Souvenirs of The Sideshow

While Midgets sometimes sold miniature bibles (see ad below), and the armless sold feet-written autographed photos, the sideshow Giant had a pitch item unique to his genre. Promoted and sold from the bally stage, "direct from the Giant's own fingers," Giant's Rings were a slick way to put some extra jangle in the big man's pocket.

Purchased by the gross or in thousand lots— or even manufactured at home in the off-season— for a half-cent or less outlay per piece, the Giant could multiply his investment 25- or even 50-fold. How many were sold over the years is unknown, but by looking at what's still hanging around, it had to be many, many thousands.

Purported to be the right size for the Giant to wear, they most commonly bore his name, and often his height, and sometimes his billing. Fascinated with their exaggerated size, collectors have found that these ubiquitous objects have outlasted many other pitch items due to their weighty construction, instant novelty, and ability to tell a story many years after their initial purchase from the Giant in person.

Not much has been written about these souvenirs sold at circuses, carnivals, and dime museums for over 60 years— from the early 1900's through the mid-1960's. One prominent collector has written a small book on the subject, though the book, published in England in 2000 or 2001, has proven to be elusive. His Giant's Ring collection numbers some 80 different examples.

Cheap Metal Clinkers

Examining some 30 different specimens (see checklist below), and emailing several collectors whose ring collections number in the 20-30 range, it appears as though certain elements are common to most Giant's Rings. All the rings examined have a 1.25 to 1.5 Inch inner diameter. Nearly all of the rings appear to be made of lead or "pot metal," although at least one ceramic ring is known, and many were produced in plastic in later years. While a few of the metal rings were plated (or painted) gold or silver, and are shiny, most are dull gray or lead colored. The plastic varieties have been found in many different colors.

All of the metal rings examined have raised letters, with the exception of the J.G. Tarver Texas Giant ring, and the Dreamland Sideshow rings, which have deeply incised writing. The technology of making these rings is decidely low-tech, requiring only a mold into which molten metal can be poured. With a relatively low melting point of 786° F (419° C), zinc is often alloyed with other metals including lead (melting point 620° F, 327° C), and tin (450° F, 232° C) to make the "pot metal" rings.

Pot Metal is sometimes called "white metal", "die-cast zinc" or "monkey metal." It has a tendency to bend, marr, distort, crack, shatter, and pit with age, hence the condition of some of the rings examined. Despite these facts, pot metal is more resilient than plain lead. Many of the Giant's Rings which appear to be made of plain lead have worn-down lettering on the face, and are generally nicked and abraded. Lead may also have been a poor choice for the miles of rough traveling the shows had to do, as lead is very soft and carrying these rings on the road as pitch items may have damaged many of them past the point of salability.

Some metal rings come in two different versions— a painted or plated version, and a plain cast gray-colored version. Most often the painted/plated version is gold or silver. While some rings actually appear to have been painted, Giant's Ring collector and sideshow historian Bob Blackmar believes that many, if not all of the metal rings thus colored, were plated. The Eddie Carmel "Lucky" ring which has only been seen gold colored, comes in both a gold metal plated version, as well as a "vacuum plated" plastic version.

Despite the variety and number of different rings noted, 85-90% of the metal ones produced in the 1920's-1950's appear to have been made from the same modified original design, as size and shape on rings made years apart and from various Giants are nearly exact. Perhaps one manufacturer was originally hired to make the earliest rings, and then the same design was repeated changing mainly the lettering on the face, and sometimes the side scrolls. Or more likely, enterprising Giants (or their managers) made new molds from existing rings of competing Giants. It would be simple enough to do this even now, creating in this day and age, counterfeit collectibles.

Counterfeit Rings?

In correspondence with collectors, the subject of fakes seems to come up frequently. On one collector's authority at least two rings are currently being counterfeited. Judging from the number of Giant's Rings that hit eBay weekly, this is not hard to believe.

How do you tell the difference between a real, i.e. vintage ring and a fake? Good question. The Giant's Ring book previously mentioned may be scheduled for reprint, and in its pages lies the answer, according to its author. Until then, you may unknowingly be looking at or buying counterfeits.

