The above item just recently sold on eBay for $1,115.00; It had 42 bids and 11 bidders.
The description of the item was as follows:
Another Large Album we are breaking up…Mostly Early Entertainment Personalities….Keep an Eye out since there are about 300 signed Pages ….
This album page is 10×13 with a 6 x 4 vintage page which is signed by Harry Houdini
Signed in fountain pen….I believe it reads….Yes Siree and like you are rustling this off in a Hurry…..Houdini Jan.1925
Almost looks like Harry Houdini….Signature shows some wrinkling from gluing on the page…
I am doubtful if the signature can be removed…Certainly can be cut out or also simply left alone….
Newspaper or magazine images enhances the album page…
Also included the second page in the album after the signature entry which is a newspaper clipping about Houdini….
Begging to be framed……
Although, I suspect the main interest and value in this piece is Houdini’s handwriting and signature, I actually find the clipping of Houdini playing marbles, to be of much greater interest since I don’t believe that I have seen that image before.
It is an image of Harry Houdini playing an Exhibition Game with Jack Walkenstein, the Greater Boston Champion.
I tried to locate the clipping in online databases, but to no avail; if anyone knows where that image appeared, please let me know.
Congratulations to the winner!
Wow. I never even saw this on eBay.
I definitely thought this was worth sharing.
I never saw this on eBay either, but then, I don’t go on eBay looking for Houdini collectables. Too many forgeries and 3rd generation photos to wade through. I used to play marbles outside the apartment building I lived at as kid in the 1970s. If you manage to hit the other player’s marble, you get to keep his marble.
I grew a pretty good bag of marbles over time. This was of course way before the PC and video games began to keep children indoors. You show a 7 year old child a marble now and he won’t be able to identify it.
I got to believe that Young Ehrich had quite a marble collection as well. Not sure how Old Harry fared against the Boston Champion, though.
That was a nice piece. The price was fair too. Enjoy it who ever won it.
Agreed! Especially with no buyer’s premium of 20% or higher tacked on.
At $1,115.00, Houdini collecting is red hot now. I’m assuming that is a photo pasted onto the page and not a newspaper clipping. If it’s just a newspaper clipping pasted on, that’s a lot of money for the note jotted down and the autograph. Which to my eyes looks like Houdini’s handwriting. If it’s a forgery, it’s a good copy.
The seller is taking that scrapbook apart and selling the pages for all they are worth.
Well, I am pretty sure that is a clipping; notice the text attached to the left of the image. That said, $1,115.00 is a fair price for a scrapbook page with Houdini’s handwriting and signature.
Hello everyone . I am the winner of this auction . The piece is exhibited in a museum of magic, in Valencia, Spain called “Casa Museo de la Magia ” http://www.casamagica.org
You are invited to come , but I think it is a bit far . Thanks !
LoL! That is a bit far, but I am glad to know that it is in a museum of magic and is being exhibited.
the young boy Houdini is playing marbles with was my father; never new of the event. Is there any way I could get a copy of the picture?
Wow! How exciting! I am so glad you found this. You could save the image from my site and/or try and contact the museum of magic in Valencia Spain called “Casa Museo de la Magia” where the picture is displayed: http://www.casamagica.org If need be, you can right-click on their web page and translate it to English and select the Contact link and send a message.
Guess what? I now know exactly when and where this happened. And the outcome. Spoiler alert: Houdini was “badly beaten.” I’ll be sharing this on my blog later this week with a link back here to see the photo.