The sale also featured another rare Houdini poster, printed in 1898 during the early years of his career. The previous record price for one of the posters had been set back in 2000, when a copy sold at Christie’s in New York for $51,959. His brother Theodore Hardeen later sold the original cabinet, against Houdini’s dying wishes, and it ended up as a fish tank at the Houdini Museum in Niagara Falls.Īfter partially surviving a fire at the museum in 1995, the cabinet was restored by illusion builder John Gaughan, and is now part of magician David Copperfield’s private magic museum in Las Vegas.Īs one of just three examples known to exist, the rare poster soared past its estimate of $50,000 – $60,000 to sell for $116,850, making it the most valuable magic poster ever sold. It became his most famous escape act, and he performed it around the world up until his death in 1926. This enabled him to copyright the idea, prevent other magicians from performing a similar escape, and he referred to the illusion as "the upside down" for the rest of his career. Having invented the illusion in 1911, Houdini first performed the escape to a single audience member in a one-act play entitled ‘Houdini Upside Down!’ The poster, printed in England in 1912, featured Houdini performing his most famous escape act: the Chinese Water Torture Cell. A rare vintage poster featuring illusionist Harry Houdini has sold for a world record price in Chicago.
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