Odd? You Bet! But That’s the Point!

From eerie séance relics to sideshow oddities, the Victorians had a knack for collecting the bizarre.
Potter & Potter’s latest auction celebrates the strange, the curious, and the downright unexplainable.

Sideshow painting on canvas, “See A Queena,”
by Jack Sigler, mid-20th century, 58 in. by 86 in., $5,250.

 

Curiosities—objects that evoke the question, “What the heck is that?”—have had an enduring appeal throughout history. Unusual curiosities and oddities popularly collected include antique magic lithographs, sideshow banners and posters, human skulls, freak taxidermy, natural history specimens, antique Ouija boards, and rare séance items.

Color lithograph for the book Roody, 1928, sinister set of eyes peering over a Sanskrit-filled book of spells, 55 in. by 39 1/4 in., $8,400.

The curious Victorians, who were interested in anatomy, botany, nature, the sciences, and morbidity, elevated collecting and displaying oddities to an art inspired by the aesthetics of curiosity cabinets in the 16th through 18th centuries. Upper-class Victorians enjoyed finding rare visually appealing items, like suits of armor, wax figures, and human skeletons. Smaller objects included botanical items and animal remains displayed in curiosity cabinets or on taxidermy mounts.

Today, collectors like James Freeman and Kate Fugate acquire oddities not only as conversation pieces but also for historical preservation out of respect for the cultures they stemmed from.
On Feb. 3, Potter & Potter presented choice pieces from the couple in the auction, “Wunderkammer: The Freeman & Fugate Oddities Collection.” The sale included circus memorabilia, ghosts, ghouls, spirit photos, “talking boards,” taxidermy, and oddities of all types and lived up to its promise of being equal parts amazing, bizarre, and remarkable.

Color lithograph poster, Koringa, by Renee Bernard, 1930s, 48 1/2 in. by 35 in., $2,750.

The top lot was an automaton, “Aubade a la lune [Serenade to the Moon],” circa 1890, by Gustave Vichy (1839–1904) that sold for $36,000, handily beating its high estimate of $25,000. The mechanical automaton with two-tune music features a quarter moon with a hinged jaw and movable glass eye, with Pierrot sitting on the moon’s tip playing the mandolin, turning his head, and sticking out his tongue while the moon rolls its eyes back and opens its mouth. This piece was a prize won by a contestant on The Price is Right in the 1960s.

“Aubade a la lune [Serenade to the Moon]” automaton, c. 1890, Gustave Vichy (1839-1904), approximately 20 in. h, $36,000.

Rounding out the top three lots were an archive of over 150 post-mortem photographs taken by the police at crime scenes in Boston during the 1940s through 1970s that sold for $9,600—nearly five times its high estimate of $2,000, and a rare antique Italian phrenology skull, circa 1852, that fetched $9,000—also almost five times its high estimate of $2,000. The skull, on an ebonized fruitwood base, is painted with markings all over diagramming phrenological regions and corresponding characteristics of the brain.

Antique Italian phrenology skull, c. 1852, 7 in. by 9 in. by 7 1/2 in., $9,000.

Bidders were also fascinated by the “wet specimens”—animals born deformed and preserved in a jar of liquid—pushing many far above their high estimates. The highest-selling ones were pig specimens, including conjoined twin pigs—one normal and one with an unusual cyclops deformity—preserved in rubbing alcohol in a glass apothecary jar that sold for $7,200. Another set of conjoined twin pigs with two bodies and one head sold for $4,320, while a piglet with cyclops deformity brought $4,080.

Royal Kap-Dwa. Two-Headed Giant cover title, 1900s, 7 7/8 in. by 5 1/8 in., $2,160.

Drawings, photographs, and posters depicting circus performers and other people, real or fake, with physical deformities, special powers, or mythical creatures, are popular collectibles. The lot that had the most bids (41) was a hoax cover title for Royal Kap-Dwa. Two-Headed Giant, circa 1900s, soared far above its high estimate of $200 to bring $2,160.

For more results, visit potterauctions.com.

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