Auctions

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    The Collection of Edwin A Dawes, Part I

    Start: Feb 24, 2024 12:00PM EST

    Equal parts scholar, author, historian, professor, and magician, Edwin Dawes was a singular figure in the world of magic and magicians, and the most prolific chronicler of conjuring history in the twentieth century. Prices Realized

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    A Study in Sherlock, Part II: Including the Collections of Robert Hess and Roy Pilot

    Start: Feb 15, 2024 12:00PM EST

    We are pleased to announce the second session of Robert Hess's Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle collection. High spots will include the only known copy of the first English edition of The Lost World in original dust jacket and Sidney Paget's personal robe. Prices Realized

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    Online Winter Magic

    Start: Jan 27, 2024 12:00PM EST

    This auction will feature contemporary collectible magic props as well as antique apparatus. A strong selection from modern makers will cross the block, including effects from the workshops of Michael Baker, Mikame Craft, Abbott's, Nielsen, and many more. Prices Realized

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    Printed Books & Manuscripts (Online Only)

    Start: Jan 18, 2024 12:00PM EST

    We begin the new year with a large offering of material spanning several categories, including Americana, modern firsts, bibliographies, hunting & fishing, travel, and more. Prices Realized

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    Golden Age and Pre-Code Horror: The Comic Book Collection of Stephen J. Farber

    Start: Jan 11, 2024 12:00PM EST

    We are pleased to ring in the New Year with the sale of this important comic book collection featuring many early issues, chief among them Captain America #1 and Adventures of Spider-Man #1. Prices Realized

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    Select Secrets

    Start: Dec 09, 2023 12:00PM EST

    From J.N. Maskelyne's toolbox to rare Houdiniana (posters, handcuffs, autographs), David Devant's passport to a magic trick that helped predict the outbreak of WWII, Robert Harbin's sketch for the Zig-Zag Girl and Al Delage's Sub Trunk, our December sale of magicana was a closely-curated offering of real rarities. Prices Realized

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    Contemporary, Outsider, Folk & Fine Art

    Start: Dec 06, 2023 12:00PM EST

    Our Contemporary, Outsider, Folk, and Fine Art sale featured works from all time periods and categories. Contemporary highlights included works by Paul Jenkins, Lucio Fontana, and Joan Miro. Chicago artists represented were John Kearney, Zani Jacobsen, and Leroy Neiman. Prices Realized

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    Lewis Carroll and Alice: The Collection of Stephen and Nancy Farber

    Start: Nov 30, 2023 12:00PM EST

    For nearly four decades, the Farbers were "mad as a hatter," collecting everything related to Alice in Wonderland. The Farbers had a deep fascination for the many translations of the work, chief among them perhaps the most important: the "original Alice's copy" of Nabokov's Russian translation of Alice. Prices Realized

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    Vintage Posters

    Start: Nov 10, 2023 12:00PM EST

    Our fall auction of vintage posters covered a waterfront of categories, from vintage travel and advertising lithographs, to entertainment, propaganda, and modern design. The first half of the sale featured iconic posters and pictorial maps from the golden age of air and rail travel. Prices Realized

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    The Ricky Jay Collection Part II

    Start: Oct 28, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    Unusual relics were the hallmark of Ricky Jay's storied collection. This second auction from his archives features an astonishing array of the fantastic, the funny, and the flabbergasting. Prices Realized

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    Nobu Shirase and the Japanese Antarctic Expedition: the Collection of Chet Ross

    Start: Oct 12, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    We are pleased to announce the sale of Chet Ross's Japanese Antarctic Expedition collection. Ross authored the first and only bibliography about the expedition, discovering over 50 publications related to Shirase and the JAE which now for the first time are coming across the auction block. Prices Realized

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    Coin-Op & Advertising

    Start: Sep 22, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    This sale featured a wide range of machines, including scarce examples in the vending and arcade categories, along with trade stimulators to slot machines of every description, dating from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth. Prices Realized

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    Vintage & Modern Magic

    Start: Aug 23, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    Highlights of our August sale included a rare one-sheet poster advertising Servais LeRoy, a strong offering of Houdiniana, including inscribed and signed books, an assortment of magic books, and rare ephemera. Prices Realized

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    Firsts: The Library of Robin and Kathryn Smiley

    Start: Aug 17, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    We are pleased to announce the sale of Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine's co-Publishers and Editors, Robin and Kathryn Smiley's collection of modern firsts of literature, mystery & detective fiction, and western literature. Prices Realized

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    Circus, Sideshow & Oddities

    Start: Jul 29, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    Our annual sale of the unusual, the amazing, and the bizarre featured a wide range of amazing antique objects, from classic vintage lithographs (and the maquettes used to design them), to remarkable cabinet cards and photographs, sideshow banners, and fairground art, including carousel animals and horses. Prices Realized

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    Outsider, Folk and Fine Art

    Start: Jun 28, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    Our June auction of Outsider, Folk and Fine Art featured a rare canvas work by Chicago street artist Lee Godie, works by Finster, Sudduth, Tolliver, Willis, and many other outsider stars. The auction also featured sideshow banners, carousel animals, American folk art, quilts and eccentric anonymous paintings and sculptures. Prices Realized

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    Summer Magic Auction

    Start: Jun 17, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    Our summer sale was an extravaganza of vintage and modern magic apparatus, featuring further selections from the collections of Jim Deloach and William Trotter. Rarities from the shops of P&L, Abbott's, Collector's Workshop, Thayer, Okito, and others will cross the block. Prices Realized

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    Fine Books & Manuscripts, including The Ronald K. Siegel Collection

    Start: Jun 01, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    Our summer book sale featured the important collection of drug literature from the esteemed psychopharmacologist, Ronald K. Siegel. Prices Realized

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    Gambling Memorabilia

    Start: May 18, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    Potter & Potter's annual gambling memorabilia auction featured a vast array of material in all branches of the hobby, from scarce playing cards, to books on cards and cheating, and thousands of casino and poker chips and sets. Prices Realized

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    A Study in Sherlock: The Curious Collection of Robert Hess Part I

    Start: Apr 20, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    This was the first sale from Robert Hess's collection of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle. High spots in every category related to these two subjects included original illustration art, first editions, signed photos, and archives of letters. Prices Realized

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    Houdiniana

    Start: Apr 08, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    From remarkable unpublished personal documents and props from his storied career, to personal relics from Houdini's home in Harlem, our April sale of Houdiniana was an offering of historical significance. Prices Realized

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    Pop Culture & Collectibles

    Start: Mar 30, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    From comic books and rock memorabilia, to movie posters, vintage toys, trading cards, and Disneyana, the auction featured highlights from nearly every corner of American twentieth century pop culture. Prices Realized

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    Vintage Posters

    Start: Mar 16, 2023 12:00PM EDT

    Potter & Potter opened the spring season with an eclectic offering of over 500 vintage posters, spanning the Golden Age of travel, nineteenth and twentieth century advertising, propaganda, and more. Prices Realized

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    The Ricky Jay Collection

    Start: Feb 25, 2023 12:00PM EST

    This was Potter & Potter's first sale from the singular, eclectic collection of Ricky Jay, the lauded actor, celebrated sleight-of-hand magician, and noted author, who curated his own extensive collection of magic, circus, and showbiz ephemera. Prices Realized

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