“Locks and handcuffs used by famous escapologist Harry Houdini are about to go on display at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery.
They were once owned by Sheffield-born Randolph Douglas, an expert lock picker and magician who performed in the early 1900s as Randini.
Douglas was a friend and adviser to Houdini and helped devise one of his most famous escapes – from a straitjacket while hung upside down.
The locks, manacles and keys were displayed in Douglas’s House of Wonders museum in Castleton before becoming part of Derbyshire County Council’s Buxton Museum and Art Gallery’s permanent collection in the early 1980s. ”
Read more at Derbyshire County Council (thanks, Marie)
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Derren this photo is art yes but gross lol, tell him to put it all away.
Saw this advertised in the local paper. Will have to go and see it at some point.
luv that picture of erich…
sorry couldn’t fit it all in with an explantation, but thanks for figuring it out and posting. This is on over the two days DB is at Buxton, I will visit before the show, hope you guys get a chance to have a look too x
I live nowhere near Buxton, but I bet it’s interesting……
LC x
Just been to the ‘exhibit’ a valentines day out for the boyfriend. There’s nothing to do with Houdini apart from 2 copies of photos. The locks and keys which have been hung on the landing on this museum, are a collection of Douglas’ – there’s no mention of Houdini using any of them, they are merely a collection of keys and locks from around the world. As interesting as this might be, it’s not what’s being sold on the publicity. It was a huge huge disappointment! There’s so much that could have been written about Douglas about the famous escapes he helped Houdini design, but none of this is even mentioned. There’s not even one set of handcuffs, just one set of leg irons. We travelled nearly 2 hours to see this, so I’m somewhat heartbroken.
Msg from Abeo: May be best to mention it to the museum as all the text above was taken directly from their page.
Correction on the above…. There are 3 locks which have small signs saying they are from the harry Houdini exhibition. But still 3 out of 100′s doesn’t make a Houdini exhibition.