He was purported to be a portrait of Houdini and appear in place of his own head in his disappearing acts. It was my favourite head of all my collection always on display in my house! The children didn't like him and were frightened of him. My friend from America, Eleanor Hickok (supposedly Wild Bill Hickok's great great granddaughter), and I found this head in a local junk shop. “I am an artist, and during the 70s & 80s, I collected and used heads to use as references for people I know in my paintings. The former owner also wrote a note about the head: The former owner of this head purchased it with the provenance that it was used by Harry Houdini in his disappearing acts, though there is no current evidence to confirm this. His hair is noted as being "wavy", black (as does this head) "now about 5/6 gray", and thinning over the top. Interestingly Houdini, had, according to his doctor "medium blue eyes" with brown flecks around the pupils. The polychrome decoration is most evident still in the lovely blue pigment to the eyes. The shoulder pieces have been replaced later but still have age. There are areas of gnarled loss to the rear with crude but honest repairs as photographed and some later nails here and there to the support. The beautiful polychromed mannequin or prop head primitively carved in the round, now wonderfully worn with age, of a male with the hair now lacking, bearing traces of paint, with a fabric bow tie and shoulders to a cylindrical wood support swaddled in period linen the whole purported to be a portrait of Houdini and to appear in place of his own head in his disappearing acts, and surviving from the zeniths of the nineteenth century.Ĭondition wise the head is in un-meddled with condition and has not been overpainted or restored in any way. Provenance: Ex Harry Houdini (1874 –1926) By Repute
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