>>Perfect gift (self-gift?) for a magician, collectors of vintage theater, showbiz, magic, or Houdini memorabilia. Would look great in a theater lobby, or in an entertainment-industry office. Or maybe a Man Cave that hosts Poker Nights.
SEE PICTURES
I just tried to upload some snapshots here, but the "board attachment quota has been reached," so here is a link to my Craigslist post, containing images:
http://ames.craigslist.org/art/5175348888.html
IT'S BIG AND IMPRESSIVE
This thing is huge and impressive. It's "focal point of the room," "hang it over the mantle" impressive. It's 44" (3 feet, 8 inches) tall, 36" (3 feet) wide, and the framing is 0.75" thick out from the wall. This particular piece is NOT JUST a poster. This is friggin' ART, man. It's ready-to-hang and looks GREAT.
ABOUT THE ACTUAL PRINT
I assume we're all familiar with what the poster looks like and its history. If you're not, though: This is a high-quality reproduction of Harry Houdini's famous 1895 "King of Cards" poster. It's one of Houdini's first - maybe even THE first - professional posters for a theater gig in New York City. This poster was designed by "National Pr. & Eng. Co., Chicago." Print number 1838 (the one that's in the Library of Congress' historical magic posters collection, part of the McManus-Young collection of pictorial material relating to magic, currently residing in The Library Of Congress Prints and Photographs Division in Washington, D.C.). One of the originals recently sold on eBay for $14,000, and another one was sold this year for $15,000.
BEAUTIFULLY MOUNTED, READY TO HANG, WILL LAST FOREVER
Typically, when you get a poster like this, it comes rolled-up in a tube, and you would have to frame it yourself. This, however, is already mounted and ready-to-hang. This is NOT a simple "common poster in a cheap Walmart frame" item. This is hand-mounted (permanently mounted on a solid wood backing - NOT flimsy cardboard or foam-board), with a black stylish minimalistic hand-constructed wooden frame. Glass often shatters (accidents happen), but THIS will not shatter because THIS is *NOT* glass. This thing is clear, thick, permanent clear-coated, with textured gloss. Slight bumps give it a really cool "old-school" effect. There are nearly 20 coats of clear-coat on the poster. As each coat was drying, I dabbed the tacky clear-coat with crumpled plastic bags, creating a very cool texture effect. I spent over a week on this, from carefully mounting the image flat and square with no wrinkles or air bubbles, to feathering in the edges with an off-white paint (giving it an old-school "pasted to the outside of the theater wall" effect), cutting and sanding and constructing the frame by hand, painting, and coat after coat after coat after coat of the clear finish. Because it's so solidly mounted, and there is no glass to break, this thing will last forever. This is one of those items that your grandkids will be passing down to *their* grandkids. Oh, and the wetness of the clear-coat being applied really made the images permanently POP; the contrast of B&W and colors looks GREAT compared to an original reproduction print.
HANG IT IN YOUR HOME, OFFICE... OR USE ONSTAGE
This thing is beautiful enough to hang under a display-light in your classy library (ya know, with the plush chairs and super-polished solid-oak bookcases), but it's built solidly enough that you could tour with it and display it onstage as a set-piece while you do an awesome Houdini-related bit. Heck, it looks legit enough that you could call it a "haunted" artifact. And do something spooky. Like a haunted self-cutting deck with a close-up camera and an IMAG "jumbo-tron" projector system. Just a thought. Damn, that's actually a good idea. Maybe perform it to "The X-Files Theme" song or something... Hmmm.... Well, it's too late for me. I'm already selling it. Take that idea and run.
WHY I'M SELLING IT
I love this piece, and I'm damn proud of the work I did on this project. Awhile back, I turned down an offer of $450 for this, but that was before my new baby daughter.
Those little creatures are expensive, man. lolASKING PRICE
I'm asking $285. At first glance, that may SEEM expensive, BUT... considering the size, all of the construction materials and a LOT of coating and finishing, PLUS the week of time that was put into it, this is actually a steal. And it's in line with any other large piece of art (ask about framing something this large at your local frame shop or Hobby Lobby, and you'll see what I mean; I got quotes to have the print simply FRAMED when I first got it, and the complete framing job ran about $300 alone). Honestly, at this price, you could likely turn around and sell it for a profit. That said, I *am* willing to consider a reasonable offer. I'm a pretty chill guy. Easy to work with. But I mean *reasonable*. Don't waste your time by offering fifty bucks, because that's not gonna happen, lol.
TO SHIP, OR NOT TO SHIP
If you're in the Midwest, you are of course welcome to swing by and pick it up personally (I'm just a bit north of Des Moines IA), otherwise we'll have to discuss shipping options. With the size of this thing, I assume shipping is not gonna be cheap. And I seriously doubt that an overseas shipment would be worth the expense for you... unless you just, like, NEED this thing. (I'm a terrible estimator when it comes to weight, and don't have a scale in my house to estimate the shipping online... but if you're seriously inquiring, I can knock on the door of a neighbor and see if they have a scale I can use for a moment... See? I'm even willing to meet new people for you.)
GET AHOLD OF ME AND LET'S CHAT
My name is Nathan Allen. My contact info is below. Say hello, and we'll go from there.
Talk soon!
-Nathan Allen (Ames, Iowa, USA)
http://www.ManiacOfMagic.com
nathan@maniacofmagic.com
515-520-5004 (cell; call or text)