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Description
1893 Chicago World's Fair
aka World Columbian Exposition (WCE)
'Portrait' Entrance Tickets
This is an opportunity for the collector or investor to obtain an excellent example of this desirable WCE 'Portrait Ticket'. Please see the hi-res scans of front and back. Below is information about these tickets.
HOW ARE WCE TICKETS PRICED
Tickets from the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair, also known as the World Columbian Exposition (WCE), are not 'rare'... but... clean, crisp, bright, undamaged examples are much, much harder to aquire – and their values corrolate to scarcity and condition.
WHAT ARE THE PORTRAIT TICKETS
There are six 'portrait' tickets – engraved and printed by the The American Banknote Company on heavy bond paper. The four General Admission portrait designs were available by pre-order only and good for any one day. These general admisson tickets were – in common to harder-to find order–Columbus, Lincoln, Washington, and the Indian Chief. Two specialty tickets were also printed – the scarce Ben Franklin for a Complimentory Entrance and the hardest-to-find George Handel for Music.
TICKETS WERE DESTROYED WHEN USED
All tickets, including portrait tickets, the 'Good Only One Day' type and specialty tickets – such as Manhattan Day and Chicago Day – were all unceremoniusly destroyed when entering the Fair by mutilation machines. So... any tickets in collections today are from the stock of unsold tickets or pre-sold tickets never used. Most of the excess was sold to the Caxton Company of Chicago and re-sold in souvenir sets in a special envelope.
WHAT ARE THE COLOR 'DOTS' ON 'PORTRAIT TICKETS'
The tickets were destroyed because World's Fair executives feared loss of profits from re-use. The color 'dots' found on the portrait tickets are actually another counterfeiting deterrent used by The American Banknote Company.
TICKET QUANTITIES PRINTED
Research shows that the four General Admission tickets were originally ordered at quantities of 1 million each – with a second run with the letter A overprinted at the quantity of 500,000 each. Franklin and Handel tickets quantities are unknown, but substantially fewer have survived.
• You will receive the actual tickets shown
• Please see hi-res scans
WHY BUY FROM DEALER DAVE
- I am also a stamp collector – for over 60 years
- Long time member of the American Philatelic Society – #213494
- I will give you honest listing information with great prices
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