Harry Houdini Stunt-Used Straitjacket, 1915 Wooden Packing Crates to Sell With Potter & Potter Auctions

This April, Potter & Potter Auctions will present its Houdiniana sale. Among 345 lots, one of the star attractions is a Harry Houdini Straitjacket Escape. The heavy canvas jacket was once used by Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist Harry Houdini, also known as Ehrich Weiss. Overall in good condition, the jacket has a series of leather straps across the neck, back, arms, and waist. Houdini (1874 – 1926) took his straight jacket escape stunts to another level by suspending himself upside down from cranes and skyscrapers. The lot is accompanied by photographs, documents, and newspaper articles, tracing the ownership of the jacket from Houdini to his brother Hardeen, and then subsequent changes in ownership. 

Collectors will also find a rough wooden crate belonging to Houdini. Dating back to 1915, the crate was used for transporting the artist’s props and personal articles. The sides of the panel have paper labels referring to the box contents and transportation. Several other Houdini treasures are on the block, such as unpublished personal documents, a gilt-framed mirror, a wooden ladder, and Caveney bottleneck handcuffs. Also listed is a finely sculpted bronze bust of the famed magician in coat and bow tie. Visit Potter & Potter Auctions to find more information on the Houdiniana sale.