JUMBO THE ELEPHANT. A PIECE OF INSCRIBED AND DECORATED IVORY TUSK

JUMBO THE ELEPHANT. A PIECE OF INSCRIBED AND DECORATED IVORY TUSK, 1886 one side painted in polychrome with pseudo armorials including motto 'DIEU ET MOI JUMBO', the other with commemorative inscription, edge inscribed 'Property of Barnum & London Combined Shows 1886', 11.5 x 14.5cm, some wear to decoration [Article 10 Transaction Specific Certificate No 566646/01] The much loved star attraction of London Zoo the giant African elephant's arrival there on 26 June 1865 caused a sensation. Seventeen years later, despite significant public protest and a law suit which upheld the zoo's decision to sell the elephant to P T Barnum, the animal was exported to America where it was to be exhibited in Barnum's 'Greatest Show on Earth'. Jumbo was accidentally killed by a railway locomotive in St Thomas, Ontario in 1885. An apparently identical piece of Jumbo's tusk was once in the possession of Barnum's widow Nancy (see proceeding lot). A rare relic of perhaps the most celebrated elephant in history