Aunt Vouivre's Sterling Silver Green Onyx Man That Knows Brooch Set, circa 1930

Description

~ Voodoo Priestess Estate ~
©
Aunt
Vouivre's Taxco Sterling
Silver and Green Onyx "The Man That Knows" Thought Control Broach Set
circa 1930
A Séance Spirit Reading Room Find
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It has now been well over nineteen and a half years ago since we were called to do an estate that had been closed up for seventeen years!
The
Voodoo Estate!
This type of call usually gets us excited as they are a treasure trove.
Located here in Florida, there was no electricity or running water so we rigged our own lighting and in we went.
If you have ever seen the Adams Family you will have some idea as to what we were greeted with!
Then the attorney handling the liquidation gave us some background.
The estate had belonged to an alleged powerful Voodoo Priestess/JooJoo Exorcist, grand daughter of a Marie Laveau, and favored daughter of a Marie Glapion.
These names meant nothing to us, but the late night talk of Voodoo and exorcism in the old mansion was enough to make us decide to spend the night in a hotel and return in the morning to assess the estate.
The rest is history.
Our research has shown that this woman was what she claimed
and
was indeed descended from a long line of well known Vodoun family originating in New Orleans in the early 1800's.
We were pretty unnerved by this until we discovered they were also devout Catholics!
Although I have to admit this was unlike any Catholic home we have ever been in
and
some of the items found inside were a little more than unnerving.
There was no feeling of dread or unwelcome in the mansion, however there was quite a bit of contraband
and
other items we can or will not sell here.
This is one of a few pieces from this estate we will be listing this week, so check our other listings.
We will, upon the new guardian's request, issue a named Letter of Authenticity with each piece from this estate, complying with the terms set forth to us by the estate's attorney.
Some Back Story
This is one of two similar brooch sets found prominently displayed on a portable shrine dedicated to Claude Alexander Conlin in her main séance and reading room.  These rooms were a commercial endeavor that had a wealthy following and it is where many of the major séances of this estate were conducted.  Many, if not all of her associates worked this room, conducting
séances, card readings and numerous forms of divination for their clientele.  Apparently this was a lucrative endeavor, as it remained active for over six decades.
Her journals list a host of well known psychics, mediums and other celebrities, Conlin among them, that would make guest appearances and that these events were booked to capacity well in advance.
The also tell us these brooch sets were made in her Aunt Vouivre's school of magic in
Taxco de Alarcon and brought to the estate by Conlin in 1930.
Aunt Vouivre
Aunt Vouivre was a blood relation that had been, "taken into the fold as a young initiate", by her mother, Marie Glapion.
Chronological investigation revealed her to be, "of Romanian and French descent, who had been secreted out of the country to the United States to avoid police questioning in the murder by poison of an elderly man in 1878.  Revenge for sexual assault being her motive."
Their mother's apparently did have a marital connection that made Aunt Vouivre a third great aunt.
Her journals indicate they were three years apart in age, Aunt Vouivre being the elder.
They also show a forty year history as a part time live-in, full time practitioner follower whose specialty was toxins.
Allegedly she had the ability to communicate with reptiles, often seeking out specific species for their fluids for use in her poisons.
Her journals note of Aunt Vouivre's murder in France, February of 1936.
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She also notes of wearing Aunt Vouivre's jewelry in her reptile and potion making ceremonies, and we quote this entry from her journals, "these soothing energies allow one to connect with the serpent world on it's psychic level, giving them the peace needed to harvest their oral and anal fluids.  It will warm with a dull green shine when death approaches."
Real or imagined, we understand why she was as feared and respected as she was.
~~~~
"
The Man That Knows
"
Her journals tell us the Conlin brothers were long time friends to those associated with this estate and especially Aunt Vouivre with whom he was wed, one of his many wives.  Both brothers are said to have performed in the reading rooms but C.A.'s involvement with this estate was more complicated as it involved him with love, Sex Magic, revenge violence and criminal activity.
Alexander (magician)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, for the most part...
Claude Alexander Conlin (June 30, 1880 – August 5, 1954), also known as Alexander, C. Alexander, Alexander the Crystal Seer, and Alexander the Man Who Knows, was an American spiritual author, vaudeville magician who specialized in mentalism and psychic reading acts, dressed in Oriental style robes and a feathered turban, and often used a crystal ball as a prop.
In addition to performing, he also worked privately for clients, giving readings.
He was the author of several pitch books, New Thought pamphlets, and psychology books, as well as texts for stage performers.
His stage name was "Alexander," and as an author he wrote under the name "C. Alexander."
