?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
DESIGNER UNKNOWN
SELLS BROTHERS / JUST RETURNED FROM AUSTRALIA. Circa 1892.
39 1/2x29 1/2 inches, 100 1/4x75 cm. The Strobridge Lith. Co., Cincinnati. Condition A-: small tears, abrasions and slight darkening at edges; creases in margins and image; abrasions along sharp horizontal fold. Paper. Framed.
Upon its return from "the most remarkable and successful tour on record" the Sells Brothers Circus used their departure as a point of advertisement, showing an image of their grand send off, their magnificent ship ("the largest of the Union SS's Co's magnificent fleet") and a pair of vignettes of animals aboard the craft. The Sells Brothers created several other posters utilizing this same format, merely changing the central image and the text at the bottom, but leaving the top text and margins the same. Well known for their hyperbole and purely outrageous claims, this circus poster is no exception, as the Sells Brothers actual trip to Australia "proved ruinous" (Circus p. 8).
