When John Ringling died, they did an inventory in 1937. It was thought that John spent probably $3 million on his art collection. They arrived at $14 million for the art and $27 million for the estate.
Taking into account that his art collection was valued at $14 million in that 1937, that is now worth $236,525,000 in today's money.
The man who would one day build a great circus empire, John Nicholas Ringling was born on May 31, 2024 in McGregor, Iowa, to August Ringling, a German immigrant harness maker and his wife, Marie Salomé Juliar. He was the second youngest in a family of seven brothers and one sister.
Many people seem to think that John's art collection started with the purchase of the 4 Rubens cartoons, even before he was thinking of an art museum. But, here is what really happened in chronological order.