Description: This is a souvenir piece of wood from Houdini's home Comes with a certificate of authenticity Statement from John Cox regarding the wood from Houdini's home In May 2018, Houdini's house at 278 W. 113th Street in New York City sold for $3.6 million. I reported the news on my blog, Wild About Harry (wildabouthoudini.com), where I had also did several other posts about the house. Not long after the sale, I was contacted by the new homeowners (whose names, by request, I've not shared publicly). They had been following my posts and invited me to come visit them, which I did in the summer of 2018. I spent a lovely day at 278 and homeowners described in detail their plans for the renovation. One of the things that had attracted them to the house what there was still so much that was original, and much would be preserved. We've remained in touch, and almost daily I receive updates on and photos of the restoration in process, which as of this date is still ongoing. One of their projects was to install new plumbing and HVAC. To do this, they needed to strip out some of the original wood lath, which dates back to the constriction of the house in the 1890s. I encouraged them to hold onto all that wood, suggesting they could cut it up into pieces and sell it on eBay. I think this amused them more than anything, but they said they would not throw anything away, and they began amassing a large collection of lath and other discarded wood. From time to time they would send me photos of the growing pile, as well as before and after photos of the walls from which they came. In April 2019, they emailed to tell me they had rented a city dumpster that was now parked outside the house. As much as they appreciated my suggestion to sell pieces on eBay, they did not have time to take on this kind of project (they are professionals), and they would have to discard of the lath while they still had the dumpster. But before they did so, they asked if I could get word out to Houdini fans who might be interested in taking some, or all, of the wood away. They could "name their price." On April 18, I did a blog post headlined "Wood lath from Houdini's 278 for sale". In it, I volunteered to connect interested parties to the homeowners. The first person who responded was Barry Spector. I met Barry at the first open house for 278 in 2017, so I was happy to put him in touch with the homeowners. A few weeks later, Barry came to 278 and took away a large quantity of lath. I know several other people came and took some pieces. The homeowners also mailed individual pieces to those who expressed interest. Finally, a gentleman took away the remaining quantity of lath, which was still considerable. In May 2019, I received as thanks from Barry a magic wand (#1) made from the wood, along with several pieces of the lath in various states of treatment showing how he made the wand. I treasure it! That is the story of the 278 lath and my own magic wand. I affirm the above is true and to the best of my recollections.
Price: 125 USD
Location: Flushing, Michigan
End Time: 2024-11-16T13:21:14.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
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Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Featured Refinements: Vintage Magic Trick
Genre: Magic
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States