Salon de Magie: The Klosterman Collection Part I

Kellar, Harry (Heinrich Keller). Kellar Playing Cards. Cincinnati: USPC, ca. 1920. Custom-made pack of gilt-edged double-faced Congress-brand playing cards, custom printed for Harry Kellar to his own specifications. In a slipcase-type cloth-covered box, the recto stamped with Kellar’s name in gilt, the verso bearing a lithographed portrait of Kellar with a red imps perched on his shoulders. With original tax stamp. A rarity; one of but a handful known. A note of provenance accompanying the deck states: “Owned by Harry Kellar. Autographed by a nephew Frank Harry Kellar to Ted Banks. Gift to Percy Abbott from Ted Banks. Given to me by Abbott.”