This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/1/2025
FULD, William (1870–1927). Ouija Board. Baltimore: William Fuld, ca. 1915. Wooden Ouija Board. Directions printed verso. 12 ½ x 18 ½". Scattered scuffing, surface abrasions, light staining. Good.
“Manufactured for approximately 3 years, this 1915 Ouija redesign by William Fuld was the first to feature the smiling face added to the full moon in the board's upper left corner, which would transform in subsequent generations of redesigns into the iconic smiling sun. The design was initially produced at a time of flagging fortunes for William Fuld's eponymous company, as the entrepreneur furiously tried to defend Ouija from aggressive competitors challenging his patent rights and trademarks. Conversely, it would also be the design that ushered in a new era of popularity for the iconic talking board, as literary works produced with the aid of Ouija by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Emily Grant Hutchings, and Pearl Curran, who famously channeled the spirit of Patience Worth through the board, broke into massive mainstream popularity, dragging the spiritual instruments into the spotlight with them and presaging the apex of Ouija's cultural popularity in 1920."
– Brandon Hodge, The Mysterious Planchette