$17,000
The Maskelyne Trunk. British, ca. 1900. Hump-backed escape trunk used in the famous magical playlet Will, The Witch and the Watch, at England’s “New Home of Mystery,” St. George’s Hall, and possibly its predecessor, Egyptian Hall. A performer placed in this trunk would escape from it multiple times during the magical melodrama produced for over half a century by the Maskelyne family at its London magic theatres. Possibly a later incarnation of the famous trunk trick, which was performed over 11,000 times by J.N. Maskelyne and other members of his family. The box escape in and of itself helped make Maskelyne’s reputation as a young man, well before he became known as a magician or appeared at Egyptian Hall in the 1870s.
Auctioneer:
Potter & Potter
Date:
2012-10-27