Life and Stage Career
Alexander was born on June 30, 1880 in Alexandria, South Dakota, the son of Berthold Michael James Conlin and Martha Michaels.
Within the family Claude Alexander was known as "C. A." and his brother Clarence Berthold Conlin was known as "C. B."
Clarence B. had a successful career as an attorney and he also worked as a stage mentalist, although his fame never equaled that of Claude Alexander.
Between 1915 and 1924, Conlin, under the stage name "Alexander, The Man Who Knows," was a popular and highly paid stage mentalist.
Alexander promoted his psychic act as a form of mental telepathy or mind reading.
Audience members gave him sealed questions, which he answered from the stage.
His techniques were not revealed during his lifetime.
He is credited as the inventor and/or popular developer of a number of electrical stage effects which were the forerunners of modern electronic stage effects.
All of Alexander's biographers, Darryl Beckmann, David Charvet, and Alexander's biographer of the 1940s, Robert A. Nelson, have said that Alexander was the highest-paid mentalist in the world at the height of his career, during the 1920s.
Both sources state that he earned multiple millions of dollars during his career on stage and that during his lifetime he may have been the highest paid entertainer in the field of magic.
Alexander retired from the stage in 1927, at the age of 47.
He remained part of the social circles of entertainment personalities in Southern California, counting among his friends stars like Marion Davies, Margaret Sullavan, Jackie Coogan, Harold Lloyd, and Clara Bow.
Death
He died on August 5, 1954 at the age of 74 due to complications from an operation for stomach ulcers.
He was survived by two sons and a daughter. He was buried in Seattle, Washington.
Alexander's career and personal life have long been shrouded in mystery, but due to interviews with his son and the scrap books of the Nartel twins much information was related to Darryl Beckmann.
Also Lon Mandrake had Materials on Alexanders life.
In the late 20th century, Clarence's granddaughter Cathy Stevenson inherited scrap book material on the careers of both her grandfather "C. B." and great-uncle "C. A." which allowed Chavet to take a closer look at the life of Alexander the Crystal Seer and his family.
New Thought and Spiritualism Beliefs
"Alexander, crystal seer sees your life from the cradle to the grave"
With respect to the question of psychic phenomena, magic, spiritualism, and the occult, Alexander led a sort of double life, especially after he retired from the stage.
On the one hand, in 1921 he wrote and published The Life And Mysteries Of The Celebrated Dr. Q (also known as The Dr. Q. Book), which was later re-published by Nelson Enterprises of Columbus, Ohio for the stage magic trade.
In this book, Alexander exposed the techniques used by fraudulent spiritualist mediums to dupe their clients, provided blueprints for the manufacture of psychic act stage props, and even revealed the famous "Zancig Code" pioneered by the mentalists Julius and Agnes Zancig.
On the other hand, like the Zancigs, he never completely discounted the possibility that Spiritualism might contain elements of truth, and from 1919 onward he also operated a publishing house, the C. Alexander Publishing Company in Los Angeles, California, which released his own astrological, pro-Spiritualist, and New Thought material, including a 5-volume series called The Inner Secrets of Psychology and a booklet for his students titled Personal Lessons, Codes, and Instructions for Members of the Crystal Silence League.
The latter is a manual that explains the technique of affirmative prayer, and presents methods for the development of Spiritualistic mediumship, and divination through crystal ball scrying.
The back cover displays Alexander's connection to the New Thought movement, for it lists an extensive array of titles that Alexander offered for sale at his book shop, including works written and published by the New Thought author William Walker Atkinson under his own name and also under the pseudonyms Theron Q. Dumont, Yogi Ramacharaka, and Swami Panchadasi; as well as a book by Atkinson's sometime co-author, the occultist L. W. de Laurence.
Controversy
The biographer David Charvet, who interviewed surviving members of Alexander's family, wrote that Alexander had "seven marriages (sometimes to more than one woman at once)."
The biographer Darryl Beckmann wrote that Alexander was "married eleven times."
In a later interview with Charvet in 2006, Conlin's then-89-year-old son, John, claimed that Alexander was actually married 14 times.
Charvet recounts in his biography that Alexander spent time in local jails (including a jail break in Oklahoma in 1906) and federal prison in Washington state, went on trial for attempting to extort ,000 from oilman millionaire G. Allan Hancock, made a failed attempt to outrun the authorities in a high-powered speedboat loaded with bootlegged liquor in the Queen Charlotte Strait between Canada and the U.S., and admitted killing four men.
Alexander himself claimed that he was involved in the shooting of Alaska gold rush con-man, Jefferson "Soapy" Smith, although no evidence exists nor is he mentioned in the context of Smith's death in the thorough historical biography on Smith's life and death.
