Magic Memorabilia

20 Pages·2013·4.06 MB·English

Public Auction #021
Magic Memorabilia
Including Apparatus, Books, Ephemera,
Posters and Conjuring Curiosa
For sale at Magic Live!
at
The Orleans Hotel & Casino
4500 W. Tropicana Blvd.
Las Vegas, Nevada 89103
August 14th 2013 - 1:00 pm
Exhibition August 9 - 13
Guest Auctioneer: Rob Zabrecky
Potter & Potter Auctions, Inc.
3759 N. Ravenswood Ave.
-Suite 121-
Chicago, IL 60613
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2 (recto)
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1. Alexander (Claude Alexander Conlin). Alexander the Man back inside the other two nested boxes. The missing dove is
Who Knows. Bombay, Av Yaga, ca. 1915. Striking one-sheet (28 inside it as well. Metal tray and wooden boxes, decorated in an
x 40”) color lithograph depicting Alexander’s turbaned head on Okito-esque motif. Largest box measures 12 x 7 ½ x 6”. Good.
a red field. Linen backed. A. 200/400
300/400
4. Billet Knife. American, ca. 1960. Brass letter opener that
2. Annemann, Ted (Theodore Squires). The Jinx “mystery” allows the mind reader to covertly insert a folded billet into
renewal postcard. New York, 1930s. Business reply postcard an envelope in the action of ripping it open with the knife.
printed for subscribers to Annemann’s magazine, The Jinx. Machined brass. 8 ½” long. Very good.
Annemann’s address on recto; The Jinx cat on verso. One 100/200
corner bumped; good. Together with a reproduction photo of
Annemann. 5. Blackstone, Harry (Henry Boughton). Blackstone. Big
100/200 Combination. [Long Island City, National Printing and
This postcard represents perhaps one of the cleverest advertising Engraving], ca. 1929. Half sheet (20 ½ x 28”) three-color poster
promotions in the history of magic. Subscribers who wished to renew depicting caricatures from Blackstone’s illusion show, including
their subscriptions to The Jinx were instructed in the pages of the escapes, card magic, a spirit cabinet, and more. Cartoons drawn
magazine to simply stroke the back of the cat printed on the postcard by the staff artist of the Montgomery Advertiser. Over-coloring
and mail it back to Annemann – without writing their names, in margins and in image. Scarce. B.
addresses, or any other information on the card. Even so, Annemann 2,000/2,500
was apparently able to tell who had returned the cards, and therefore
renew their subscriptions. 6. Blackstone, Harry. Lobby Photo of Blackstone performing
on stage. NewYork, Nasib Studio, ca. 1930. Blackstone stands
3. Banner Nest of Boxes. American, ca. 1960. A dove is placed between two cages, arms outstretched. In performance, birds
in the smallest box from a nest of three. The magician covers vanished from one cage and appeared in the other. 14 x 11”.
the box with a cloth. The box and dove vanish, only to be found Pinholes and wear at corners and margins; good.
200/400
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7. Blackstone, Harry. Portrait of Harry Blackstone, signed and
inscribed. Chicago, Bloom Studio, ca. 1939. Half-length portrait
of Blackstone in profile. 8 x 10”. Very good. InscrIbed and sIgned
by blackstone’s to hIs stage manager, eddy Wykoff.
150/300
8. Blue Phantom. Asuza, Owen Magic Supreme, ca. 1980. A
large blue checker mysteriously travels through a stack of
gold checkers when the stack is covered by a decorated metal
canister. Overall height of 16 ¼”. Unusual paint scheme. Light
wear at outside of canister near base, otherwise very good.
600/800
9. Cardini (Richard Valentine Pitchford). Cardini-made
Wristwatch Reel. New York, Richard Cardini, 1972. Incabloc
Waterproof watch remanufactured by Cardini to conceal a
finely-made retractable reel. The verso of the case is signed
“Made by Cardini 1972.” Very good.
1,500/1,800
9 10. Chrome Paul Fox Cups. Phoenix, Danny Dew, 1970s. Set
of three chrome plated brass cups manufactured and sold by
Danny Dew. Designed by Paul Fox. Light wear; good condition.
500/700
11. Chung Ling Soo (William E. Robinson). Chung Ling Soo
“dragon” letterhead. England, ca. 1910. Elaborately decorated
notepaper for the “Marvelous Chinese Conjurer” who was, in
fact, a Scotsman from New York. A medallion portrait at the top
is flanked by fire-breathing dragons and gold borders. Faint old
folds, otherwise good.
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100/200
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12. Copenetro. Indiana Pennsylvania, Klinecraft, ca. 1949. A
shot glass rests on a small wooden pedestal and is covered by
a clear tumbler. The magician vanishes four half dollars, which
reappear in the shot glass one at a time. With coin rack and
original glassware. Very good.
100/200
13. Daumier, Honoré. Cups and Balls Conjuror lithograph.
France, 1836. Hand-colored lithograph depicting an itinerant
magician selling books in the street; his table and Cups and Balls
in the rear of the scene, his patter reproduced below, in French.
10 ¾ x 14”. Framed; not examined out of frame. Very good.
400/600
This iconic image of the street magician was introduced to many
magicians in the pages of Milbourne Christopher’s Panorama of
Magic. This print was formerly the property of Bob Read. Daumier
was one of France’s best-loved caricaturists of the 19th century.
14. Dircks, Henry. The Ghost! As Produced in the Spectre
Drama…. London: E. and F.N. Spon, 1863. Blue embossed cloth,
stamped in gold. Illustrated. 8vo. Corners and spine a bit worn,
but overall very good. Uncommon. Toole Stott 245.
400/500
This book explains the “Dircksian Phantasmagoria,” the stage illusion
now commonly known as Pepper’s Ghost. It was Dircks who developed
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the projection technique that made the effect possible; Pepper expanded
on the concept and they jointly patented the invention. Dircks then
signed over financial rights to the ghost apparatus to Pepper, a decision
he would later come to regret.
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15. Erdnase, S.W. Artifice Ruse and Subterfuge at the Card
Table. Chicago: Frederick J. Drake & Co., ca. 1905. Green
pictorial wraps with King of Hearts design, card lacking pips
on cover. “With over one-hundred drawings from life by M.D.
Smith.” 12mo. Very good.
150/300
16. Evans, Henry Ridgley. Magic and Its Professors.
Philadelphia: David McKay, 1902. Green pictorial cloth. Portrait
frontispiece. Illustrated. 8vo. Very good. nIce copy.
150/250
17. Fechner, Christian. The Magic of Robert-Houdin, An
Artist’s Life. Boulogne: FCF Editions, 2002. Two volumes in
publisher’s cloth with jackets. Copiously illustrated, including
color plates. In publisher’s pictorial slipcase. From a limited
16 edition of 1000 copies. 4to. Very good condition.
300/400
18. [Fortune Teller] Traviès de Villers, Charles-Joseph. Bonne
aventure (“good fortune”) print. Lithograph extracted from the
French satirical paper La Caricature. Paris, 1832. A fortune teller
speaks in to a trumpet, telling a passer-by of his future. In the
foreground sits his table, on which rests a set of Cups and Balls
and a magic wand. Folio. Light spotting and old folio fold; good.
200/400

