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On Saturday, the much anticipated sale at auction of the personal property of Cardini took place at Potter & Potter Auctions in Chicago. Cardini was possibly the most influential and exceptional magician ever. His stage name became synonymous with card manipulation which he combined with his original and unique skills to create a brilliant and wonderfully acted parody of slightly tipsy gentleman to whom the magic ‘just happened’. Born Richard Valentine Pitchford in 1895, Cardini was a Welsh magician who conquered Europe and America in an unparalleled career spanning more than 50 years. In 1933 he appeared by Royal Command at The London Palladium before their Royal Highnesses The King and Queen. In 1960, The Magic Circle presented Cardini with a Silver Wand and elected him to Membership of The Inner Magic Circle. In 1970, three years before his death, Cardini had the title ‘Master Magician’ awarded to him by Tony Curtis at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles and in 1999 he was included in Magic Magazine’s Top Magicians of the 20th Century.

Amongst the items sold on Saturday were the props and costumes he used during his performances, never before seen photographs, awards, scrap books and many more morsels of magical memorabilia.

Despite becoming the most copied magic act in history, Cardini ‘The Suave Deceiver’ was without equal. Consummate sleight of hand skills allowed objects to repeatedly appear and disappear from his fingertips with precision timing. Only one film, showing a truncated version of this amazing act exists. It was filmed for NBC’s Festival of Magic in 1957 and over half a century later, still conveys the magic of the man. Enjoy!