Tuesday, July 2, 2024
LINK: The Torrence Collection
Mega collector Jon Torrence is sharing rarities from his amazing Houdini collection on his website, The Torrence Collection. Somehow, I wasn't aware of Jon or his collection, but I sure am now! Some real gems here. Click the headline or the image below to dive in.
A program pictured on page 6 has me especially intrigued. This appears to reveal a 1901 engagement in Mainz, Germany, and an encounter with a rival that is entirely new to me. Or it could be hokum on Houdini's part. Either way, it's a prime example of the Germany problem.
Thanks for this post! DC could not have been the only high roller snatching up Houdini items. There's an error on page 2 of the Houdiniana section in Jon's website. The photo of him with Bess behind a movie camera was taken at Inceville in December 1915. It's not a HPC film shoot of the early 1920s.
ReplyDeleteThe Inceville photo: https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2019/02/the-houdinis-at-inceville.html?m=1
DeleteGood catch on Inceville. There are a few other mistakes on his site. That photo purported to be from Haldane of the Secret Service isn't from any movie I recognize.
DeleteBy the way, DC is NOT the high roller driving up Houdini prices at auction. People think it's him. It's not.
You mean the Haldane photo of HH standing on the roof of that Model T car? Is it him on that car? The high prices for Houdini auction items was a growing snowball the last 25 years or so.
DeleteYeah, that's not HH on top of the car. I don't know what this is from. (There's also a Terror Island still labeled as TMFB. It happens.) But Jon's site is untypically excellent at providing historical details about each item. I really appreciate that. Not many collectors do this.
DeleteHow in the heck has Jon gone unnoticed? He collects everything.
ReplyDeleteThe site is fantastic even with the mistakes, Btw
I guess Kevin’s heard of him.