94 Year Old Houdini Item For $10!

Nice Visual Houdini Piece For The Collector

Yesterday a young collector posted about Houdini items. He, like the rest of us, never seem to have enough money to buy the Houdini piece that is sometimes offered to buy. This young collector should know that most of us who collect, we have had this same problem over and over again. It can get frustrating in the beginning. The new collector with his small purse and his lack of knowledge can be overwhelmed at times. I know when I started collecting my head was spinning at all the items I could buy. And how my head pounded when I couldn’t afford to buy it and let the item go by. That was no fun. Collecting anything should be fun. Please remember that.

The piece above is from 1918 and is now on Ebay. This  piece and it’s companion “Houdini Rope Ties” turns up regularly for sale or auction. It looks-like it’s very nice condition, except for the edges. This may be because the page was probably removed from a bound volume. This is not a very bad thing. Having it bound kept the page flat and bright. The slightly rough edges can be matted out. Here is the link:

http://tinyurl.com/brrzohl

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Now for a little back story on this piece. Many years ago, I had a collector friend tell me he wanted the piece for his collection, but a second hand magic dealer, a friend of the collector too, would always out bid him in the last seconds of the auction every time it turned up for sale. The dealer than would than quadruple the price and re-list it back on Ebay. Did I tell they were friends? Anyway, after the collector told me the story, I sold him one. I then came home from the convention we were at and sat at the computer. For the next 5 years, anytime either of these images came up for auction, They always sold for $28.00. Why? Because I always bid $27.00. The second hand magic dealer now has the most expensive Ladies Home Journals in the country.