This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/12/2020
Vernon, Dai (David Frederick Wingfield Verner). Dai Vernon’s Harlequin Act Ball and Cone. New York, ca. 1938. Sturdy stitched leather cone and five billiard balls, owned and used by Dai Vernon for one his iconic and gimmickless one cup and ball routine, in which the ball vanished, reappeared, and changed color underneath the cone. Includes three white, one red, and one black ball, the latter made of painted copper. Height of cone 6”, mouth diameter 3”. Together with the solid wooden chuck used to store (and create) the cone. Vernon developed his Ball and Cone routine specifically for the Harlequin Act. The sequence included the filtration of the ball up through the apex of the cone, and, at one point, the vanish of the ball from underneath the cone and its reappearance on Vernon’s head. The routine has been dissected, varied, and adapted for the eighty years since its creation. These are the props used to develop that iconic routine.