Apr 17, 2014 - Sale 2345

Sale 2345 - Lot 33

Price Realized: $ 3,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(SPIRITUALISM)
Group of 8 photographs of séances in which all sorts of spirits and ectoplasm make an appearance; includes a picture of automatic writing. Silver prints, vaious sizes from 1x7 1/2 to 2x3 1/4 to 3x3 1/2 inches (2.5x191 to 5.1x8.3 to 7.6x8.9 cm.). 1930s

Additional Details

Many of these photographs are credited to Craig and George Falconer, who conducted séances in which spectators were not only invited to watch a medium at work, but also the photographic process (loading film, shooting pictures, processing prints) and recording the visitation of a spirit. The brothers were arrested and convicted, in 1931, when two plainclothes policemen, who were posing as sitters, charged that "extras" (spirits) were actually photomechanical images and the cloudy ectoplasm was manipulated.and others.