Circus Scrip

Very cool! Close as I've come are a set of 1893 Expedition tickets.
I imagine if one were to really dig, there is alot to amass.

I really don't know what they are currently worth, I picked them up 20 years ago in a bulk purchase of tickets, route cards,other paper office stuff blank letterhead paper. Circus paper wasn't selling for much as it seems like a small collectors pool. With ebay and the net with its cross over collectors it might have widened a little. But with PC etc. old style circus can be bad words in some circles!

Depends on which story you want to believe. One is the chamber of commerce issued them to celebrate that Ringling was a large employer in the city. Which seems a little doubtful in the times 1933.

The other story is Ringling payed its employees in scrip for a while under the guise of the 50th anniversary. To quite the trouble makers that wanted the winter quarters and the noise and smell of the animals out of the town. The idea behind the scrip use was. The merchants would see what a large part of their livelihood was dependent on the Circus.

Of course it was worked out in advance that all script would be covered in cash.

Another one is when the circus was short or tight on cash they issued the scrip to hold everybody over to the cash started flowing again.

It might have been some combination of all of the above.

Interesting! Thanks!