30131.
2217. Commodore Nutt. 3-cent tax stamp on verso.
Prominent Portraits. No. 4751. Major Charles Colvin, height 23 in., weight only 12 lbs. He is being held by the giantess Anna Swan.
Prominent Portraits. No. 4617. Major Charles Colvin, height 23 in., weight only 12 lbs. According to Kunhardt, P.T. Barnum, America’s Greatest Showman, page 173, the man at left is John Drummond and on right is “Professor Cromwell.” Barnum often added the titled ‘Professor’ to the names of his employees.
Prominent Portraits. No. 3918. Zuruby Hannum (Pearl of the Sea) the Circassian Girl, at Barnum’s Museum.
Prominent Portraits-The Stage. No. 2128. Zuruby Hannum, the Circassian Girl, at Barnum’s Museum.
Prominent Portraits. No. 3922. Zuruby Hannum (Pearl of the Sea) and Zuluma Agra, (Star of the East) the Circassian Girls, at Barnum’s Museum.
Prominent Portraits. No. 5540. Mammoth Fat Boy, (Barnum’s Museum), age 16 years, weights 526 pounds, measures across the shoulders three feet two inches, round the waist six feet three inches.
The long and short of India at the Durbar-Cashmere Giant (7 ft. 9 in.) and Patiala midget (28 in.), Delhi. Photographer Ricalton stands in the view.
The Solid Muldoon–The Missing Link, 1877. George Hill, perpetrator of the Cardiff Giant, created a new giant measuring 7 feet, 5 inches, weighing 600 lbs., and possessing a four inch tail. This was done with the assistance of a Mr. Fitch, who had patented “Portland Cement.” To fool scientists, they embedded bones from a human skeleton in the concrete, then added a cow’s shinbone to the neck for reinforcement. Hull approached Barnum and the Solid Muldoon was shipped to Barnum’s New York Museum of Anatomy. Fitch confessed the hoax just as “scientists” were ready to cross-section the stomach. At a previous interview before the hoax was discovered, Barnum commented: “It is my candid opinion that in this discovery we have found the missing link which Darwin claims connects mankind with beast creation.” This reference is from Hoaxes, Humbugs, and Spectacles by Mark Sloan, 1990, page 8.
The Cardiff Giant. Discovered at Cardiff, Oct. 16, 1869. Length of body 10 ft. 4 1/2 inches. Weight 2990. Written on verso is “Proved to be a facke [sic]. I saw it.”
P.T. Barnum’s Great Caravan! Entering Watkins, August 4th, 1871. This is the “earliest existing view of a Barnum circus.” See P.T. Barnum by Kunhardt, page 223.