Hi fellow collectors. I want to build a restraint display board patterned after one of HHs vaudeville displays. It doesn't need to be an exact replica but I would like it to be similar enough to look authentic and it does need to be road worthy for public display. If anyone has ideas or tips on materials, how to secure the cuffs, where to get the letters, design and construction please pass them along.
Here is the type of display:
Thanks Jack!
Here is a similar board which sold for $33,880 at a Briggs auction. Not quite sure of the year but it featured the Pat Croce collection.
I am not familiar with Pat Croce but will assume that his collection did not feature any actual Houdini items.
I am fixated on the Tower Bar which appears on both boards. This bar has the neck chain, Leg irons and Handcuffs. Did Towers make these items?
The red board (in above 1st picture)is using conduit or cable clamps to attach the cuffs to the board. I think it is ugly and detracts from the appearance of the display. The above board uses piano wire or similar and makes for a much better presentation.
The Stotz Leg Iron shown below while it appeared at the Houdini Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls. (I own it now, courtesy of Butterfield auctions) It also used wire to mount it to the board.
This board from the Earl Lockman auction uses various hardware to mount the cuffs. It uses the staple portion from a hasp set on some of the cuffs, a giant threaded staple for some of the others and screw eyes for the remainder. (I was fortunate enough to win the Flexible Hiatts at the top left in that auction too)
The piano wire method gets my vote as it very tight and clean. As an alternative, you could experiment with a wire clothes hanger. It is slightly harder to bend, take more effort to drill all the holes, but it looks better and is less expensive than purchasing ugly hardware.
mark
O--O
