John Bushey has kindly sent the following photograph of the rare German handcuff sold at the Radner Houdini Auction.
If anyone can give us any information on the cuff, it would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone ever seen another like it? Have you even see a picture of this one or anything similar before? Does anyone know of anything in the Houdini literature that might refer to this cuff or one like it? This is a real puzzle that we would like to solve.
Thanks John for sending the photo.
Joe
Hi John, that cuff is a most beautiful piece of work and must have taken ages to build. I have been lucky enough to also have been sent some pictures of the handcuff and I personally think that it is likely to be a one off hand made piece.
Certain parts of the handcuff appear to be made into the cuff to correct flaws in the original design. One would be the small stop pin located underneath the cuff to set the lock position when the handcuff is folded. The other is the small groove in the edge of the lock case to allow the bow to pass by the lock when folded. This appear to be ( difficult to see in a simple photo) filed ever so close to be nearly breaking though the lock case into the interior.
As an official type of cuff, this particular design would have been easily escaped from through force. Although the point of the hinge mechanism is solid, under duress this area could be bent and the bow would pull back away from the ratchet pawls, thus unlocking the cuff.
With this in mind, I suspect that the cuff may have been the prototype for the Hamburg eight as the Hamburg 8 bows encircle the simple but effective locking mechanism and wont pull away under force.
It is a very nice piece and I wish I was able to examine the real thing, but a few photos will have to suffice. Thanks to those who have kept me informed of how wonderful the Houdini auction was.
Ian McColl
