This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 5/21/2006.
The most famous escape artist off all time, Harry Houdini moved to escapology from magician in 1899, being influenced by showman Martin Beck. He became a household name and thrilled audiences worldwide with his escapes from locks, handcuffs, straitjackets, water torture cells and the like. This lock and key once belonged to Houdini himself. On one side of the lock it reads "Yale & Towne Mfg Co" and on the other side "Stamford (next word is not readable) USA." On one side of the key is the marking "O" and under it is the number "158." On the other side of the key is "Stamford Yale & Towne, Conn. U.S.A." Lock and key still work perfectly. Pristine provenance includes a letter from well-known magician David Haverstat, a collector of impeccable reputation and the last owner of this lock. One of Haverstat's many books, "Sherms," is also included. Letter reads in part "Houdini's last will and testament specified that all of his magic be given to his brother Hardeen...[who] sold a number of Houdini's locks...to a lock collector named Paul Harter...[who] kept the Houdini equipment in his private collection until his death in the 1990s. The lock you have was once in the Paul Harter collection." Also included in this lot are two Houdini 75th anniversary coins, a "Rauscher The Magician" coin, a vintage box from the "Master Pack of Cards" trick playing cards, a circa 1930s cardboard broadside measuring 14" x 21-1/2" for a "Houdini Lives Again" Hardeeen and Sherms magic show, in EX condition with some yellowing and creasing, and a 13" x 16" framed letter dated 1919 to Houdini from the editor of the New Orleans newspaper "The Daily States," congratulating Houdini on his "stunt in front of the Daily States building yesterday afternoon."