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19. Fu-Manchu (David Bamberg). Hechizos de Fu-Manchu. El
Espectaculo Mas Fantastico del Mundo. Half-sheet (19 x 26
¾”) color lithograph bearing a portrait of Fu in the upper left
with skeletons and dancing girls below. Signed in the image by
Fariñas. Laid down; A.
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250/350
20. Ganson, Lewis. The Dai Vernon Book of Magic. London:
Harry Stanley Unique Magic Studio, 1957. fIrst edItIon. Pebbled
black cloth with pictorial jacket. Illustrated with photographs.
8vo. Jacket worn at extremities and repaired with tape, book
very good. InscrIbed and sIgned by daI Vernon.
200/300
21. Herrmann, Compars. Real photo postcard of Compars
Herrmann. Real photo postcard bearing two bust portraits of
the famous French magician and patriarch of the Herrmann
dynasty of magicians. Ca. 1890. Divided back. Very good.
300/400
22. Gold Himber Ring. Solid 14-karat gold ring with large red
stone. Gimmicked to allow a magician to link this ring with
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others borrowed from spectators in his audience. Very good.
500/800
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23. Hardeen (Theodore Weiss). Life and History of Hardeen.
[New York], n.d. Light blue pictorial wraps. Pitch book
illustrated with numerous photographs. 8vo. Good.
50/150
24. Houdini, Harry (Ehrich Weiss). Houdini-owned Cobb
handcuffs. Handsomely framed with two later photographs of
Houdini; in one, he wears a similar set of cuffs. With a letter of
provenance from the former owner, who purchased the cuffs at
sale of Houdini’s personal property in New Jersey in 1982.
2,500/3,000
25. Houdini, Harry. A Magician Among the Spirits. New York:
Harper & Brothers, 1924. First edition. Blue cloth stamped in
gold. Frontispiece portrait of Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle. Illustrated with plates. Thick 8vo. Very good.
250/500
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