Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

Well, about 45 years ago, I went to a lot of auctions. And I collect local history. And I'm from Baraboo, Wisconsin. And this county fair has been there since the 1800s. Well, up in this guy's attic at this household sale was these posters all rolled up. These are stock fair posters they bought and put the name on them for the weekly fair. Baraboo was the original home, May 19, 1884, where the Ringling Brothers Circus began.

APPRAISER

And it's now the home of the World Circus Museum.

GUEST

Circus World Museum.

APPRAISER

Circus World Museum.

GUEST

But Ringlings were there until 1918.

APPRAISER

You're right, they are what we call stock posters. And just for everybody's edification, a stock poster is an image that's printed without any words. And if you happen to be a fair in Baraboo, Wisconsin, or if you're a fair out in California, and you can't afford your own printing, you would go to a printing press, and you would say, "I'd like to go through your catalogue," and they would order by catalogue number. And you'll notice that each of these posters has a separate number next to the printer. And they'd say, "I'd like number 10063, please. And please imprint it with the information for the upcoming Sauk County Fair in 1915." So these posters were all printed in 1915, and fewer of these were printed than circus posters. But an awful lot of them were printed.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

Do you attend the Sauk Fair?

GUEST

Oh, yeah, I have, had for years, mm-hmm, participated. I had horses and sheep and that kind of stuff there, apples.

APPRAISER

It's a whole different world for me. How many of the fairs that you attended actually had a giant vegetable parade?

GUEST

(chuckling) None of them, none of them.

APPRAISER

How many of the fairs that you attended had finely dressed men and women attending to sheep?

GUEST

Not normally, no.

APPRAISER

My point is that these images were done as generalities.

GUEST

Correct.

APPRAISER

So they don't necessarily depict what's happening at the different fairs.

GUEST

No.

APPRAISER

They were big, beautiful, colorful images meant to catch your attention, and the images really are great. They do have fashionable men and women, they do have riders. These two images could just as easily be an ad for a clothing store as they are for a county fair.

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

Any idea what these things are worth?

GUEST

No, I've never had them appraised. When I purchased them, I paid about $100 apiece for them.

APPRAISER

So in my opinion, as posters, they will have interest graphically...

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

they will have interest geographically...

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

and you know what? There may be different people competing for them. But my opinion is that were they to appear at auction...

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

I would assign the images that are on the top, the smaller four images...

GUEST

The half-sheets, yeah.

APPRAISER

...each with an estimate of $400 to $600.

GUEST

Uh-huh, okay.

APPRAISER

And the two images on the bottom, I would assign an estimate of $800 to $1,200 each.

GUEST

Good, good.