Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

The Collection of Jim Rawlins Part II

Sat, May 25, 2019 03:30AM EDT
Lot 11

McDonald Birch?s Multiplying Chairs.

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
Birch, McDonald. McDonald Birch?s Multiplying Chairs. Los Angeles: F.G. Thayer, ca. 1938. A wooden chair with patterned fabric seat suddenly, quickly, and magically, becomes two matching chairs. 35 ?? high. Owned and used by McDonald Birch in his annual country-crossing tours. Larger chair showing wear; inner chair very good. Rare. As performed in the Birch show, the magician sat on a wooden chair at center stage, as a boy from the audience walked up to him to assist. Birch offered the boy a seat, but there was only one chair present. So the magician stood up, and suddenly, where one chair was, now there were two ? the chair having multiplied by magic. Finely made in the Thayer style, this illusion is a truly scarce item from the fabled California illusion factory.