Houdini
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 2… Read more
Houdini

Details
Houdini
A Chinese Garrotte, cast metal clamp with tightening mechanism stamped 62542A and a button hook; matted with a black and white photograph of the magician in shackles, and a letter concerning the provenance -- overall measurements 16¼x25¼in. (41x64cm.) box framed; accompanied by two letters concerning provenance (one loose) (2)
Provenance
Ex-lot 421 Houdini Magical Hall of Fame & The Houdini-Hardeen Collection, Butterfields, Los Angeles, 15 November, 1999
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

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Lot Essay

The accompanying button hook was Houdini's simple tool for manipulating the garrotte's lock to allow his 'miraculous' escape. The Garrotte is a simple, and highly effective tool used as a form of tortuous death, by a means of a slow and painful strangulation. The mechanism is slowly turned, simply tightening the pressure on the neck.

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