Maskelyne Trunk......

[mehtas]

I have always been intrested in knowing more about the history of Maskelyne Trunk. I just googled it and saw it sold at an auction not so long ago.

Where can I get more info on this ??

I am intrested in the Maskelyne Trunk ONLY. not the later used by other magicians.

Are there early images/pictures of the Maskelyne Trunk ??

[Marco Pusterla]

Which Maskelyne?

Maskelyne used many trunks in his career, and so did his children. There are a few "Original Maskelyne" trunks floating around. The trunk was also copied and sold by a few magic dealers, or built by individuals, which doesn't help to identify an "original" trunk.

The early trunk, used by Maskelyne and Cooke in their spoof demonstration of the Davenport brothers is different from the one used in the playlet "Will, the Witch and the Watchman", which went through many incarnations.

[mehtas]

Thanks for the info marco.

I ment the one used by J. N. Maskelyne.

Where can I find the details in print ??

Are there any early images/pics of any of the one used by J. N. Maskelyne ?? In an old mag, newspaper or otherwise.

The one sold at Potter & Potter, which one was that ??

[Marco Pusterla]

Details (or guesses) about J. N. Maskelyne's trunk and methods can be found in Goldston's books and in Sam Sharpe's "The Magic Playlet" which I believe is the most exhaustive discussion on the subject. I'm not sure there are photos of the original trunk: you should probably check with Davenports.

When Davenports acquired the Maskelyne business in 1935, they acquired what apparatus was left and this included the trunk sold by Potter & Potter a few months back. It is not clear whether the trunk was used by J. N. or by his children/grandchildren or if it was the only one (no, it wasn't...). In the UK, I'm aware of at least other three "Maskelyne trunks" in private collections and a few other trunks that were not used by Maskelyne but advertised as such (one of them is in The Magic Circle's museum).

Good luck on your research!

[mehtas]

Thanks Marco.

I've just sent you a message.

[Marco Pusterla]

I've replied - but I don't know if you get notifications from Genii...