The Magic Collection of Jim Rawlins

Fu Manchu (David Bamberg). Fu Manchu’s Cage Transposition. Hamburg: Carl Willmann [?], ca. 1920. Mechanically complex mechanism allows a gleaming metal cage to vanish from under a handkerchief, only to visibly and instantly reappear in a skeleton-frame stand in the blink of an eye. 18” high. Very good working condition. Owned and used by Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu (David Bamberg, 1904 – 1974) was the last in a long dynasty of Dutch magicians. He made his mark as a stage illusionist, touring Latin America and Spain with a colorful, lively, stage-filling show that utilized corps of assistants, magnificent glow-in-the-dark scenery, broad comic sketches, using dozens of genuine antique Chinese robes as costumes. Like his father before him, Bamberg played the role of a Chinese magician to great effect and with almost unrivaled success, making himself a household name in Argentina and Mexico, setting and breaking countless box office records over the course of a decades-long career. These cages were purchased from the family of his most trusted assistant and chief mechanic, Edmund Spreer.