That is the time of the yr for ghost sightings, and certain sufficient, {a photograph} purportedly exhibiting a spirit offered for a excessive value at a latest public sale.

Spirit {Photograph} of magician Ricky Jay and a Circassian Spirit taken by Stephen Berkman.

Potter & Potter

A sepia-tone albumen print exhibits a person sitting in an ornate chair, a ebook in his arms, going through a ghostly shrouded determine. Is it a Victorian spirit {photograph}? Proof of the supernatural? No, it’s one of many many nice tips by magician Ricky Jay (1946-2018), whose private assortment of over 10,000 gadgets regarding magic, confidence video games, and leisure historical past offered in a sequence at Potter & Potter Auctions. This {photograph} was a spotlight of the August 17 public sale, the third and closing within the sequence, the place it shattered expectations by promoting for $9,000 in opposition to a excessive presale estimate of $4,000.

Ricky Jay had an extended, celebrated profession as a magician, first acting on tv in 1953 when he was seven. He went on to carry out at venues as diversified as comedy golf equipment and rock live shows, constructing a fame for his ability as a performer and his experience within the historical past of stage magic and associated leisure. A 1993 New Yorker profile referred to as him “maybe probably the most gifted sleight-of-hand artist alive.” He was additionally an actor and, by his agency Misleading Practices, offered sensible results for a lot of movie and stage productions. He wrote eleven books on the historical past of stage magic, lectured at universities and museums, and exhibited materials from his collections.

His collections included many vintage books and ephemera associated to magic, circuses, and different stage leisure, however the {photograph} was rather more latest. The person within the {photograph} is Mr. Jay himself, and the shrouded determine is described as a “Circassian Spirit.” The Circassians are an ethnic group originating within the North Caucasus area of Europe. P.T. Barnum displayed girls he claimed to be “Circassian Beauties” in his exhibits.

The {photograph} was taken (and signed) by Stephen Berkman, who, like Ricky Jay, retains vintage arts alive—or undead, because the case could also be. Mr. Berkman makes a speciality of nineteenth-century photographic strategies, usually involving unusual topics or illusions. Spirit images emerged within the Victorian period, combining new images know-how with fashionable spiritualist beliefs. Early images required the topic to take a seat completely nonetheless. Any motion would end in a ghostly translucent picture.

Digicam know-how has superior because the 1800s, however spirit images nonetheless has enchantment, as images like this one present. If you want to create your individual ghostly illusions, Nationwide Parks at Evening has a information to spirit images with fashionable tools.