Among the rings seen there is some controversy about "recreations" or "fantasy" pieces— i.e. rings which were never actually sold by any Giant, but passed off in the collector market as real. A photo of the Gargantua Toto ring can be found on this page. Gargantua was the lowland gorilla that was sensationally featured with the Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey Circus from 1938-1949. M'Toto (or "Toto") was a female gorilla later exhibited as Gargantua's "bride." Is it possible that a a pair of gorillas actually pitched Giant's Rings? This "Gorilla Ring" unlike any of the others examined so far appears to have its letters engraved, rather than cast into the metal. Its owner, the collector Chris Tinsley believes the ring to be an outright fake.

Another ring that seems suspect is the Circus Hall Of Fame ring, a photo of which also appears on this page. A guess is that this ring was sold as a souvenir at the original Circus Hall of Fame in Sarasota, Florida (moved in 1981 to Peru, Indiana), and never really pitched by a Giant. Or did various Giants appear at this museum and pitch this generic ring?

Bob Blackmar also recently produced his own "recreation" Giant's Ring for the 2006 Sideshow Gathering which was made in an edition of 100.

So How Big Is A Giant's Finger?

According to The Guinness Book Of World Records, Robert Wadlow— the tallest human to ever live— wore a size 25 ring. By taking a modern ring measuring chart, which stops at size 15, and expanding it 3mm for each ring size up to Wadlow's size 25, one gets to a circumference of 4.25" (or 107.95mm). This is exactly 1.353" in diameter— a little larger than the typical Giant's Ring of 1.25", and smaller than the largest ring at 1.5" (see #19 on checklist below, Johann Petursson—Tallest Man ring).

If Wadlow was typical of most Giants in that his ring size was relative to his stature, then Giant's Ring's may be seen to be actually only slightly exaggerated in size. This relative accuracy of ring size to the actual pitch items may be even closer if Wadlow's fingers were perhaps thinner than the "average" Giant due to his very slim physique.

It is also possible this can be tested to some extent if a Ripley's "Believe It Or Not" exhibit in St. Augustine can be believed to represent a true cast of Wadlow's hand.

While Wadlow exhibited briefly with Ringling Brothers Circus, he never sold a Giant's Ring— considering any association with freaks and sideshows to be demeaning.

Since ring sizes of these pitch objects from Giants smaller than Wadlow tend to be almost uniformly the same, it is ridiculous to suppose that they were created with any idea of accuracy in mind. But given the inherent deceptions perpetuated by sideshows, Giant's Rings are surprisingly relative to the reality of that size 25 ring that Wadlow wore.

Finally, the scale of Giant's Rings may be directly related to the way in which they were pitched. A common pitch gesture for the inside talker was to pull a half-dollar from his pocket and say that the size of the opening of the ring— and thus the Giant's finger— were large enough to pass a half-dollar through it. (Even though by simple experiment we can see that it isn't.) Later, Johann Petursson seems to have upped the ante, with a ring almost the size of a silver dollar.

A Drink From Blackbeard's Mug?

If you go poking around the web, you'll find one confused person ascribing "late 17th to 18th century" origins to a George Auger ring, claiming that the ring's side panel scrolls have "symbols [that] match those on Blackbeard's mug." Although a picture of the rum-stained mug supposedly made from Blackbeard's skull has not yet surfaced, it seems doubtful that an early 20th century carny would have used anything as obscure as a mythic rum mug to copy in making the Auger ring.

More than likely the side panel scroll designs on Giant's Rings were copied from slum jewelry and ended up being there purely by chance or whim of the first ring maker. Slum jewelry was bought very cheaply by carnival game operators to give as prizes, and thus were everywhere to be seen and used as design inspiration. Nonetheless, the notion was copied, and the tradition of designing rings with side scroll patterns is nearly universal on Giant's Rings. Designs on side panels are often abstract scrolls, but just as commonly identifiable as oak leaves, stars, roses, small vines with fruit, and daisies.

While different Giant's Rings appear to have similiar side panel designs, none so far examined appear to be exact repeats from other rings. Similiarly, there do not appear to be different versions of side panel designs on rings with the exact same face design.

Secret Origins Of Giant's Rings

Beginning in the 1880's, in cities all across Europe, tourist attractions and souvenir shops began selling metal napkin rings which were shaped exactly like giant finger rings. Some were elaborate, but many were as simple as the Giant's Rings later sold at carnivals, circuses, and sideshows in the United States. Many of these European souvenir napkin rings were made to stock, and simply engraved with the place name or tourist destination where they were to be sold.

