New Picture of The Houdini Mirror Cuffs

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Hi Mike, great photo and thanks for sharing it. Can I ask your source?

The notch appears to me to be a defect in the casting as are the pit marks on the lock tube. The actual locking I suspect is through the rectangular hole in the projection. Was there any text with the photo?

Ian

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

Guess almost anything is possible... Such a shame that one can't get ahold of the thing and analyse it to determine once and for all what is on the inside of the lock. The theories abound as to how it works with very little known facts.

-Dorson

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

Hi Dorson, I have been told that Mr Copperfield will let people handle the cuff but never probe the lock or slider with any tools. I think all examinations so far have been superficial and missing something important. mechanically the "nested" slider arrangement cannot work in unison, maybe either only the outer or inner tumblers worked the actual mechanism. That would only require a smaller and shorter key if one was used. (which I doubt)

Fun to guess though.

Ian

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

The picture I think came from the Kalush biography. I have have the pleasure of seeing the same picture and a few others in great detail in full colour, but unfortunately was not allowed copies, so had to rely on my memory.

The replica key that I made (as pictured in the last handcuff annual) was made from these pictures, and I later had a chance to compare my replica with the photos, when I saw them again, and was as close as it gets.

I'm still working on my own theory as to how the escape happened, but I really think that the "nested" Bramah mechanism wouldn't work, so I think only the traditional narrow section of the key was operable. Also I think it wasn't rapped or picked, but opened with a duplicate key (or the small part of the key that would have operated the lock.

I would welcome other views and theories on this escape please, as I am currently looking at some new information which could prove interesting,

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

Hi Ian, the picture was found in "The Secret Life of Houdini (The Making of America's First Superhero) by: William Kalush and Larry Sloman. There is a 26 page chapter called, "The Challenge of the Mirror" in this book.....I have not had a chance to read it yet......I have been so intrigued with all the rare and unique pictures that every time I open it, I can't help myself from flipping through and looking at the pictures! =P

This is a great book.....I HIGHLY suggest that anyone interested in Houdini pick up a copy of it before it goes out of print. BTW, there is a photo of the the other Mirror cuff (the one with the writing all over it) in this chapter as well......next time I am scanning photos, I will try to remeber to scan it and post it here.

Cheers, Mike

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

The other picture in the Kalush book that is being mentioned (with the writing on) is a photo of the silver presentation cuffs, awarded to Houdini 6 weeks after the challenge, by the Illustrated Daily Mirror.

This picture is very important, as it is the very first time the presentation cuffs have appeared in print. These are non working replicas, apparently made by a London silversmith, as a direct full size replica of the originals.

Both cuffs are now in David Copperfield's Las Vegas private Magic Museum.

I have a photograph of the originals and the replicas, when they were in a glass case together at Henry Mueller's Houdini Museum in Niagara Falls.

Has anyone reading this ever seen them there, and did you take any pictures?

I'd really like a closer look at the keyhole on the real cuffs, to try to work out the locking system.

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

That the "nested" Bramah locks simply could not have worked.

The missing rotation bit on the first slider cuts of the key proves this lock does nothing except that unless the key has both sets of cuts it will not turn the cylinder.

In effect, the first set of cuts only acts as a type of 'ward" were one to have an exact copy of the key with correct first cuts but incorrect second ones higher up.

If one had an exact copy of the key and the first set of cuts was incorrect the key would not turn this cylinder and thus not work on the second one either even if the second set of shoulder slider cuts were correct.

Many years ago I challenged Henry Muller, owner of the Houdini Museum in the Falls to lock me in the cuffs.

I did so in the newspaper and they did a story on it.

He refused.

Perhaps he himself knew the cuffs were far from secure as this picture now begins to prove out.

I may be wrong but the end hole on the locking arm seems to sugggest that the cuffs can simply be "snapped" shut ala Darby cuffs.

This is somewhat supported by the newspaper accounts of the time that say the cuffs were "snapped" shut on Houdini's wrists and then the key was turned a number of times to secure the bolt.

What if the Bramah cylinders did nothing at all and the mechanism was a mere spring loaded bolt?

I mean, what if the key itwself could not even open the cuffs and they were presented to the journalist in the rapped open way and then snapped on?

Nowehere is there any documentation that explains the unlocking of the cuffs or in fact anyone that was present to see them unlocked.

I am thinking they were "eye candy" because of the shape of the hole for the locking bolt on the toe of the bow and also because of the way the slider cuts are situated on the body of the key.

Snap it shut and rap it open.

Bramahs do nothing at all except prevent a similiar looking cut with the wrong cuts from turning at all.

Steve Santini

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

The Kalush bio is now in softcover and is on ebay and other sources often enough that I doubt it will be a rarity anytime soon. The photos and posters are the great value of the book. The text also has some tidbits of interest, but at this stage of the game any Houdini book could really only offer tidbits.
I am under the impression that the silver replica is the one in the photo of Houdini gazing at the mirror cuffs reprinted in various books and articles over the years. Could be wrong.
So, opinions; what is everyones favorite Houdini biography.....and why?

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

I have been looking online for the Secret life of Houdini book and have noticed that the amount of pages varies from one book seller to another.

In one book, there is 527 pages and from another dealer, there is 624.
Other sellers have the book with 592, 608, and 614.

I realize there is a hard cover and soft cover edition out and the publisher may have had to adjust for size or some other reason. I wonder if there were more pictures and content with the later editions.

Do any of you have the 1st edition? If so, please let me know how many pages you have and the ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 numbers if you can get them.

Thank you very much.

mark
O--O

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

My hard cover copy has 592 pages.
it is marked "First Atria Books hardcover edition October 2006"
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-7207-0
ISBN-10: 0-7432-7207-2
Stan

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

The advanced copy has 573 total pages (no index)

The first edition has 592 pages (with index)

I don't collect the softcovers, foreign editions, audio, etc.

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

Have any one in the world can make this cuffs.
If any person in this field are interested to make the copy of this items please contact.
[email protected].

Check this picture out:

This cuff has been the subject of much debate here on the board; I recently found a book with this picture in it and I think it can shed a little light on a couple of things. First, look at the piece that enters the lock case......is it just me, or does it look like it has notch in it for a latch-style "single lock" in addition to a hole for the entry of a dead-locking "bolt"???? Next, look at the key.....I am pretty sure that most of us are familiar with Bramah lock cylinders......it looks like the tip of the key is a standard 7-slider type minus the little "bit" that helps rotates the cylinder. The other piece looks like a really big Bramah key with the bit on it.....this is not someone's re-creation of the key from memory.....it is a photo of the real thing (evidently, David Copperfield allowed the cuff and key to be photographed sometime back). I think that the complete dual Bramah cylinder could have been fully functional for dead locking the cuff and maybe the latch-locking notch was used to keep the cuff closed until Houdini was out of sight and then allowed it to be "rapped" open. This would allow Houdini to escape these impossible cuffs with ease and also baffle the living hell out of anyone who examined them close-up (locked up tight of course)...any thoughts???

Cheers, Mike

Click to expand...

Mick Hanzlik has made a beautiful replica of the Mirror Handcuff key. See the Handcuff Annual 2007 for more details.

Mick has sent us a picture of his key. It is shown below next to a picture of the original.




It looks like a very close match to me.
Nice going Mick

Joe