United States · Miscellaneous · Baraboo scrip
50¢ note, 1933
50¢ · Baraboo Scrip · Albert C. Ringling · 1933
A 50-cent Baraboo Chamber of Commerce note for the 1933 Golden Jubilee: A. C. Ringling’s portrait, series A, serial 1054, Mitchell/Shafer WI100-.50.
Catalog facts
- Pick reference
- MS WI100-.50
- Serial number
- A1054
- Signatures
- P. L. Gust (president) and O. L. Gust (treasurer), read on this example; Baraboo Chamber of Commerce
- Condition
- Unslabbed (private collection)
- Printage
- E. B. Trimpey, Trimpey studio of Baraboo, for the Chamber of Commerce. Announced 28 June 1933; redeemable through 1 November 1933. Mitchell/Shafer gives the type as 114 × 66 mm. No record of the number printed survives; this record does not invent one.
Face
Back
The note
The Mitchell/Shafer WI100-.50 50¢ is a Baraboo Chamber of Commerce bearer note, not a Federal Reserve Note. The face, black on cream paper with a green disk, is titled BARABOO SCRIP. At left a circular portrait of Albert C. Ringling — moustache, suit and tie — sits in a laurel wreath, A. C. RINGLING on the lower ribbon. The center announces the 50th anniversary, 1883–1933, CELEBRATION OF THE FOUNDING OF RINGLING BROS. SHOW AT BARABOO, WISCONSIN. A dark cartouche reads FIFTY CENTS, with 50 in a green seal; to its left the green series letter A. Serial 1054 is printed in green at the foot, between the printed signatures that on this example read P. L. Gust (president) and O. L. Gust (treasurer). The footer promises redemption in trade or by the Chamber on or before 1 November 1933. Corner medallions show lion heads above and elephant heads below. The green back shows the Big Top, 1883 / 50th ANNIVERSARY / 1933, a tiger at left and a lion at right, and the banner GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATING THE FOUNDING OF RINGLING BROS. SHOWS AT BARABOO, WIS. This collection piece is shown unslabbed. The photograph is not enough to assign a grade. It is not the other five notes of the set, and it is not the 5¢ A4895, the 10¢ A2844, the 15¢ A2819, or the $1 A2002: A. C. Ringling’s portrait, the 50-cent face, and serial A1054 distinguish it.
The Golden Jubilee scrip
Baraboo was the birthplace and winter quarters of the Ringling Brothers Circus. The five brothers founded the touring company in 1884 — the scrip prints the span 1883–1933 — and wintered there until 1918. On 3 August 1933 the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus returned for the Golden Jubilee; that season’s route card places the train in Baraboo between Winona and Rockford.
The Chamber of Commerce announced the scrip on 28 June 1933 in the Baraboo News-Republic. These were not federal notes: ornate souvenir tokens, printed on currency-quality paper a trifle larger than Civil War shinplasters, redeemable in trade through 1 November. E. B. Trimpey of Baraboo’s Trimpey studio designed the set from original photographs of the brothers. The lower denominations show each brother singly; the $1 shows the group. This example is the 50¢: the portrait ribbon reads A. C. RINGLING, Albert C. Ringling, serial A1054.
Scarcity and printage
Baraboo scrip was not a federal issue. Wisconsin Depression Scrip lists the set as Shafer WI100; Mitchell/Shafer numbers this face WI100-.50. A complete run of the six notes is the usual way to collect it. No record of the number printed survives. This record does not invent a printage or a census. This piece’s interest is the 50¢ A. C. Ringling face and serial A1054, not an invented type rarity.
Population
A PMG or PCGS census for serial A1054 has not been independently verified. The note is shown unslabbed, with no certificate number. The photograph does not fix a grade.
Sources
- Wisconsin Depression Scrip — Baraboo (opens in a new tab)
Baraboo News-Republic, 28 June 1933: denominations, portraits of the five brothers, Trimpey, redemption through 1 November. No printage figure.
- Depression Scrip — Wisconsin (opens in a new tab)
Mitchell/Shafer WI100-.50; Baraboo, 1933, 50 cents; 114 × 66 mm.
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