MINIATURE PHAETON
Canework body painted black; wheels black with red striping. Trimmed in black leather.
This little phaeton was made especially in a miniature size for Tom Thumb of Bridgeport, Connecticut. P. T. Barnum first heard of the perfectly-formed twenty-four inch sixteen pound child in 1842. He secured his services for $3 per week and exhibited him at his New York Museum. The child was exceptionally bright and Barnum undertook his education, hiring a tutor and a French professor for him. Tom Thumb with his parents, Barnum and the complete entourage sailed in 1844 for Europe and the first of a number of prosperous tours. He became the favorite of Continental royalty, as well as a pet at Buckingham Palace.
In 1862 Barnum contracted for the services of the perfectly formed dwarf girl, Lavinia Warren, of Massachusetts, and the love marriage of these two tiny people captured the romantic attention of every American. Tom Thumb died when he was 45 years old—still tiny in height, but by then a portly 70 pounds in weight.
