Don Hinz Passed Away

If you collect Handcuufs, Houdini or magic, you probably knew him. Here is the the link to the obit:

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/2 ... ymond-Hinz

Rest In Peace Ray

When I started my interest in Houdini and handcuff some thirty years ago, Don Hinz name came up a lot as a Houdini fan, handcuff collector and maker of some escape equipment. I was never able to locate Don Hinz and as I couldnt buy from him, this in turn made me make things myself. So in directly Don got me started.
Cheers Don thanks , may you rest in peace.

If you collect Handcuufs, Houdini or magic, you probably knew him. Here is the the link to the obit:

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/2 ... ymond-Hinz

Rest In Peace Ray

Don Hinz was the first handcuff collector that I met and bought from. I have many memories of him.
Gordon

If you collect Handcuufs, Houdini or magic, you probably knew him. Here is the the link to the obit:

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/2 ... ymond-Hinz

Rest In Peace Ray

Hello,
I, too, along with Gordon, used to deal with Don Hinz every year at the Magic Collectors
Gathering in Chicago. He owned many, many rare and wonderful pieces. He brought huge collections to sell, of magic, magicians, books, photos, scrapbooks, posters, restraints, etc...
I have many fond memories, and had the pleasure to speak to him several times over the last
year of two. We laughed a lot and caught up and where everyone is and what they're doing now.
My thought are with his family. John

He once offered me Hardeen's Spirit bolt for $100. I turned it down.
I was offered a milk can for $100 from Don, again I said no. (big regrets)
I did buy my first Palmer for $800 from him.
He sold me many photos and book related to escape artists and Houdini, most of which
I still have in my collection.

If you collect Handcuufs, Houdini or magic, you probably knew him. Here is the the link to the obit:

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/2 ... ymond-Hinz

Rest In Peace Ray

Don Hinz was very helpful to me in the mid-1970s when I was first began collecting handcuffs & escape artist material.

Those days, it was pretty much Prynce Wheeler & Don Hinz to buy handcuffs & lockpicks from.

I still have all of Don's many hand-written letters to me (single-spaced; double-sided pages) - sharing his knowledge & helpful advice.

One item I bought from him back then - and I've never seen advertised anywhere else - was "A common household item that can open most any swing-through modern ratchet handcuff, almost as quick as a key" (not a shim, lockpick, key, or bobbypin). To this day, I still carry this common item with me everyday.

That was an example of the unusual knowledge & items he sold.

RIP, Don Hinz

If you collect Handcuufs, Houdini or magic, you probably knew him. Here is the the link to the obit:

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/2 ... ymond-Hinz

Rest In Peace Ray

Like many other collectors I had many dealings with Don over the years, living in England Prynce Wheeler was my first contact in the US back in about 1970 followed soon after by Don Hinz. I did buy and trade many items with him including my first set of Bean Giants at a bargain price but they were incomplete (thanks to Ian who machined up new parts for them and got them working). One slight problem with Don was that he used to stamp his name on the handcuffs!!

I believe we became close friends and we wrote about many non handcuff related topics, he told me about one of his sons who wanted a Steam Engine I remember buying a new Mamod Steam engine that had a small parafin heater to heat up the water and sent it to him as a gift, also remember one of his sons started collecting Beer Cans so I sent several large parcels with English Beer cans over - needless to say due to the weight I had to drink their contents!

Think I telephoned him about 5 years ago and managed to get a mint set of Hiatt Flexible nickel plated handcuffs from him at a reasonable price (which had to include a large Collins English Dictionary in the deal). He will always be remember by me and I still have all our correspondence which now need collating for future researchers.

Chris Gower