[av_heading heading=’Magician Ricky Jay’s collection back for Part II sale at Potter & Potter Oct. 28′ tag=’h1′ style=” subheading_active=” show_icon=” icon=’ue800′ font=’entypo-fontello’ size=” av-desktop-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-desktop-font-size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” icon_size=” av-desktop-font-size-1=” av-medium-font-size-1=” av-small-font-size-1=” av-mini-font-size-1=” color=” custom_font=” subheading_color=” seperator_color=” icon_color=” margin=’,,35px,’ av-desktop-margin=” av-desktop-margin_sync=’true’ av-medium-margin=” av-medium-margin_sync=’true’ av-small-margin=’,,20px,’ av-mini-margin=” av-mini-margin_sync=’true’ headline_padding=” headline_padding_sync=’true’ av-desktop-headline_padding=” av-desktop-headline_padding_sync=’true’ av-medium-headline_padding=” av-medium-headline_padding_sync=’true’ av-small-headline_padding=” av-small-headline_padding_sync=’true’ av-mini-headline_padding=” av-mini-headline_padding_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ av-desktop-padding=” av-medium-padding=” av-small-padding=” av-mini-padding=” icon_padding=’10’ av-desktop-icon_padding=” av-medium-icon_padding=” av-small-icon_padding=” av-mini-icon_padding=” link=” link_target=” title_attr=” id=” custom_class=” template_class=” av_uid=’av-ln902ou8′ sc_version=’1.0′ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]

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CHICAGO – Potter & Potter’s second sale from the collection of the peerless Ricky Jay (1946-2018), magician, author, actor, curator, lecturer and scholar-historian, is scheduled for Saturday, October 28. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers. The first sale, held in February 2023, totaled more than $980,000 and had an almost perfect sell through rate.

In addition to his stage performances and lecture-demonstrations, Jay appeared in the films Tomorrow Never Dies, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Heist, House of Games, and The Prestige, among others. Through his company, Deceptive Practices, he consulted on a range of films that included The Natural, Forrest Gump, The Illusionist, The Escape Artist, and Leap of Faith.

The lineup features 323 lots, with the highest estimate going to an extensive archive of correspondence between the magician Karl Germain (born Charles Mattmueller, 1878-1959) and his assistant and colleague, Paul Fleming. Beginning in 1908 and ending with Germain’s death in 1959, the materials include detailed explanations of several of his illusions, including his one-man Spirit Cabinet, the workings of which were not discussed in the Germain biographies written by Stuart Cramer. The lot carries an estimate of $30,000-$60,000.

Perhaps the only lot in the sale that features an image of the late collector-magician is a circa-2005 spirit photograph, taken by Stephen Berkman, which shows a seated Ricky Jay with the spectral presence of Abraham Lincoln behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder. The silver gelatin photograph, which measures 14 by 11in, is the only known printed example. Its estimate is $1,500-$25,000.

The Bartholomew Fair was one of Jay’s many interests, and he was hardly alone in that. The fair, a London summer institution from 1133 until 1855, when it was banned for causing one too many breaches of the peace, was the subject of a comedic 1614 play by Ben Jonson. On offer is a group of three large quarto scrapbooks full of Bartholomew Fair-related clippings. The lot notes state, ‘The books contain hundreds of mounted holographic notes, letters, and related information culled from contemporary accounts regarding the Fair and the performers, presenters, and even the thieves working at the event … In addition, countless mounted cuttings from the eighteenth and nineteenth century fill the pages, together with approximately 100 engravings, half of which depict freaks, entertainers, and curious characters.’ Its estimate is $8,000-$12,000.

Naturally, Jay’s collection extended to Harry Houdini, and a choice piece, estimated at $5,000-$10,000, appears in the October 28 sale: a large, horizontal 1925 poster proclaiming ‘3 Shows In One. The World Famous Houdini. Master Mystifier.’ It was produced for what turned out to be Houdini’s final tour, which ended after he was punched in the abdomen in his dressing room in Montreal, Canada, an incident that ultimately lead to his death from peritonitis in Detroit, Michigan on October 31, 1926.

Jay was famously interested in extraordinary people, and a fair representative of that interest is a group of clothing and furniture that belonged to Cassie and Victoria Foster, two exceptionally small girls, born seven years apart, who were exhibited as “The Fairy Sisters.” The earliest newspaper notice on the two described them as “perfect in form and feature and look like little dolls.” Their performance careers were short – Victoria succumbed to meningitis in November 1874, when she was not yet four years old, and her older sister Cassie followed 11 months later, dying from a bacterial skin infection. The items in the lot, which is estimated at $3,000-$6,000, provide evidence of their extremely small statures. The largest piece, a couch finished in red fabric, measures 15 by 7 by 11in.

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Circa-2005 spirit photograph of Ricky Jay and Abraham Lincoln, taken by Stephen Berkman, estimated at $1,500-$2,500 at Potter & Potter.
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Archive of correspondence between magician Karl Germain and his assistant and colleague Paul Fleming from 1908 to 1959, estimated at $30,000-$60,000 at Potter & Potter.
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Three large scrapbooks of clippings covering the Bartholomew Fair, estimated at $8,000-$12,000 at Potter & Potter.
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Large, horizontal 1925 Harry Houdini poster, estimated at $5,000-$10,000 at Potter & Potter.
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Tiny furnishings and clothing owned by Cassie and Victoria Foster, aka the Fairy Sisters, estimated at $3,000-$6,000 at Potter & Potter.
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Circa-1908 Germain The Wizard ‘Witch’s Cauldron’ poster, estimated at $4,000-$8,000 at Potter & Potter.

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1910 poster for ‘The Great Albus. In His Original Head Slide,’ estimated at $800-$1,200 at Potter & Potter.
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