A Very Old Antique German MAGIC LANTERN Laterna Magika with 16 Glass Slides and the Original Box, from the 1800s

We are always amazed when we find something like this early kerosene or alcohol fueled (we are not sure which), glass slide projector that is so old and yet is in such good general condition. We bought this outfit recently just south of Deadwood, the frontier hell-hole and Gold Rush capital of the Black Hills, where some lucky person must have used it well over 100 years ago. We bought it from a woman who goes to every garage sale in the county, and we bought it because it was so complete and in working order.

The general name for these glass slide projectors is Laterna Magica, Magic Lantern, Laterne Magique, etc. This one was made in Germany and exported to America over a century ago. Exactly how old it is we don’t know, but we are pretty sure it was made and sold in the period between the US Civil War (1865) and the Spanish-American War (1899) which is also consistent with the discovery of gold in nearby Deadwood Gulch and the subsequent enormous Gold Rush of 1876. Any sort of amusements sold well in the gold fields and cost meant little to the gold prospectors and miners.

The original box it comes in measures 3-¼ x 7 x 9-½ inches. Inside, there is room for the machine itself, the light reflector, the kerosene or alcohol lamp and 12 of the very colorful glass slides.

The 16 slides feature beautifully made color pictures of animals and kids, European landscape scenes, people in costumes, ships at sea, snow scenes, circus acts, people holding drinks, animated frogs, clowns, mountain people and other odd people, all in very good viewable condition. Twelve 1-½ x 5-⅛ inch original glass strip slides come with the machine and there are four 1-⅛ x 4-¼ inch glass strip slides which appear to be extras but we got them with the outfit, so they go with it.

The Magic Lantern is an apparatus made almost entirely of stamped, plated and / or black japanned magnetic sheet metal measuring about 3 x 6 x 6 inches without the 2-piece nickel plated focussing part shown in place in our photos. The glass chimney on top is there apparently for the smoke to come out when the kerosene or alcohol lamp light source is lit. The top edge of the clear glass chimney is chipped but the rest of it is in good condition.

At the front is the metal slide holder and the two-piece nickel plated adjustable (focusable) lens. The two nickel plated tubes fit together, the smaller one slides inside the one that goes on the front of the Magic Lantern.

Other than the fact that a very small amount of the black paint is missing, the slide projector is in remarkably good condition. This outfit has never before been in the hands of a collector, or an antique or toy dealer, and we have tried to photograph it from many angles in the hope of showing the actual very good condition of this machine to potential bidders. No part of it has been bent or broken and then repaired and/or repainted.

We know exactly how this apparatus works but we are certainly not going to put fuel in it and play with it. It appears to be complete and it is in very good carefully used condition and it should work just fine, though its value probably is as an historical example of what it is rather than for using it to project pictures. Each piece will be carefully wrapped in plastic and packaged for shipment with the original box.

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CONDITION: exactly as shown.

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