirée, one in August alongside the Circus Historical Society convention in Atlanta in August and a third one, the date of which is still to be determined. The auction house is still accepting consignments for all three sales.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.freedomauctions.com, info@freedomauctions.com or 941-725-2166.
