Salon de Magie: The Klosterman Collection Part III

ROBERT-HOUDIN GLASS COLUMN MYSTERY CLOCK. Paris, Att. Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, ca. 1850. A transparent glass dial, five inches in diameter, in round brass bezel, to which is attached a single arrow-shaped ormolu hand. Reverse painted black Roman numerals and inner minute track. Height 19 ½”, supported on a gilt and ormolu base 6 ½ x 6 ½”, the entire clock resting on an ebonized wooden base with four feet. The case supports a clear glass tube on which rests the bezel and dial. The movement drives an inner glass tube with connection at the dial stem to another indirect bevel gear driving an inner glass disc behind the main dial, which causes the hand to turn. Lacks winding key, and mechanism in need of adjustment. Chimes on the hour and half-hour. One of the most desirable mystery clocks by the father of modern magic and an iconic object from the inventive mind of the most prominent magician of the nineteenth century. See Salon de Magie, page 116. Introduced in the late 1830s, Robert-Houdin’s Mystery Clocks were an instant success. Fully functioning timepieces with no visible connection between the hands and the works were a distinct novelty at the time. Robert-Houdin’s first efforts (also known as “first series” or “single” Mystery Clocks) had glass faces. Later developments, including this example, were more complex in operation. Here, there are two mysteries – a glass clock face, and a glass tube supporting the face.