Magic Poster Auction Makes Chicago Newscast

Potter and Potter Auctions are preparing to sell an enormous collection of vintage magic posters on Saturday, March 26th in Chicago. After spending the last forty-odd years in a vacuum cleaner box in a basement, the posters were unearthed by the wife of a recently deceased collector. There are quite a few rare pieces, and most are in very fine condition. The Houdini poster on the cover of the auction catalog seems to be the most valuable, estimated in the $20,000.00 range.

For more information or a catalog, CLICK HERE. To view lots available for online bidding, go to www.liveauctioneers.com. Nothing up as of this posting, but I assume they will be posted soon. The local ABC affiliate in Chicago covered the upcoming event, watch it below.

Hat Trick - Three Goals or One Rabbit

A friend asked me who invented the trick of pulling a rabbit from a hat after the Pixar cartoon post. Though it was probably first performed by Louis Comte in the earliest part of the 19th century, it was certainly perfected and popularized by John Henry Anderson, a.k.a. The Great Wizard of the North.

Anderson (1814–1874) was a Scottish magician and a contemporary of Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin and the Great Herrmann. He's credited with being one of the first magicians to move performance conjuring from the streets into theaters early in his career. He was also one of (if not) the first magicians to publicly expose the Spiritualist movement and the Davenport Brothers as a hoax.

Harry Houdini was born the same year that Anderson died, 1874. In 1909, Houdini made arrangements for the upkeep of Anderson's gravesite in Aberdeen, citing him as a major inspiration.