Circuses, Risley & McCollum’s Hippodrome, brass, man standing on two horses galloping right, risley & mccollum’s hippodrome around, rev. troisieme, ostrich pulling cart above, elephant and castle below, edge grained, 32mm, 9.60g (W 971); Louis Soullier, brass, by H. Smith, horsewoman cantering left, hippodrome et cirque soullier around, rev. troisieme, star and crescent crest above and below, 33mm, 8.38g (W 977) [2]. About fine, scarce; first pierced for suspension £60-80

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Tickets and Passes of London from the David Young Collection.

View
Collection

Provenance: First W.J. Noble Collection, Part II, Noble Numismatics Pty Auction 61B (Melbourne), 3-4 August 1999, lot 752 (part), bt L. McCarthy November 2002; second bt September 2017.

Richard Risley Carlisle, aka Richard Risley (1814-74), showman and entrepreneur from Salem, NJ, in partnership with Thomas McCollum and their combined French and American equestrian troupe, performed in a circus at Drury Lane in 1851, which is when these tickets were issued. Louis Soullier (1813-88), proprietor of his self-styled Cirque Orientale, toured England in 1852, performing in London and Manchester, before taking his troupe to China, where they debuted in 1854 as that country’s first-ever circus