Blue Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, Inc. - Multicolored Specimen Circus Stock Certificate
Inv# SE2370 Specimen StockDelaware
New York
Texas
Blue Common Stock Specimen printed by American Bank Note Company. This is the most colorful stock ever issued.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (commonly known as Ringling) was a circus created by P.T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey. It merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows after the Ringling brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. following Bailey's death in 1906. They operated the circuses separately until their merger in 1919. After 1957, the circus no longer used its portable "big top" tents and began performing in permanent venues such as sports stadiums and arenas.
In 1967, Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston Judge Roy Hofheinz, purchased the circus from the Ringling family. The Felds and Hofheinz sold the circus to Mattel in 1971 but bought it back from the toy company in 1981. Following Irvin Feld's death in 1984, the circus became part of Feld Entertainment, an international entertainment company headed by his son Kenneth Feld, with headquarters in Ellenton, Florida. Due to declining attendance, numerous animal rights protests, and high operating costs, the circus held its final performance on May 21, 2017, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, concluding its 146-year run.
However, on May 18, 2022, after a five-year hiatus, Feld Entertainment announced that the circus would resume touring in the fall of 2023, although it would no longer feature animals.
Stock and Bond Specimens are made and usually retained by a printer as a record of the contract with a client, generally with manuscript contract notes such as the quantity printed. Specimens are sometimes produced for use by the printing company's sales team as examples of the firm’s products. These are usually marked "Specimen" and have no serial numbers.
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