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Auction History Result 7t015 SAMRI BALDWIN 82x109 magic poster 1898 art of Mahatma magician surrounded by Death, rare! Date Sold 7/23/2019 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Original Vintage Folded Magic Show Poster (measures 81 1/2" x 108 3/4" [207 x 276 cm]) (Learn More) Samri Baldwin (born Samuel Spencer Baldwin) was an American magician from the 1860s to the 1920s, and was known as "The White Mahatma" or simply "The Mahatma". He became interested in magic while watching the Davenport brothers perform seances, and began to duplicate the tricks of fraudulent mediums such as Anna Eva Fay. Baldwin exposed fraudulent mediums and claimed to have learned the tricks of the fakirs of India. He was one of the first magicians to have practiced a stage escape from handcuffs (he had performed this feat as early as 1871, before Harry Houdini), and he was also the first to take the "question and answer" mentalism act to the stage. He was married to the stage mentalist Kitty who would assist him in his performances (they had one daughter named Shadow). Note that Mohandas Gandhi later in his life took the name "Mahatma" as his first name, but it had been used decades earlier by this magician! Also note that the American magician "The Amazing Randi" has spent decades exposing fraudulent mediums and magicians, but this magician had done the same thing nearly a century earlier! Baldwin passed away in 1924 at the age of 76. If you know who did the art (if any), please let us know. Important Added Info: Note that we had never auctioned this poster until April of 2019. At that time, we were sent an example of this poster, which was in virtually the same condition of this poster. It auctioned for $454. After it was auctioned, our consignor told us that decades ago he had discovered a number of these posters, and that he had sold all but two of them back then. All of them had lots of condition defects, and the one we auctioned (and this one) were the "best" condition examples, which is why he saved them. He sent one to us to auction, and he was satisfied with the result (although he told us that he had sold a linenbacked example of this poster for FAR more many years ago), so now we are auctioning his only other example, and after this example is sold, we will have no more (and almost surely will never have again, unless we are reconsigned one of the examples from this amazing find). Note that this magic poster was printed in 8 sections designed to overlap. Condition: fair. The poster was likely discovered in a warehouse, where it surely sat for many decades (perhaps an entire century!). It survived in pretty good condition, EXCEPT that the elements caused the poster to become at least moldy and mildewy, and possibly it is not safe to handle as it is. Therefore, we will send it to the high bidder of this auction sealed in several plastic bags. Once the new owner receives this poster, we strongly recommend that they have a professional restorer "disinfect" the poster, so that any mildew or other living organisms are completely killed. This is not a complicated process, and once it is done, the poster can be linenbacked and displayed. DO NOT BID ON THIS POSTER UNLESS YOU HAVE CAREFULLY READ THE ABOVE AND WILL FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS. Learn More about condition grades 
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