Ebay Item Of The Week: Yu Li San & Professor Alba Posters

From the Ebay listing:
"Two original 1950's stone litho posters looks more like their from the 1930s. Great graphics of Professor Alba the famed Magician from Spain and his Medium assistant Yu Li San. We are also offering them individually in two pother listings on eBay. These posters are from a small find of them we made in Spain. The one with a skeleton measures 13x27"and the medium Yu Li San measures 29x27”. We are the original source of these posters. They have sold for $1000+ EACH in fine art poster galleries but here it is far less as you are going right to the source. Both have some tears, but otherwise in excellent condition and with great eye appeal. Will be shipped rolled, will look amazing framed. $7 shipping."
CLICK HERE to bid or for more information.

There are several auctions up for these posters simultaneously, so check the seller's other items to see which has the lowest bid. These are great looking original magic poster graphics for what seems to be a very reasonable price. I may bid on a set myself!
HERE'S AN ENTRY on a similar poster at the Vintage Poster Blog.

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.

King Of Koins!

T. Nelson Downs was a contemporary of Houdini, Thurston, Kellar, Herrmann, Maskelyne, and Devant, performing worldwide from around 1895 until his retirement in 1912 at the age of 42. He almost certainly devised illusions for Howard Thurston, and though he was billed as "The King of Koins" he was a pretty amazing card handler by all accounts. After his retirement, he opened a vaudeville theater, wrote several magic books, and spent time amusing his grandchildren. Amazingly, I've found some footage of Downs performing, below.



At the height of his career, he performed a trick which required him to palm sixty (!) coins at once. That's almost unbelievable. The King suffered a stroke in 1938 and passed away at the age of 71. He was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown, Iowa. His gravestone reads "King of Koins".

Vintage Magic Apparel and Gifts!

I'm going to do a trick that magicians call a transformation now, so watch closely. A transformation is actually a combination of a vanish and a production, so it's two tricks in one. That's a great value, actually.

Now here's the trick, are you watching closely? Nothing up my sleeve...

Ya know what else is a great value? Vintage magic poster art on a t-shirt from Heyday Graphix. They have an excellent selection of retro magic poster art available on t-shirts, ties, mouse pads, buttons, magnets, mugs, postcards, prints, and many other products. Houdini, Thurston, Kellar, they're all there, as are many more classic conjurers.
Heyday Graphix is adding new products and new images all the time, so keep checking back. They're a bunch of fine folks over there who support Sleighted: The Vintage Magic Blog and send us a portion of every sale they make through links here on the blog (look in the Links From Beyond box on the right of the page) which helps me keep making posts every day, or as often as I'm able. CLICK HERE TO GO TO HEYDAY GRAPHIX AND BROWSE. Amber up there is wearing a great looking shirt bearing some "Great Raymond" poster art, why not check it out?

And so dear readers, that's how I rather hamfistedly performed the transformation of this blog from content posts to an advertisement with just the lightest of taps on my keyboard. I'll try not to do it too often here in the middle, as long as you keep clicking on the links to the side of the page. Many thanks for your kind words about the blog, help in promoting it, and buying from vendors and advertisers that support us!