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Tag: Harry Houdini
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Illustrations of Master Magicians Come to Sale With Potter & Potter Auctions
Howard Thurston was a significant stage magician from Ohio. His traveling show was so massive that it required eight train cars to transport all the show essentials. A full color poster of the master magician’s Million Dollar Mystery is a key highlight of the upcoming Winter Magic sale from Potter…
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Around the Auction World: October 2022
What were the top stories in the auction industry this month? Jaws VHS 1983 - IGS Box 9 MINT and Seal 9 MINT, Wraparound MCA HV Watermarks, MCA Home Video. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions. Auction Highlights This month, we explored some of the spookiest items and events available from…
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Potter & Potter’s October Magic Auction Features Robert-Houdin’s Glass Column Mystery Clock and Dr. Hofzinser’s Any-Card Box
Long before Harry Houdini had everyone under his spell, there was Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. He was a French watchmaker, magician, and illusionist, the father of the modern style of conjuring who inspired the American Houdini. The upcoming Salon De Magie; The Collection of Ken Klosterman Part III auction, presented by Potter…
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Ghosts, Séances, and the Afterlife: Talking About Spooky Spirits With Potter & Potter Auctions' Gabe Fajuri
With Halloween right on the horizon, the time couldn't be more perfect to check in with Chicago's Potter & Potter Auctions about the company’s upcoming Salon de Magie: The Klosterman Collection Part III magic sale. This 370-lot event, to be held on October 29, 2022, features a fantastic offering of…
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Checkers, Demons, Houdini, and More From Potter & Potter
A magician presents a small but finely crafted cabinet to the audience along with a stack of checkers. A story is told about the checkers and how they are usually kept in the cabinet. But they have been stolen and replaced by a glass full of rice. The checkers are…
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Forthcoming Auction Has Harry Houdini’s Magic Scrapbook, Other Memorabilia
In January of 1908, Harry Houdini performed his debut magic act at the Columbia Theater. In the performance, he stepped inside of a gigantic milk can with his hands cuffed in front of him. After two long minutes, Houdini appeared from behind a cabinet, which marked his first successful performance.…
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Harry Houdini’s Magic Props Star in Upcoming Potter & Potter Auctions Event
Erich Weiss, known as Harry Houdini, was a multi-talented artist famous for escape arts and illusion performances. The upcoming Potter & Potter Auctions event presents multiple pieces of illusion equipment from Harry Houdini’s career. One highlight is a rare 1901 bound Houdini Bible red-letter edition from the World Syndicate Company. Houdini used these…
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Potter & Potter to Offer Magic Collection of Ken Klosterman
Items from Ken Klosterman’s magic collection will be available in Potter & Potter Auctions’ upcoming Salon de Magie auction. The former CEO of Klosterman Baking was a professional magician known for his magic collection. A Light and Heavy Chest belonging to Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, the founder of modern magic, is…
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The Ricky Jay Collection of Magic Posters, Books, and More at Sotheby’s
Though many Americans know him as an actor in such films as The Prestige, Boogie Nights, House of Games, and Magnolia, Ricky Jay was first and foremost a stage magician. In a New Yorker profile, Mark Singer called him “perhaps the most gifted sleight of hand artist alive.” Beyond performing,…
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Magic Apparatus, Books, Collectibles Available With Potter & Potter Auctions
On November 14th, 1917, Harry Houdini wrote a letter to the curator of the Boston Public Library describing a tribute he and fellow magicians paid to Harry Kellar: “The affair was without a doubt the grandest event that ever happened in the world of mystery, and when we carried Kellar…
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Skinner Offers Rare Books and One-of-a-Kind Documents
The Bulaq printing of Kitab Alf Layla wa-Layla was the first Arabic edition of Thousand and One Nights and served as the basis for almost all of its many translations and versions. The Bulaq was made between 1834 and 1835. A copy from this printing leads the upcoming Historic Manuscripts…
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A Look Back at "Auction Kings,” Paul Brown and Gallery 63's Reality TV Show
Photo from Discovery. For four full seasons, Discovery’s Auction Kings (2010 - 2013) offered many viewers their first look into the auction industry. The show followed the Atlanta-based auction house Gallery 63 including star Paul Brown, as they discovered, evaluated, and auctioned off lots across all categories. Pieces ranged from…
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The Invisible Man, Horror of Dracula Help Scare Up $2.3 Million During Heritage Auctions’ Movie Posters Event
Several records set as little-seen cinematic and World War II offerings come to market for the first time The Invisible Man (Universal, 1933). Fine/Very Fine on Linen. One Sheet (27" X41") Style A Teaser, Gene Schwalm Artwork. DALLAS, Texas (July 28, 2020) – The Invisible Man made his presence known during Heritage…
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Final Part of Jim Rawlins’ Magic Collection Comes to Auction with Potter & Potter
Chuck Vance’s giant card wheel from the Rawlins collection. Image from Potter & Potter Auctions. For 25 years, Jim Rawlins built his collection of magic memorabilia one item at a time. He eventually acquired over 7,000 pieces of magic posters, ephemera, costumes, tokens, and more. “People always say you’re just…
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Movie Posters Never Seen or Sold, from Frankenstein to Sunrise, Star in Heritage Auctions’ July 25-26 Event
Summer sale also features some of collecting’s most coveted offerings DALLAS, Texas (July 2, 2020) – Twenty years and almost 400,000 movie posters later, Heritage Auctions’ Grey Smith thought he’d seen – and sold – them all. Then it came time to compile the almost 700 lots for the July 25-26…
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The Magic Collection of Jim Rawlins • III
This third part of Jim Rawlins’ magic collection will be presented by Potter & Potter Auctions. Nearly 500 lots of vintage memorabilia are offered, including several works relating to Harry Houdini. Featured is a life-size bust of Houdini that was housed in Niagara Falls’ Houdini Museum of Magic. It is…
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Winter Magic Auction
The Winter Magic Auction, offered by Potter & Potter Auctions, is anchored by antique magic and allied arts books from the collection of Giovanni Pasqua (stage name “Roxy”). One available book is Le Livre Magique (1863), which is an example of a magician’s “blow book.” The contents of the book…
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The Magic Collection of Rudiger Deutsch
From spirit drums to ball transposition columns, The Magic Collection of Rudiger Deutsch auction offered by provides a variety of instruments used for some magical routines. And there are 491 items including books, photographs, prints, and drawings, autographs, coins and more to explore from the collection of Rudiger Deutsch. Harlequin…
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Fine Books and Manuscripts
In this auction of Fine Books and Manuscripts, Swann Auction Galleries offers a dizzying number of high-value books, manuscripts, and signatures by and about well-known figures. Just a fraction of the famous names appearing here should be enough to pique the interest of any collector: Aaron Burr, Robert E. Lee,…