Secret Junior Acrobat Collection -

So check your grandparent’s basement. Sift through that old shoebox of bottle caps and baseball cards. And if you happen to find a small, off-center embossed trapeze artist staring back at you? Keep it secret. Keep it safe. And whatever you do—don’t blow the whistle until you know who’s listening. Do you own a piece of the Secret Junior Acrobat Collection? Contact the author through the National Vintage Promotions Archive for a free, confidential consultation.

But not all of them were.

The plan was simple. Inside specially marked boxes of "Rivington’s Rice Puffs," children would find a small, sealed envelope containing one of 50 unique "Junior Acrobat" character cards, coins, or miniature props. Collect all 50 to win a grand prize: a trip to train with a real traveling circus. secret junior acrobat collection

But what exactly is the Secret Junior Acrobat Collection? Why has it remained hidden in plain sight for decades? And more importantly, how can you verify if you have a piece of it sitting in your attic? So check your grandparent’s basement

The is more than a list of old cereal premiums. It is a time capsule of a failed dream, a whispered handshake, and the enduring human love for the hidden and the rare. Whether you are a seasoned numismatist, a circus history buff, or just someone who remembers the thrill of digging a prize out of a cereal box, the legend of the Junior Acrobat reminds us that the best treasures are often the ones you were never supposed to find. Keep it secret

However, due to a catastrophic legal dispute over likeness rights with a famous circus dynasty, Rivington abruptly scrapped the campaign just two weeks before its scheduled launch. The majority of the promotional materials—some 150,000 individual pieces—were ordered to be destroyed.

This article pulls back the velvet curtain to reveal everything you need to know about one of the 20th century’s most fascinating unreleased treasure troves. The year is 1962. America is in the grip of "Golden Age" television, and circus mania is sweeping the nation. The Rivington Cereal Company (now defunct), a struggling midwestern brand, decides to launch its most ambitious promotional campaign ever: the "Little Big Top" sweepstakes.