Friday, December 7, 2018

Houdini envelope delivers $1,750

A standout item in last weekend's Haversat & Ewing Galleries magic auction was the below envelope which sold for a remarkable $1,750 on an $80-$100 estimate. While this is a very uncommon piece of stationary, I'm thinking the reason it went so high is because it appears to be signed. However, the auction listing made no mention of a signature.

King of Handcuffs illustrated envelop mailed by Houdini 110 years ago to Wallace Dibble in 1908. Postmarked in front and back. Envelope only, no contents. $80-100

So is this signed, or is that signature just part of the stationary artwork? The book Houdini A Pictorial Life reproduces this artwork on its title page, and there is no signature present. Same goes for the actual stationary, which you can see in this post. So...

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2 comments:

  1. Leo HeviaDecember 7, 2018 at 4:25 PM

    Mr. Dibble's letter needs to be reunited with this envelope.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JeffDecember 8, 2018 at 12:43 AM

    I was one of the bidders on this item. Before bidding, I asked the auction house if the signature was original or preprinted. The answer was that it was preprinted. I, too, was very surprised at the final bid amount!

    ReplyDelete