Houdini's Houdini’s Death-Defying Mystery is estimated at $40,000 - 60,000
Potter & Potter Auctions' December 9 'Select Secrets' sale offers various magicana rarities, lead by Houdini’s Death-Defying Mystery, estimated at $40,000 - 60,000.
This linen backed rarity, one of perhaps five extant, measures 40" x 30” and was published in Cincinnati & New York by Russell-Morgan Litho. in 1908. This one sheet color stone lithograph depicts Houdini in his Milk Can escape, crouched down inside the metal container with water pouring down over his body.
This poster was acquired at the Houdini Estate Sale held in New Jersey in 1981 by a former owner. It was removed from one of many trunks found in the basement of Houdini’s home at 278 West 113th Street in Harlem where it had been stored in the decades following the magician’s untimely death.
This sale also features several outstanding antique posters promoting magician Howard Thurston (1869 – 1936) including lot #150, Thurston. Kellar’s Successor. Invested with the Mantle of Magic. It is estimated at $15,000 - 25,000 and was published in Cincinnati by The Strobridge Litho. Co. in 1908. This half-sheet stone lithograph measures 30" x 20” and depicts Thurston and fellow magician Harry Kellar (1849 – 1922) side-by side, with Mephistopheles looking on at the historic scene on the stage of Ford’s Theatre in Baltimore, when Thurston was presented with Kellar’s “mantle” of magic.
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Thurston. Kellar’s Successor. Invested with the Mantle of Magic
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John Nevil Maskelyne's toolbox and tools
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Suzy Wandas' stage act and performing props
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An Okito card restoration frame
Other highlights include:
Lot #115, English stage magician and inventor John Nevil Maskelyne's (1839 – 1917) toolbox and tools, estimated at $8,000 - 12,000
Lot #158, a collection of Suzy Wandas' (Jeanne Van Dyk, 1896 – 1986) performing apparatus, estimated at $5,000 - 8,000
Lot #133, a card restoration frame, estimated at $4,000 - 6,000. This scarce apparatus from c. 1910 was made in New York by Theo Bamberg (Okito)
Gabe Fajuri, President at Potter & Potter Auctions, said: "This is the second time we have curated an auction of what we are calling "select secrets". It's a true thrill to have unearthed so many unique objects that were a vital part of the history of magic's 'golden age.'"
