Step Right Up: Freedom Auction Company’s 2025 Circus Memorabilia Auction

Freedom Auction Company of Sarasota, Florida held its signature Circus Memorabilia Auction – The Icons event on February 16, 2025. On offer were over 970 lots of vintage to antique circus, sideshow, and performance related materials. These included promotional posters, collections and archives, stage-worn costumes, miniatures and models, apparatus, and other rarities from well-known troupes, as well as smaller, regional acts. Here are several center-stage highlights that captured the attention of the Auction Daily editors. All prices noted include the auction house’s buyer’s premium.

Brigham Young’s Great Theatre Poster

The top lot in this circus memorabilia sale was #0040, a lithographed poster for Brigham Young’s Great Theatre featuring Dr. Hugh Simmons Lynn. Estimated at USD 800 to $1,200, it soared to $20,000. This one-sheet broadside promoted the illusionist and traveler Dr. Hugh Simmons Lynn’s appearance at Brigham Young’s Great Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah in February 1864. This framed example was printed in Belfast and Dublin, Ireland by Marcus Ward & Company. It was illustrated with a front view of the venue’s stage, which is decorated with two classical statues, a painting, a mantle, and a chair. The theater was full of well-dressed men and women paying rapt attention to the performer, who was holding a bird in his hand.

The Salt Lake Theatre, located in Salt Lake City, UT, was the largest building in its area at the time. It was built in 1861 and completed in 1862 under the auspices and oversight of Mr. Brigham Young himself. He believed the project had holy components. Young funded half of the construction costs and monitored the building’s cash flow, safety, and other operations. In existence until 1928, the Salt Lake Theatre was considered in the top four great American performance venues throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Circus Clown Costume 

This auction featured a fine collection of stage-worn clothing. Lot #0094c, a Ringling Brothers Circus clown wardrobe worn by performer Lou Jacobs (German American, 1903 – 1992) in the 1950s, was estimated at $1,500 to $2,500 and delivered $10,625. The articles included a matching jacket and pants made from blue and white fabric, red suspenders, a white shirt, and bold red, white, and blue tie. These belonged to Jacobs, a leading, talented, and beloved member of the circus’ Clown Alley for over six decades.

A troupe’s “clown alley” refers to a traditional backstage area where clown entertainers used to dress for their performances and apply their facial makeup. Mr. Jacobs became a member of the International Clown Hall of Fame– located in Baraboo, Wisconsin– in 1989. His clowning achievements included popularizing the now ubiquitous tiny clown car prop and inventing the red rubber ball nose. In 1966, his portrait was featured on a US postage stamp, making him the first living person to achieve that distinction at that time.

Circus Elephant Medallion 

Iconic vintage to antique circus apparatus was another key category at this sale. Lot #0092a, a Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus elephant medallion, was estimated at $800 to $1,200 and traded hands at $3,750. This blue and white round porcelain medallion had a diameter of 16 inches. These were worn by the performing pachyderms on the front of their decorative headdresses.  

Performing elephants became a signature act with the Ringling Bros. Circus in 1882, when the organization acquired Jumbo the elephant from London. They were a popular attraction for the circus for nearly a century and a half, but not without controversy from animal rights activists and others who were concerned for their welfare over time. In 2016, the circus held its last performance with elephants in Providence, Rhode Island and then subsequently retired the remaining 11 to a conservation center in Florida.

Caral Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Poster

Fine vintage to antique posters and broadsides advertising circuses and acts of yesteryear also caught the eye and wallets of collectors. Lot #0001, a Carl Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus poster, was estimated at $600 to $900 and realized $2,750. This linen-backed, one-sheet lithographed example was from about 1920 and was published by Old Eire Litho. It was illustrated with a portrait of a smiling clown wearing a tiny hat and an oversized neck ruff.

Despite this highlight poster featuring a clown, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was best known for its amazing troupe of trained animals. This circus, second in size only to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at the time, launched in 1907 and was headquartered in Peru, Indiana. The organization closed shop in 1938, but the facility that once served as the circus’ winter home now houses the International Circus Hall of Fame.

Circus Wagon Wheel

Entertainment-related ephemera, artwork, miniatures and models, and other category-spanning collectibles rounded out this annual sale. Lot #0096, a Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus wagon wheel, was estimated at $600 to $900 and traded hands at $2,750. This primarily tan, brown, yellow, and orange wooden example measured 33 inches in diameter and was professionally restored by Wes “Brownie” Brown (American, 1910 – 2012). Mr. Brown worked for both the Wisconsin State Circus World Museum and the Florida Ringling Museum. He was responsible for the restoration of historic circus apparatus and materials.

For more information on Freedom Auction Company’s February 16, 2025 Circus Memorabilia Auction – the Icons, visit LiveAuctioneers.
Looking for more circus memorabilia? Check out Auction Daily’s coverage of Freedom Auction Company’s 2024 circus memorabilia sale.