1925 MAJA GODDESS OF MAGIC A.R. TOKEN - August Roterberg - Chicago - Nice

Description

August Roterberg
(1867–1928) was born in
Hamburg
, Germany and
emigrated
to the United States around 1883 as a teenager. He started out selling magic by mail order, and then opened a magic store in Chicago. It was housed in the lobby of the "old"
Palmer House Hotel
.
[1]
Roterberg really started the modern age of magic
publishing
. His books were the first in English, written expressly for
magicians
. Roterberg's books were published by a magic dealer specifically for sale in magical depots, rather than for wide distribution to the general public.
[2]
He ended up selling his mail order business in 1908 to Ralph W. Read and his shop to Arthur & Carl Felsman in 1916.
Roterberg is best known as a magic inventor and is credited with inventing the "Multiplying Billiard Balls" trick.
[3]
He retired around 1917 and moved to California, where he lived until his death.
The lettering reads "
MAJA
Goddess
of
magic
MAJA
" with the initials A P F" on the bottom. Arthur Felsman was a magician, author, manufacturer and
magic
dealer who was born in 1888 and died in 1964.
GODDESS
OF
MAGIC
.
MAJA
A.R."; obverse has same image and text. The coin was produced for magician August Roterberg of Chicago in the 1920's. Encased in a cardboard coin cover.