Opening: $250 Hammer Price: $250 SOLD Skylight Gallery 41 June 2016

CDV-format albumen print circa 1870, showing the Dutch-German magician Ernst Basch performing a magic trick involving a white bird and cages, by Carl Westendorp, Cologne. Mount printed front "Carl Westendorp, Coeln" and on reverse "Photographie / Carl Westendorp / Coeln / Comödien Strasse No. 7." Inscribed on reverse in French "Escamoteur Basch Hanover" ("Prestidigitator Basch Hanover").   ( Inventory# id983 )

Ernst Basch was an active performer in the period 1860-1887, a manufacturer of magic props, and also the inventor of several new illusions. In this unique image Basch appears to demonstrate a trick in which a bird is shifted between a suspended bird cage and a glass box on the magician's table.

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CDV

Occupations

Magic & Mystery