Friday, January 21, 2011

Rare Houdini lecture poster fetches $1000

This very uncommon advertisement for Houdini's spiritualism debunking lecture was recently listed on eBay, where it sold for its opening price of $1000. The seller states:
"Extensive research has been done on this poster and, to the best of my knowledge, it is the only example known to exist today. No one, not even the experts in the field of magic, has ever seen this poster before."



Hey, I have no argument, as I know I've never seen this. Even with the damage, I think it's a terrific piece. I even think the damage makes it more beautiful in a way. The poster measures 15 ¼” x 10 ¾”. The image Houdini used here also appeared on a larger color lithograph for his spiritualism lecture.

Congrats to the buyer of this beauty.

UPDATE: The auction listed this as 1920, but it is more likely 1924 when Houdini did his lecture tours. This appears to be from his first tour that year, which ran February and March.

3 comments:

  1. While rare and considering how crazy I am, I don't think I would have paid $1,000 for it. But as JC said, "Congrats to the buyer of this beauty."

    BB

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  2. I was hoping it wouldn't sell and he'd lower the price. I would have loved to have had this. I would have framed it up museum style exactly as is with all the damage. Think that would have really looked wonderful on my wall above my main Houdini bookcase. But what's a poor blogger to do...

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  3. It's an interesting piece and just mind boggling that it survived given it's condition. Some smart person recognized the value and held onto it.

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