Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society » The Last Day of the Dime Museum

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February 28th, 2007

The Last Day of the Dime Museum

Much to our distress, the American Dime Museum in Baltimore, MD closed its doors at the end of 2005. On Monday, February 26, the museum auctioned off its collections at the Richard Opfer Auction House in Timonium, MD. Kircher Society correspondent Joanna Ebenstein brought back photographs and this report for the Society:

The auction house was filled to capacity (with more collectors participating remotely via ebay and telephone) as enthusiastic bidders eager to own a piece of the Amercian Dime Museum battled it out. Prices went high for objects that ranged from the quotidian (Giant Ball of String, $120; Wax Bacon and Eggs, $70; Chastity Belt Post Cards, $110) to the Barnumesquely exotic (Abraham Lincoln’s Last Bowel Movement, $1000; Two-headed Goose, $475; Encased Mummy, $2,600; Elephantiasis Head, $375; George Washington’s Eyelashes, $600; Amelia Earhart’s Finger, $325; Rangoon Sewer Serpent, $1,200; Siamese Calves, $1,000). The auctioneer had fun with the merchandise, often shaking his head and laughing when reading a description, and adding his own commentary throughout. “Come on, a camel dung cooker! Every household needs a camel dung cooker! Do I hear $90?”

Although the auction winners were thrilled to own a piece of the museum they loved, there was a bittersweet edge to the proceedings. Another small, idiosyncratic museum, like Johnny Fox’s beloved New York based Freakatorium before it, had been forced to close its doors, no longer able to support itself. This last vestige of what had once been the most successful and popular form of American Amusement, the dime museum, is no longer viable—not even in tribute form. A sad day for museums, a happy one for private collectors.

You can read more about the history of dime museums in Andrea Stulman Dennett’s excellent book Weird and Wonderful: The Dime Museum in America.

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