Doll's fan
Category
Metalwork
Date
Unknown
Materials
Metal alloy, Paper
Measurements
58 x 86 mm
Order this imageCollection
National Trust Carriage Museum
NT 272492
Caption
This miniature fan is decorated with images of General Tom Thumb. General Tom Thumb (real name Charles Stratton) was a dwarf hired at the age of four as an 'exhibit' at the American Museum on Broadway by Phinaes Taylor Barnum. Barnum's show toured America and later Europe, bringing Tom Thumb fame and fortune. Queen Victoria was among his admirers, seeing the show three times. In 1862 Barnum engaged Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump as an attraction at his American Museum advertised as 'the smallest woman alive' and 'the little Queen of Beauty'. Just a few weeks after meeting her Tom Thumb married her. Their wedding was a spectacular event with the bride arriving in a miniature wedding carriage and a guest list of 2,000 people. Wedding gifts were received from the Astors, the Vanderbilts and President and Mrs Lincoln and crowds outside were so big that it was reported that the police had to cordon off the street.
Summary
Miniature metal fan with clasp and ring. Decorated with floral design on front and back. Contains eight cameo photographs of Charles Stratton, also known as 'General Tom Thumb', including his wedding and family, four on each side of the fan. Stratton was born in the United States in Bridgeport, Connecticut on 4 January 1838, and died on 15 July 1883 in Middleboro, Massachusetts. Ultimately growing to a height of 40 inches (1 metre), he became famous under the name 'General Tom Thumb' while touring the United States and Europe as a star of P.T. Barnum’s ‘American Museum’.