Friday, June 3, 2022

Cabinet photo fever

Original Houdini cabinet photos appear to be doing especially well at auction these days. This beautiful cabinet photo just sold together with a 1909 English broadside for a healthy $13,440 (including the 28% buyers premium). I've never seen this image and I love it!

The auction listing dates this as 1901 as that is written on the back. However, to my eye, this looks like it was taken at the same time as the famous "my two sweethearts" photo at the Frederick Gutekunst studio in Philadelphia on January 3, 1907. (The Houdinis weren't even in the U.S. in 1901.)

Congrats to the winner of this beauty.

7 comments:

  1. Yeah I was hoping to snag it, but had to bail at 5k.
    I agree a sweet image and the brochure was rare as well..
    Copperfield got us again.

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    1. IF it was Copperfield. There are some other really aggressive buyers out there at the moment. It isn't always DC.

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  2. Oh goodness, I love this image!!! Thank you for sharing it.

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    1. Yes, too good not to share! Although with these I lower the resolution and put the auction branding on it as this image now belongs to someone else. And I will remove it if the new owner asks.

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  3. Those were the good times for Harry and Bess, still young, healthy, and enjoying financial success.

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    1. Funny you should say that. Here's an insight into Harry mind at that time. After this photo session (which included his mother) he wrote in his diary: "I hope it is not the last time together. Who knows. The old must die and the young can.”

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    2. Harry was always worried and cautious about the future. The good times he enjoyed never fogged up his sense of foreboding. His hard childhood, loss of his father early on, and his struggles were a constant reminder of the cruelties of life.

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