CHICAGO – Potter & Potter Auctions’ October 31 magic event, timed to coincide with Halloween and the anniversary of the death of escape artist and magician Harry Houdini, realized a healthy $1.2 million total. But no one anticipated the excitement – or record-busting results – one phenomenal item would generate. That was lot #68, Harry Houdini’s automatic flowering rosebush. Estimated at $25,000-$50,000, it achieved $324,000, nearly 13 times its estimate. This object now holds the world record for the most-expensive piece of magic memorabilia sold at public auction.

Presale, Potter’s experts agreed that this example of the magic apparatus was among the most elaborate and intricate mechanisms they had encountered. Clearly, the auction world agreed.

The device was made for Houdini in New York by R.S. Schlosser (and possibly other craftsmen) around 1924. In performance, Houdini placed a small earthenware pot on an elaborate metal table. Next, he planted a small red flower in the pot, and covered everything with a gauzy cloth. On Houdini’s command, the flower grew, slowly and visibly, eventually developing into a full-size rose bush. To conclude, Houdini removed the plant in its pot from the tabletop and presented it to the audience. This trick was one of several flashy effects used to open Houdini’s final American tour.

Houdini’s automatic flowering rosebush was one of the crown jewels from the Ken Klosterman (1933-2020) collection. Klosterman, the former chairman and CEO of the Klosterman Baking Company, had one of the finest private collections of magic memorabilia in the world. It consisted of thousands of vintage magic props, posters and books – many of them one-of-a-kind pieces of historical significance – which were on display in the private museum built at the bottom of a mineshaft under his suburban Cincinnati home.

Potter & Potter Auctions President Gabe Fajuri said: “To call the moment in the saleroom electric is to sell it short. From the first bid, at $13,000, to the very end, at $324,000 – a number I still have a hard time grasping – the ride was a steady upward clip. For the last 20 bids or so, it was down to two competitors, and they battled it out fiercely. This sale breaks all records – not even the sale of Houdini’s water torture cell comes close.”

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