Buddha Mystery - Abbott's Magic - Scarce
Availability: Sold out
Collection: All Products, Antiques/Estate, Effects, New, Parlor Magic, What's New
This certainly was a mystery for me which coincides with the product name.
The MOST interesting thing was realizing how scarce this item is. The fact that on the back of the Buddha it reads, Made in the USA., and finally the cost of a previous one that sold at Bill McIIhany's auction. Going through items on a Sunday at I was attempting to write ad copy when it hit me - I couldn't do it justice.
Effect: The Buddha who maintains order and harmony sits on his sacred block meditating during the day. At night he retires to his Majestic Pagoda. Unknown to him are a pack of evil drifters that scheme to take over the village and plunder it's assets and good will. They evil drifters blend into the shadows as night falls waiting for the Buddha to retire into his Pagoda for the night. When the Buddha does they penetrate the block with a solid rod which locks the Buddha inside his Pagoda. The plan is perfect - but by design only. As the evil doers head off to create chaos they look back astounded to see the Buddha has ascended from his pagoda despite their assumed fool proof design to lock him inside.
Yes the video is on the fly and nothing spectator from the production standpoint - but given the choice of not including it on the product page - or not - was a no brainer. I confess I was very surprised at the scarcity of this piece. Looking for other sources to learn more about it proved arduous and the only thing we found was one that sold in Bill McIllhany's estate. One very interesting fact I noticed when taking photos of the apparatus was on the back of the Buddha, it read "Made in the USA!" I couldn't escape the irony today of seeing a figure of Buddha of China, which was made in the USA.
But it certainty helped give me an idea or an educated guess these were made many, many years ago. Yet I was complete surprised as to it's value which MUST be due to the scarcity of the apparatus.
Condition: Cosmetic defects and transparency. There are two of the curled up feet where the top layer of the wood broke off leaving the layer below completely intact but with no paint the contrast was noticeable. One was on the front left side and back rear right. This unit has been painted to cover what would have been a natural colored layer of plywood. This is something that needs to be brought to your attention up front. If has NO affect on the execution of the "effect" and truthfully with the applied painting it's a minimal, none-the-less we have included it as a factor in the pricing.