The earliest Giants who sold pitch rings were European, and certainly they would have been familiar with the common souvenir napkin rings made to look like finger rings. Perhaps this familiarity hatched an idea to produce the first "Giant's Ring."

First made and pitched as early as 1905, perhaps first by Giant George Auger (1883?-1922), whose Giant's rings appear to be of the oldest and most primitive design— the format he used was copied, and rarely changed much from performer to performer.

Sideshow historian Tom Hernandez, who has created an excellent page on Giant's Rings, also believes that Auger deserves the distinction of pitching the first ring, and has his own theory on how the idea of Giant's Rings came to pass:

"Apparently around this time huge oversized rings were being manufactured by some unknown company as a novelty item. They were purchased with a blank face and then one could get them inscribed with a name or personal message and then given as a gift or token of remembrance."

"Possibly [Auger] or his manager took note of [the Giant] Hugo's display of finger size, knew of the novelty rings and put the two together and created another opportunity to make some extra cash."

Hernandez' suggestion points more towards a U.S. origin for the producer of the first Giant's Rings. In a 1937 catalogue we find the Johnson Smith Company selling a ring with "Comical Mottos" similiar to the type of ring Hernandez describes. Certainly finding a catalogue or advertisement dated around 1900 would cement this contention, and logically tie the origin of Giant's Rings to the production of carnival slum prizes and novelty items.

How Many Rings Do You Have, Johann?

Icelandic Giant Johann Petursson's rings are many. Many designs created over a period of many years— from metal to plastic, from gold painted metal to dull lead. Johann pitched both the largest ring ever measured, as well as the cheapest ones ever made— plastic with a poorly printed paper label glued on. Petursson also may have been the last Giant to ever pitch a ring.

Longtime sideshow collector and Johann Petursson enthusiast Neil Davis tells us that the Icelandic Giant's molded square plastic rings with raised letters were first sold in the early 1950`s. Evidently unsatisfied, Johann next pitched plastic rings with his photo glued on, with the late 1950`s finding him trying out several large metal rings, which were heavy and ultimately unsatisfactory due to the quality of the metal. Next is what Neil calls "the elusive Star ring," which is an engraved metal ring, with a five point star in the middle. It is considered rare, according to Neil.

Finally, in the early 1960`s Petursson made the huge square metal"JP" rings, which come both painted gold, and unpainted, i.e. lead colored. These the Giant sold until the end of his career. Neil also tells us that Petursson made his own rings with some help, and then sent them out to be painted.

Evidently pitching rings was a lucrative business for Petursson, possibly due to his personal charisma which made selling the rings a natural for the Icelandic Giant.

So Many Giants, So Few Rings

In the history of the sideshow many (or most) Giants never had a ring to pitch. If selling these popular pitch items was lucrative enough to attract some, why not others? The question may be answered by examining the entrepreneurial orientation of the Giant's (and their managers). Perhaps it was a simple equation: more ambitious performers sold the rings and the less ambitious did not.

With the exception of Gottlieb and Alfreda Fischer and their Tallest Married Couple On Earth ring, no woman Giant ever pitched a ring.

The relatively scarce Dreamland Coney Island ring appears to have been a generic ring that was pitched by various Giants who appeared at The Dreamland Circus Sideshow. Presumably whatever Giant was appearing in the sideshow at Dreamland pitched "the house" ring, though owing to its seeming scarcity it may not have been used over a long period of time. The one unique feature of the Dreamland ring is that the engraved words run perpendicular to the opening rather than parallel as on every other ring examined.

As mentioned previously, the task of pitching the rings may have also been accomplished by an inside talker in addition to the Giant himself. Upon leaving the stage, the Giant's manager or the lecturer may have continued pitching rings, as the art of the pitch was always a highly specialized skill if practiced by an expert talker. Conceivably, a great talker could sell more rings than the Giant himself. And perhaps a legendary talker might not even need a Giant on the show at all to successfully pitch a ring. Imagine that— a Giant's Ring without a finger big enough to wear it!

A Checklist

Many more discoveries await the sideshow historian and collector as these artifacts we call Giant's Rings are examined even more closely in the years to come. In the meantime, below we have compiled an initial list of every Giant's Ring we know of. But certainly there are others. Please email us with your checklist, variations and photos and we will update this page as more information comes in.

GIANT'S RING CHECKLIST