Are these the hands of Harry Houdini? According to a current eBay auction, they are -- sort of.
These wax replicas are said to be from the Harry Houdini Magic Display which was the centerpiece display of The Classic Wax Museum which operated in Edmonton Alberta Canada during the 1950s and 1960s.
The auction claims the wax hands were made to exacting specification from photographs of Houdini’s “manicured” hands by the famed wax masters of Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in the '50s and brought to the museum by the late Larry Lawson, who was the owner, curator and operator of the Classic Wax Museum.
Opening bid is $99.
Those appear to be female hands. (I'm judging by ring finger length.) They're certainly not cast from Houdini's.
ReplyDeletei agree with david byron
ReplyDeleteIn my article https://houdinariansociety.com/houdinis-spirit-hands/ Bess Houdini writes that Harry used her hands and that she made the hands herself, detailing the technique in a letter dated January 27, 1927 to Herr Gref Karl von Klinckowstroem. By applying many dippings of her hands she could make them bigger, but as others have seen, these are definitely "ladies" hands and not the broad hands of Houdini.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteLooks like these wax hands were mislabelled by the late Larry Q. Lawson when his Classic Wax Museum closed down. They might possibly have been from the Marie Antoinette wax display. There were quite a number of mislabelled items at his estate sale, some very obvious.
Mr. Lawson's mental state deteriorated badly during the 1990's and he thought he was being pursued by religious demons.
Late one night, Mr. Lawson woke up several Edmonton realtors well after Midnight. and demanded they put his South Edmonton home in up for sale immediately.
The former Classic Wax Museum property and the entire contents sold quickly at far below market value, selling within a day.
Mr. Lawson then moved to Edmonton's Westin Hotel but was asked to leave the premises after several weeks for unspecified reasons. He then moved to The Chateau Lacombe, a few blocks away from the Westin Hotel.
He was there for a short time, about two weeks when hotel management contacted the authorities regarding foul odors coming from his room. The door was unlocked, but would not budge and was broken down by local firefighters over the course of about an hour.
Mr. Lawson had piled virtually all the furniture in the room up against the door, effectively blocking any entry. He had decorated the room with magic display posters and other related items, afterwards overdosing on prescription medication, street drugs and alcohol.
This information was related to us by his late secretary Claire.