Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

The Magic Collection of Jim Rawlins

Fri, Jan 25, 2019 10:30PM EST
Lot 109

Fu Manchu?s Cage Transposition.

Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$30 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
Fu Manchu (David Bamberg). Fu Manchu?s Cage Transposition. Hamburg: Carl Willmann [?], ca. 1920. Mechanically complex mechanism allows a gleaming metal cage to vanish from under a handkerchief, only to visibly and instantly reappear in a skeleton-frame stand in the blink of an eye. 18? high. Very good working condition. Owned and used by Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu (David Bamberg, 1904 ? 1974) was the last in a long dynasty of Dutch magicians. He made his mark as a stage illusionist, touring Latin America and Spain with a colorful, lively, stage-filling show that utilized corps of assistants, magnificent glow-in-the-dark scenery, broad comic sketches, using dozens of genuine antique Chinese robes as costumes. Like his father before him, Bamberg played the role of a Chinese magician to great effect and with almost unrivaled success, making himself a household name in Argentina and Mexico, setting and breaking countless box office records over the course of a decades-long career. These cages were purchased from the family of his most trusted assistant and chief mechanic, Edmund Spreer.