Rare and original, ca1920's "Carter The Great" Chromolithograph Magic Poster / Advertising Sign / Window Card featuring a fantastic image of the famous American Stage Magician Charles Joseph Carter playing cards with the Devil himself!!

This stunningly beautiful Magic Show Advertising Sign measures approx. 14" by 20 1/2" and is printed on a light to medium weight, card stock. It carries the mark of the lithographer - the Otis Litho Company of Cleveland, Ohio. While the Sign is not dated, materials and design, as well as the statements of numerous catalogers, lead us to date the Sign to the 1920's.

The Sign features a simply wonderful image of Carter the Great wearing his trademark swami turban and holding a poker hand with four aces. The Magician sits across the poker table from the Devil himself who holds a hand with four kings. On the table between there are poker chips and a deck of cards. Text at the top of the Sign reads "Carter the Great" and text at the bottom reads "Carter Beats the Devil".

Charles Joseph Carter (June 14, 1874 – February 13, 1936) was an American stage magician, also known as Carter the Great. He was born on June 14, 1874 in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Carter began his career as a journalist and lawyer. As time passed, he grew an interest in magic. Due to stiff competition from the number of magic acts on the American stages at the time, Carter opted to pursue his career abroad, where he achieved his greatest fame. Among the highlights of Carter's stage performances during his career were the classic "sawing a woman in half" illusion (an elaborate surgical-themed version with "nurses" in attendance), making a live elephant disappear and "cheating the gallows", where a shrouded Carter would vanish, just as he dropped at the end of a hangman's noose. Carter's first theatrical experience occurred at the Herzog's museum and Pat Harris' Masonic Temple in Baltimore at the age of 10, where he appeared as "Master Charles Carter the Original Boy Magician". Carter purchased the famous Martinka Magic Palace in 1917, a time when he was unable to continue his world touring magic show. The story goes that he kept his lion, Monty in the back room of the shop and when it would roar, the startled customers would run for the door. The Palace was purchased from Carter by Harry Houdini in 1919. Carter died on February 13, 1936 at age 61 while in India.

This rare and stunningly beautiful, Magic Poster / Advertising Sign is in very good condition - the colors are bright and vibrant and the card stock clean. There is, unfortunately, a horizontal crease approx. 5" up from the bottom edge of the Poster as can be seen in the scans below. There is also a short (1/2") tear at the left hand edge near the top affecting the margin area only and a bit of light soiling in the margin at the lower right which may actually be an artifact of the lithographic process.

We sold this Poster a few weeks ago - it was in near mint condition - Unfortunately UPS somehow managed to put the horizontal crease into the sheet during transit even though the item was exceptionally well packed. We offer it here with the horizontal crease as seen in the scans below.

Please note this is an original, ca1920's Carter the Great Magic Poster / Advertising Sign - it was printed and distributed in the early 20th century - it is not a copy, reprint, reissue or reproduction - it is an original ca1920's Window Card / Poster!!

A very rare and very beautiful, ca1920's "Carter The Great" Chromolithograph Magic Poster / Advertising Sign / Window Card known to collectors as "Carter Beats the Devil" and a fantastic addition to any collection!!!

Overseasshippping is extra and cost will be quoted at buyers request. Massachusetts residents must add 6.25% sales tax.

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Important Notes about Shipping Charges:

The amount quoted for Shipping & Handling is calculated by and is equal to the EXACT amount charged by the Post Office plus a $1.00 "packing fee" - the $1.00 fee is our only compensation for the virgin packing materials we use on all of our professionally packaged boxes as well as our cost for the salaried help that does most of our packing - as I am sure you can see, we make NO profit on the Shipping charges and, in fact, our costs are usually greater than the $1.00 fee. Please contact us if there are any issues regarding the cost of shipping.

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