Auction Review: Freedom Auction Company’s February 2024 Circus Memorabilia Event

Freedom Auction Company of Sarasota, Florida held its annual Circus Memorabilia Auction on February 17, 2024. Nearly 900 lots of 19th to 21st-century posters, broadsides, stage-worn outfits and props, oddities, and other circus, sideshow, and theme park materials were on offer. Many items had ties to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus in its various forms. This iconic entertainment brand also has its museum and archives located in Sarasota. Here are some sale standouts that caught the eye of the Auction Daily team. All prices noted include the auction house’s buyer’s premium.

This auction featured a fine collection of vintage to antique posters and broadsides. Lot #87F, P.T. Barnum’s Own and Only Greatest Show On Earth, was the top lot in this event. Estimated at USD 20,000 to $30,000, it traded hands at $32,500. This linen-backed, one sheet, professionally conserved example measured 32 inches by 48 inches.  It included a date tail for Monday, August 4th, 1879, at Owosso, Michigan. The poster featured six illustrations of the troupe’s most famous acts. It also had extensive text in various fonts in red, blue, yellow, and black used to promote other show highlights and attractions.

Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810 – 1891) was best known as a showman and for his ability to stretch the truth through enthusiastic promotion and hyperbole. He began his life in the entertainment industry at age 25. Discovering, then partnering with, emerging celebrities like dwarf Charles Stratton (General Tom Thumb, 1838 – 1883) and singer Jenny Lind (the Swedish Nightingale, 1820 – 1887) launched his career into the stratosphere. When asked about his legendary exaggerations and hoaxes, he famously replied, “I don’t believe in duping the public, but I believe in first attracting and then pleasing them.”

Archives from people associated with 20th-century circus life were also well represented in this sale. Lot #75, a photo book collection, was estimated at $300 to $600 and sold for $4,375. It was from the estate of Robert MacDougall (1935 – 2008), who was a long time manager of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. This collection consisted of 425 photographs housed in a three ring binder. The images were mostly from the midcentury through about 1972, with subjects including models, performances, railroads, wagons, floats, performers, and even the circus hospital car.

In addition to his time managing the circus, Mr. MacDougall was also known for designing and producing an extraordinary series of miniature circus models. These were displayed at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, FL for many years, although some have been sold at auction over time. He began making models as a child and followed this passion throughout his entire life. Mr. MacDougall was originally trained as an engineer, so his ability to translate his experience with the circus into a fully rendered three-dimensional version was a perfect fit.

Stage-used apparatus and materials also caught the eye of collectors. Lot #300, a Ringling circus wagon wheel, was estimated at $800 to $1,200 and delivered $3,125. This item measured 36 inches in diameter and once belonged to Charlotte Shive. She performed with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus as an aerialist for more than two decades, retiring from performing in 1938. According to legend, when she left the circus, she announced that she would like a wagon wheel to display in her front yard. This wheel was one of four from her collection and only one of two that survived the Florida weather over time.

Charlotte Shive ran away with the circus– literally. Trained as a nurse, she quit her job and joined the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1917. She was best known for her Iron Jaw Act, where she would dangle from a suspended line by biting down on a soft pad and swing freely. Her treasured circus souvenir, this sunburst circus wagon wheel, is most likely named for its distinctive fellies (curved pieces of wood that when pieced together make the rim of a wheel) and joyful painting.

Outfits worn by circus, sideshow, and theme park performers were another premier category in this sale. Lot # 313I, a Tinker Bell outfit made by seamstress Joanne Willson for actress Judy Kaye, was estimated at $200 to $300 and made $1,500. This green, sleeveless, corset-style costume was produced for the 1970s-era Tinker Bell show at Disneyland in California. It was decorated with matching green sequins and rhinestones. Judy Kay, who played Tinker Bell, was the daughter of Terrell Jacobs (1903 – 1957), a legendary animal trainer for Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus. He specialized in big cats.

Tinker Bell is a beloved and iconic personality in the Disney family of characters. She made her first “live” appearance in the summer of 1961 when a real life Tinker Bell flew over the Sleeping Beauty Castle as part of the theme park’s nightly fireworks celebration. The first actress to portray Disney’s Tinker Bell was Tiny Kline, a petite Hungarian immigrant with impressive dance and gymnastic skills. She played the flying fairy from 1961 to 1963. Today, performers in the Tinker Bell role must stand between 4′ 11″ and 5′ 2″ and weigh in the 95 to 115-pound range. They also need to be light enough to be supported by the performance harness and cables, but heavy and strong enough to gather momentum to fly down the cable wearing apparatus that weighs nearly 70 pounds.

This sale came full circle with sideshow gaffs, carnival game props, signage, photos, and other antiques. Lot #421, a black and white image of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus sideshow cast, was estimated at $200 to $400 and made $2,500. This large format photo was taken by the Liberty Flashlight Company in New York City’s Madison Square Garden in 1942. Performers pictured include a giant and giantess, a comedy juggler, a sword swallower, a king of handcuffs, a tattooed wonder man, a fireproof man, a magician, a fat girl, a rubber-armed man, a long-haired girl, and others.

For more information on Freedom Auction Company’s February 17, 2024 Circus Memorabilia Auction, visit LiveAuctioneers. 

Looking for more coverage of auction results? Check out Auction Daily’s review of Bonhams’ white-glove sale of items from The Crown.