$2,600
31. Card Ladder. New Haven, Petrie & Lewis, ca. 1924. Three cards are selected from the pack, which is placed in a nickeled Houlette at the top of the ladder. The cards then cascade down the ladder, filling a bowl at its base. But three cards – the selections – remain on the rungs of the ladder. Each at a different position. 54” high. With a quantity of prepared cards, and instructions. General wear evident and one peg in platform in need of resoldering; good condition. The first of fewer than 12 units manufactured by P&L. Considered by many collectors as the crown jewel of the P&L product line, the Card Ladder was credited to John A. Chapman in P&L advertising. This model was, according to the documents that accompany it, the first unit manufactured by P&L for Chapman. It was later was acquired by the noted American collector John Henry Grossman, M.D. The device is, as advertising claimed, “purely mechanical. No string pulling of any kind or assistance is required, and it is not necessary for the performer to be on the stage while it is in operation.” “The Ladder is a very beautiful piece of apparatus….”
Auctioneer:
Potter & Potter
Date:
2013-10-26
