The Turk - The Eighteenth Century Chess-Playing Machine...

Invented in 1769 by a 35 year-old Austrian civil servant, Wolfgang von Kemplen, to the then Empress of Austria, Maria Theresa, upon being unimpressed during a conjuring performance by an arrogant Frenchman. Although destroyed by a fire in 1854, The Turk lives on in this non-working limited edition minature by Artomic.

Robert-Houdin - (1805-1871)

Born In Blois, France, Robert Houdin was a clock maker, automatist, and magician. He is known today as the father of modern magic because of his numerous innovations in the craft. The famous American Magician Houdini, named himself after Robert Houdin. Ironically, Houdini in later years he unfairly discredited Houdin for profit in his book The Unmasking of Robert Houdin.

Houdin revolutionized magic and was actually sent by the French government to Algeria to preserve peace through his use of magic. He had the first electronically controlled house in France filled with all kinds of gimmicks. The clock system allowed him to have the power to control time in his own environment. Meals were served earlier or later based on his movement of the hands of the master clock that governed the other clocks in the house. Houdin levitated his son "with the aid of ether" and used automatons in his act, the most famous of which was Antonio Diavolo.

Antonio Diavolo is an acrobat doll, which performes impossible feats on the trapeze, including dangling by his feat and then leaping into the arms of his master as the grand finale.

Material: Urethane/Bronze Impregnated Urethane

DevilBum