1915 Sauk County Fair Posters
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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.
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