Connecticut, Bridgeport. (ca. 1868) Stone & Murrays Circus. Bowers CT-210. Silvered brass. 38 mm. Ab

Connecticut, Bridgeport. (ca. 1868) Stone & Murrays Circus. Bowers CT-210. Silvered brass. 38 mm. About Uncirculated.，Obverse: Advertisement in 10 lines: STONE & MURRAYS /CIRCUS / IS COMING WITH / A / SUPERB TROUPE OF / STAR / PERFORMERS / THE / MOST WONDERFUL / IN THE UNIVERSE. Reverse: Equestrian feat motif at center, CIRCUS below, titles around. Minor crimping of the edge in a couple of places. Most of the original silvering is intact save for the highest points of the design. Satiny and lustrous with very nice eye appeal. Very rare and quite desirable as a circus card, an ever popular theme. According to the Bowers reference on Shell Cards, just three to five examples are known. <p>Stone & Murrays Circus was formed by Dennison W. Stone and John Hayes Murray and was the successor in the 1868 season to Stone, Rosston & Murray. The company often billed itself as "The Best in the World." One of the shell cards is dated 1868, suggesting that the distribution of these may have been in the first year of business. In 1872, Stone left the company, which was then continued by Murray until 1878. The circus wintered in Bridgeport, CT, the home base of the unrelated P.T. Barnum. Dave has always had an interest in circus history and has written extensively about Yankee Robinson, one of the top performers of the era.<p>，Ex Bowers and Merena, September 1995, lot 2985; Q. David Bowers Collection.，