Rather, he was the “embodiment of what a magician should be. Malini, Jay wrote, was rarely featured on music hall or theater stages. Jay was so enamored of Malini that he devoted an entire chapter of his book, “Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women,” to the man he described as the “last of the mountebanks.” Dating to around 1916, it’s one of only two known copies and estimated to fetch $15,000 to $20,000. A poster advertises Malini’s appearance at King’s Theatre in New York with a rounded portrait, medals on one lapel and touting performances before six heads of state. Closer to Jay’s heart was the magician Max Malini of the early 20th century. Harry Houdini is ever present, an obligation of sorts to any collector like Jay. “The challenge was to find an institution that was interested not only in magic but also in circus, not only in books but also in posters and apparatus, and all of the elements of popular entertainment.”ĭivided into 634 lots, Sotheby’s estimates the collection at $2.2 million to $3.2 million, hoping for bidders from those inside Jay’s world, magic admirers from afar and art enthusiasts on the hunt to decorate their walls. “It’s really a collection of collections,” Kiffer said ahead of the two-day live auction starting Wednesday. Selby Kiffer, Sotheby’s international senior specialist for books and manuscripts, was one of two experts from the auction house to visit Verges at home in California and select what they wanted for the Ricky Jay Collection. Now, nearly 2,000 of more than 10,000 pieces that stuffed his Beverly Hill’s house will make their way into the hands of those who care to bid during an unusual upcoming Sotheby’s auction after Jay’s widow, the Emmy-winning producer Chrisann Verges, turned them over.
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