1916 Alfred T. Ringling SIGNED Barnum & Bailey CIRCUS Letter, John Ringling TOO?

Description

- VERY RARE Alf T. Ringling SIGNED Letter 1916 -
- Beautiful, BARNUM & BAILEY Circus Letterhead -
- Addressed to “The McClure Newspaper Syndicate” -
- Letter partly-written by BROTHER John Ringling? -
VERY RARE, typed and hand-written letter
SIGNED by Alfred T. Ringling
on the colorful + ornate
BARNUM & BAILEY “Greatest Show on Earth” LETTERHEAD
.  Letter is
two-pages
in length,
dated
October 31st 1916
, and was written
“En Route”
with fine circus related CONTENT.  The
letterhead
is very GRAPHIC and intricately detailed, with the
conjugate images of both Phineas T. Barnum and James A. Bailey depicted along the top - flanked by a lion, tiger, and a clown
.
Writing to
“The McClure Newspaper Syndicate”
,
Alf T. Ringling has written the following statement in his own hand on the BACKSIDE of the letter and SIGNED it at the conclusion
.   It
reads
in
full
,
“The above is adjusted in bills OK’d by me today, Dec. 12th 1916.  Alf T. Ringling”
(signed).
In addition,
I believe the hand-writing on the
entire
FRONT of the letter and the
top half
of the writing on the BACKSIDE of the letter is actually in the hand of Alf’s BROTHER John Ringling
.  Some further research is warranted, but I do believe from my own observation of John’s handwriting in the past, as well as comparison with a letter in John’s hand in my research file, that the first three quarters of the letter is very likely written by John Ringling.
From my own experience, Alf T. Ringling’s signature / autograph is the
RAREST
of the FIVE original Ringling Brothers, with the exception of Otto.  This is a great opportunity for collectors to acquire an attractive circus letter with an important and difficult to obtain autograph.
ALFRED
“ALF”
THEODORE RINGLING (1861 - 1919)
was one of five “founding brothers” who built the greatest dynasty in the history of the American circus.  The Ringling Brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus from the widow of James Bailey in 1907 and tour this well-known circus independently from their own until 1919, when they combined the two shows.  In 1900, "Alf T." published the book, "Life Story of the Ringling Brothers".
CONDITION:
letter measures about 5 ½ x 8 3/8 inches in size and is in EXCELLENT, original condition with dark writing and a strong signature.  There are a few horizontal + vertical folds, but NO rips or tears (see SCANS).
Alfred T. Ringling’s signature / autograph is guaranteed authentic
.
for shipping, postage & INSURANCE
.  Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
PLEASE READ:
I have been buying + selling American historical autographs & documents for over 30 years and a former member of both the “Manuscript Society” and the UACC.  We ship everything INSURED (thru the USPS) with a value over .  This helps us know that the item you took the time to purchase arrived safely.  We have not had a package turn up lost in over 25 years, though one package went rogue about 15 years ago but eventually turned up.  Packages are shipped out within 1 – 3 business days, but typically the next day.  Please understand, we do not make any money on shipping costs, but rather run a deficit over the course of a year.  Most people don’t realize that ebay and paypal deduct a total of 13% from my stated shipping charges (leaving me 87% of that amount for actual postage + insurance).  Everything we sell is packaged with the utmost care.  Please read my ebay feedback over the last 20 years.  The comments are often – the best packaging I have ever seen, “bullet proof” packaging, etc.