About the Sideshow Banner Exchange

Since 2011, the Sideshow Banner Exchange has bought, sold, appraised and restored hand-painted American sideshow banners.

The business is run by Michael Papa from upstate New York and buys all over the world. Michael grew up in an amusement restoration business that focuses on early penny arcade machines and jukeboxes, which opened the doors to many fun collectibles, one category being sideshow banners. Being exposed to sideshow banners at a young age built an appreciation for the artwork that is unbreakable.

Why sideshow banners matter

For most of the twentieth century, sideshow banners were treated as signage. They were painted fast, hung outdoors, rained on, rolled up wet, cut up to catch oil, and sometimes burned when the show folded. A banner was advertising, and advertising is disposable.

That view has changed, and it should have. These are large-scale American figurative paintings, made by a small number of identifiable artists working in a tradition with its own conventions, palette, and lineage. Fred G. Johnson painted for the O. Henry Tent & Awning Company in Chicago. David “Snap” Wyatt worked out of Tampa and defined what a sideshow banner looks like in the popular imagination. Nieman Eisman, Jack Sigler, Bobby Wicks, Cad Hill, Mark Frierson, Johnny Meah — each has a recognizable hand.

The auction market has caught up. In September 2020, a Fred Johnson-attributed entrance banner, “Cavalcade of Wonders. Freaks Past & Present,” sold at Potter & Potter Auctions in Chicago reaching a very very unusual $28,800 against a $6,000–$9,000 estimate. That remains the world record for a banner of its type and will likely never be topped.

Most banners are not worth that. Many are worth considerably more than the person holding them expects. If you want to know where yours sits, start with our guide to valuing a vintage sideshow banner.

Painters of the Peculiar

Michael Papa co-wrote Painters of the Peculiar: A Guide to Sideshow Banner Artists & Their Respective Work with Johnny Meah, banner painter, sideshow performer, and the man the business calls the Czar of Bizarre.

Meah is one of the last people alive who painted banners professionally from the golden age of banner painting. The book exists because the attribution knowledge in this field was held by a handful of people and had never been written down. Much of it was going to disappear.

What we do

Appraisals are genuinely free. Send photographs and we will tell you what you have and what it is worth. No fee, no obligation to sell, no requirement that you list with us. We assess the artist, the condition, and the subject matter, and we explain how we arrived at the number rather than just handing you one.

Buying. We buy banners outright from single pieces to entire collections, anywhere in the United States, Canada, and internationally. If you would rather have a check than manage a sale, that is the fastest route.

Consignment. For pieces where an auction or a targeted private sale will do better, we will say so, including when that means the banner does not go through us.

Restoration. Banners have had hard lives. We patch, stabilize canvas, and in-paint losses with the goal of preserving the object rather than making it look new. Bad restoration destroys value faster than honest damage does, and most of what we see has been “fixed” by someone who meant well. See our restoration work.

Why work with us

This is a narrow field, and expertise in it is not widely held.

• Published research. Co-author of the reference work on banner attribution.
• Direct relationships with the artists and families still connected to this world, including Johnny Meah.
• A working collection. We own banners, which means we know what the market pays because we participate in it.
• Restoration in-house. We are not sending your banner out to a generalist.
• We will tell you when a banner is not valuable. That happens often, and saying so is the whole basis of a reputation in a field this small.

We have been cited by LiveAuctioneers and reviewed by The Hot Bid, and we are the reference collectors and auction houses call when an attribution is uncertain.

Have a banner?

Send photographs. Include the full banner, any signature, and close-ups of damage. You can also browse the banners we currently have for sale.

Call or text: 518-774-6234
Email: Michaelpapa121@gmail.com