3-053-217 - The London Archives (City of London)/Heritage Images

Mr. Phineas Taylor Barnum, of New York, proprietor of the "White Elephant", 1884. Portrait of American showman, businessman, and politician P. T. Barnum (1810-1891), co-founder of Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1881. Barnum acquired an elephant from the King of Siam, billed as the 'Sacred White Elephant of Burma'. After much effort and great expense, Barnum discovered that his 'white elephant' - named Toung Taloung - was actually dirty grey in colour with a few pink spots.