Cabinet card photos of late 19th and early 20th century circus acts from an album sold for $3250 (£2700) at Freedom Auction Company.
Many of the cards in the rare album depict members of the Wallett family of performers, the Anglo-American crew of gymnasts, trapeze artists, equestrians and clowns that worked with all of the major promoters of the time in Europe and the Americas.
The founder of the dynasty was William Frederick Wallett (1808-92) who enjoyed modest celebrity in both England and the US.
After he performed before Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle in 1844, he began marketing himself (somewhat ambitiously) as ‘The Queen’s Jester’ and used the moniker as the title of an 1870 autobiography.
Among the acts he managed was Pablo Fanque, who – fascinating fact – is namechecked in the lyrics of the Sergeant Pepper track Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite.
Many of the Walletts were born in the Midlands in England but ended life in the US where business was best. Also pictured are the somersaulting bareback rider Ada Wallett (1865-1929) and her husband, the daredevil ‘two horse’ equestrian performer David Castello.
Cabinet card photos of late 19th and early 20th century circus acts from an album sold for $3250 (£2700) at Freedom Auction Company.
Among the titled cards showing other well-known acts of the period are: The Colorado Kid (the stage name of Robert Gandey of Gandey’s Circus fame); the female gymnast and ‘Queen of the Air’ Mille Turnour; Count Primo Magri (the Italian dwarf who operated a famous roadside stand in Middleborough, Massachusetts) and the Flying Dillons, the trapeze troupe that for many years toured with Barnum & Bailey’s ‘greatest show on earth’.
The album had a guide of $2000-4000 and sold at $3250 (£2700) plus 25% buyer’s premium.
