ORIGINAL hand-painted prop suitcase once belonged to famous West Coast-based SWORD SWALLOWER / FIRE EATER, CAPTAIN DON LESLIE.  Leslie trouped with countless circuses, such as CRISTIANI BROS, in the late 1950’s, numerous carnivals, and was also a featured boardwalk attraction in San Francisco, CA in the 1970’s. 

He performed a one-man show in which he presented sword swallowing, fire eating, human-blockhead, etc., as well as sang and played the guitar.  On top of all of this, LESLIE was heavily tattooed, rounding out his “one-stop” sideshow attraction status ten-fold!  THIS CASE is the very same in which he toted his smaller props around: torches, hammer, ten-penny nails, etc. 

 It was last used when LESLIE appeared on a circus sideshow performing in Hawaii, maybe as recent as only a decade ago.