This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/26/2022
Dante (Harry August Jansen). Dante’s Aerial Fishing Bowl and Stand. San Francisco: Stull Magic, ca. 1930. Gimmicked bowl used in Dante’s illusion show allows the magician to produce as many as four live fish on an ungimmicked line cast over the head of the audience. With custom stand holding the bowl and a vintage flashlight to illuminate the water from below. With necessary gimmicks and two pieces of vintage “fish bait.” Height 15”. Worn from professional use, but complete and intact. Owned and used by Dante the magician. Scratched in the rim of the bowl are three important names: “Geo White” (George White, principal assistant to Dante and Howard Thurston before him), Miki Miller (Moi-Yo Miller, Dante’s co-star and billed as “Australia’s Most Beautiful Woman”), and Logan, presumably another assistant on the show. Additionally, the words “Sim Sala Bim” (Dante’s catchphrase) and “Dante Show 1934” have been scratched into the gimmicked metal rim. A photo Dante with the bowl appears in Dante: The Devil Himself (Temple, 1991; p. 213).