This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/29/2022
WOOD, WILLIAM B. PLAYING CARD RECOVERED FROM WOOD’S FATAL SHIPWRECK. Being a vintage Four of Spades signed by Frederick Eugene Powell, who recovered the card from the baggage of magician and ventriloquist William B. Wood, who drowned in the Gulf of Mexico. Framed in a shadowbox, 9 ½ x 8 ¼”, with typed note of provenance by F.E. Powell included, explaining the history of the card. Wood (1862 - 1908) was a magician and ventriloquist who began his career as an assistant to Harry Kellar and patented a spectacular levitation illusion named for his wife, Edna. A multi-lingual performer, he worked in Latin America successfully for years. In February 1908, Wood and his daughter Bertha engaged a tugboat to take them across the Gulf of Mexico. Unexpectedly, a storm blew in across the gulf. The boat began leaking, and eventually the captain, passengers, and crew abandoned ship. The last time Wood and his daughter were seen was floating in the gulf clinging to debris from the wrecked tug. The $14,000.00 in cash and $5,000.00 in diamonds Wood was reported to be carrying at the time were never recovered, however, his trunks did wash ashore. These were later claimed by fellow magician Frederick Eugene Powell, who went on to perform the Edna levitation illusion in his own show.