A Color Poster of King of Cards Harry Houdini Leads Vintage & Modern Magic Sale at Potter & Potter Auctions

From making an elephant disappear to escaping a Chinese water torture cell upside down, Harry Houdini would make the impossible possible. He did the unexpected, the audacious, like jumping into the icy water of the Hudson River while handcuffed. Houdini is the most famous American escape artist, illusionist, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. Houdini was born Erich Weisz (1874 – 1926) in Budapest to a Jewish family. They moved to the United States to live the American dream but found themselves in dire poverty. This led to Houdini leaving school and becoming a trapeze boy and an escape artist. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician Robert-Houdin. A Harry Houdini, King of Cards color lithograph poster (circa 1898) used by Houdini as a young circus and dime museum performer is leading the Vintage & Modern Magic sale from Potter & Potter Auctions. The poster features a bust portrait of the young magician at the center and vignettes depicting his facility with a deck of cards above and below. It is an iconic magic poster and one of the first color lithographs used to advertise Houdini’s turns in dime museums and circus shows before his ascendance to fame as a handcuff king and escape artist.

Also available is a striking one-sheet color lithograph with a central bust portrait of Servais Le Roy in a gray coat and blue necktie, with his left hand pressed against his cheek and index finger pointed against his temple. It is a 1908 lithograph of Le Roy by National Printing & Engraving. Servais Le Roy was one of the first magicians to perform the Asrah levitation. He would cover Talma, his partner, lying on a couch with a sheet, making it look like she was rising into the air, pass a large hoop over her floating body, and finally pull away the sheet to reveal that she had vanished. Le Roy is credited with developing other respected tricks and illusions like the Palanquin operation magic and the Costume Trunk. View the complete catalog of this Vintage & Modern Magic auction and register to bid by visiting Potter & Potter Auctions.