Mark Lyons
#1Hi Fellow Cuff Collectors,
As you know, the Radner-Houdini Auction will take place in Las Vegas in less than a week from now. Most or all items have been posted on the auction house web-site and on eBay as well. These items are going to be auctioned off and will come with a certificate of authenticity and signed by Sid Radner attesting to the fact that all of these items were used or were in Houdini's personal collection. The home page of the Auction web-site states " Over 1000 items personally owned by the most famous escape artist in the history of the modern world". From what I know, all of the items were inherited by Houdini's brother Hardeen sometime after Houdini died on Halloween, 1926. Eventually they found there way to Sid Radner and he put them on display in Appleton, Wisconsin which was Houdini's boyhood home. While I do not wish to say that Mr Radner or the folks putting the auction together are misleading any potential bidders, I would like to point out some errors that I would like to have a better understanding of and would like to open this discussion amongst you other collectors.
First of all, since Houdini died in 1926, I do not understand how items #87, #112, and #128 which are Harvard leg irons could have been owned by him. They were first manufactured just before or during World War ll ...almost 20 years after his death. Item # 42 is a set of Peerless handcuffs with a final patent date of 1937 stamped into it. While the Peerless was created in 1912, Houdini probably owned several pairs of these, but I do not know how he managed to get this pair. The German Schutzmark cuff # 62 is also of the war years vintage. How did he acquire them 20 years before they came out? Can any of you find other obvious errors similar to these dating problems?
Item # 102 has a similar and a different error. The auction item is for a pair of German Hamburg 8's and they come with an original box.....for the Foth Lock Co. in the United States. Foth was the successor to the Tower line and made the Union Hardware- Tower double lock cuffs just before the war.
Other errors that I noticed are:
Tower-Lion thumbcuffs are called McDonald's in this auction.
A groups of keys to be auctioned off are named as a collection of handcuff keys in item # 12c. In actuality, they are just padlock and cabinet keys.
I can guess that Theo (Hardeen) had a collection of his own and by the time Mr. Radner got hold of them and the ones from the Houdini collection, he was not able to tell who's was who's. Poor itemization or bad record keeping more than likely made these errors apparent in this auction. My intent is not to belittle the auction but I wanted to call attention to these problems so people can have a better knowledge on the items that they may wish to bid on.
I will be attending this auction and hopefully will make some buys. I would like to know if any of you can spot any other errors on the items and their descriptions and would be kind enough to post them here for all of us to learn from. Thanks. mark
As you know, the Radner-Houdini Auction will take place in Las Vegas in less than a week from now. Most or all items have been posted on the auction house web-site and on eBay as well. These items are going to be auctioned off and will come with a certificate of authenticity and signed by Sid Radner attesting to the fact that all of these items were used or were in Houdini's personal collection. The home page of the Auction web-site states " Over 1000 items personally owned by the most famous escape artist in the history of the modern world". From what I know, all of the items were inherited by Houdini's brother Hardeen sometime after Houdini died on Halloween, 1926. Eventually they found there way to Sid Radner and he put them on display in Appleton, Wisconsin which was Houdini's boyhood home. While I do not wish to say that Mr Radner or the folks putting the auction together are misleading any potential bidders, I would like to point out some errors that I would like to have a better understanding of and would like to open this discussion amongst you other collectors.
First of all, since Houdini died in 1926, I do not understand how items #87, #112, and #128 which are Harvard leg irons could have been owned by him. They were first manufactured just before or during World War ll ...almost 20 years after his death. Item # 42 is a set of Peerless handcuffs with a final patent date of 1937 stamped into it. While the Peerless was created in 1912, Houdini probably owned several pairs of these, but I do not know how he managed to get this pair. The German Schutzmark cuff # 62 is also of the war years vintage. How did he acquire them 20 years before they came out? Can any of you find other obvious errors similar to these dating problems?
Item # 102 has a similar and a different error. The auction item is for a pair of German Hamburg 8's and they come with an original box.....for the Foth Lock Co. in the United States. Foth was the successor to the Tower line and made the Union Hardware- Tower double lock cuffs just before the war.
Other errors that I noticed are:
Tower-Lion thumbcuffs are called McDonald's in this auction.
A groups of keys to be auctioned off are named as a collection of handcuff keys in item # 12c. In actuality, they are just padlock and cabinet keys.
I can guess that Theo (Hardeen) had a collection of his own and by the time Mr. Radner got hold of them and the ones from the Houdini collection, he was not able to tell who's was who's. Poor itemization or bad record keeping more than likely made these errors apparent in this auction. My intent is not to belittle the auction but I wanted to call attention to these problems so people can have a better knowledge on the items that they may wish to bid on.
I will be attending this auction and hopefully will make some buys. I would like to know if any of you can spot any other errors on the items and their descriptions and would be kind enough to post them here for all of us to learn from. Thanks. mark