Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

Magic Collection of Jim Rawlins Part IV

Sat, Jul 25, 2020 12:00PM EDT
Lot 152

Victorian Nest of Boxes. London: Hamley?s Grand Magical Sal...

Estimate: $2,000 - $4,000

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
Victorian Nest of Boxes. London: Hamley?s Grand Magical Saloons, ca. 1880. Magnificent set of six nested wooden boxes, the largest finely decorated with brass trim, claw feet, and ornaments in the Victorian style. A borrowed ring, watch, or banknote appears in the smallest of the locked boxes at the command of the magician. Largest box 8 x 7 ? x 6 ??. With Hamley?s maker?s plaque underneath largest box. Locking mechanisms and lids of several internal boxes lacking, one foot bent. Rare. Reminiscent of the Thayer ?No-Assistant? version of this venerable conjurer?s feat, this model is perhaps one of a handful of surviving props marked with the Hamley?s tag. The firm, founded in 1760, is operated today as a toy shop, but in the late Victorian era and into the twentieth century, was a supplier of professional magic apparatus.