This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/26/2022
Hartz Card Frame. New York: Hartz Magical Repository, 1870s. Handsome mahogany frame contains a floral print by Currier & Ives. Cards chosen from the pack appear inside the frame – behind the glass, but in front of the print – when the deck is tossed at the frame, which hangs from two silk ribbons above the magician’s table. 12 ¾ x 16”. Finely made with dovetailed construction, the original roller mechanism fragile but intact. Bearing the a Hartz paper label (identifying the location of the shop at 850 Broadway, New York) on the verso of the print. A handsome early American magic prop. A true rarity. The label on the verso of the original Currier & Ives print that is part of this effect identifies this prop as from the shop of what is widely acknowledged as the first magic shop established in New York. Few – if any – other props marked in the same way are known to exist, in any other collection. This piece of apparatus was likely part of the Hooker collection, and later the Circus Museum of Sarasota.