Banner day for Houdini at auction

A large banner poster (42¼ × 108¾") advertising Houdini's "3 Shows in One" sold yesterday at Potter & Potter's Ricky Jay Collection Part II auction for $14,400 (with buyers premium). A reasonable price for a Houdini poster. I've always loved this artwork as the Halloween imagery makes it eerily prescient.

Another standout was a 4-page flyer from early 1900 advertising Houdini "Assisted by Mme. Beatrice Houdini," which sold for $9,600 (with buyers premium). The auction notes it as "the first example we have encountered." Issued by Martin Beck while Houdini was en route to Europe, the irony is that it announces his "Return Engagement on the Orpheum Circuit." That return would take seven years.

Congrats to the winners!

Related:

• The last Houdini poster
• Houdini's grand finale: 3 Shows In One
• Martin Beck and the nine Houdini "knockers"