British Tokens, Tickets and Passes

Outside London and Travelling Circuses, MIDLOTHIAN, Edinburgh, Cooke’s Royal Circus, uniface brass by T. Pope, cooke’s royal circus around gallery, 32mm, 7.48g (W 958). Old handling mark, otherwise good very fine, rare £80-£100

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

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Provenance: W.J. Noble Collection, Part II, Noble Numismatics Pty Auction 61B (Melbourne), 3-4 August 1999, lot 751 (part) [from S.E. Schwer 1984]; bt L. McCarthy November 2002.

Cooke’s Royal Circus, originally founded in the 1780s, had ‘acquired’ the royal suffix in 1830 following an audience with William IV and Queen Adelaide. By 1835 it was based in Edinburgh and undertook an American tour in 1836-8. This ticket was probably produced while the Circus was managed by John Henry Cooke (1837-1917), who took over the family business in 1866; it closed in 1908