According to Beckmann, Alexander was a "con-man" as well as a stage performer.
A newspaper account in which it was stated that Alexander shot and killed a street mugger who attacked him, and was let off on the grounds of self-defense, was cited by Charvet.
Legacy
Alexander invested a great deal of money into the production and printing of beautiful chromolithograph posters for his stage show.
When he retired from the stage, he kept these in storage and eventually sold the unused posters and all of his stage equipment and props to a magic dealer, Robert Nelson, in Ohio
in 1944. Nelson in turn sold portions of the stage show and many of the posters to another magician, Leon Mandrake, who toured in the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s under Alexander's name in order to make use of the large supply of full-color posters.
Thus, those who saw a show by "Alexander" in the 1950s actually were witnessing a recreation performance by Mandrake.
Alexander was mentioned by name in a 1950s episode of the NBC television production Playhouse 90 called "The Great Sebastians," starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne as a pair of stage magicians who resembled his old friends The Zancigs.
Bibliography
"Alexander - The Man Who Knows," (Revised, second edition) David Charvet. Mike Caveney's Magic Words, Pasadena, CA. 2007.
"Alexander The Man Who Knows," A Personal Scrapbook, Rolling Bay Press, Rollingbay WA 1994.
Alexander Wednesday, May 15 at 5 p.m.: The Man Who Knows, C. Alexander Publishing Co., Los Angeles, California, n.d. (c. 1913-1920).
Personal Lessons, Codes, and Instructions for Members of the Crystal Silence League, C. Alexander Publishing Co., Los Angeles, California, n.d. (c. 1913). Reprinted by Missionary Independent Spiritual Church, 2011.
Crystal Gazing: Lessons and Instructions in Silent Influence With the Crystal, Written Especially for and Dedicated to Members of The Crystal Silence League, C. Alexander Publishing Co., Los Angeles, California. (c. 1919). Reprinted by Missionary Independent Spiritual Church, 2012.
Alexander's Book of Extensive Astrological Readings, C. Alexander Publishing Co., Los Angeles, California, 1919.
Alexander's Book of Mystery, C. Alexander Publishing Co., Los Angeles, California, 1919.
The Life And Mysteries Of The Celebrated Dr. Q, C. Alexander Publishing Co., Los Angeles, California, 1921 [also known as The Dr. Q. Book]. (Reprinted by Robert Nelson Enterprises, Columbus, Ohio, c. 1948).
Alexander's Book of Mystery: Astrological Forecasts, Crystal Gazing, Practical and Advanced Psychology, Etc., C. Alexander Publishing Co. 1923.
The Projective Branch of Crystal Gazing, Written Especially for and Dedicated to Members of The Crystal Silence League, C. Alexander Publishing Co., Los Angeles, California. n.d. (c. 1923).
The Inner Secrets of Psychology Volumes 1 - 5, C. Alexander Publishing Co., Los Angeles, California,1924.
Secrets of the Crystal Silence League: Crystal Ball Gazing, The Master Key to Silent Influence, Missionary Independent Spiritual Church, 2019. ISBN 978-0-9960523-5-1 (An edited posthumous collection consisting of Personal Lessons, Codes, and Instructions and Crystal Gazing: Lessons and Instructions in Silent Influence compiled into one volume.)
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It is obvious that much, but not all of their journal entries concerning Claude Alexander Conlin had been destroyed.  In our humble opinion, this was done because of their criminal activity.
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But Back to this Brooch
Set
Her journals detail Aunt Vouivre's buying and renovating a fair sized estate in
Taxco de Alarcon, Mexico in 1929, which she kept as a part time residence up until the time of her death, then bequeathed to her niece.
From this villa, they conducted what amounted to be a school for the occult along with a group of fledgling silversmiths
which
appears to have been in full production according to the journal entries of 1931.
This brooch set is one of two that were a design collaboration of Aunt Vouivre and Claude Alexander Conlin that were made by her silversmiths of
Taxco de Alarcon
with the intent of being used in his acts.
Their records indicate their jewelry production venture met with a good degree of success with 120 of their rings shown as being sold during the first months of production.
They also provided jewelry to their clients who frequented the "reading rooms" of this estate.
Her journals and inventory tell us these brooch sets were made by an unnamed apprentices in her aunt's shop. who later went to work for William Spratling after Aunt Vouivre's demise, and the subsequent closing of the villa.
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The Set
It is a well made, sterling silver and green onyx set of turbaned "Know it All's" as they are referred to a number of times in her journal entries.
The silver and green onyx were locally sourced according to her journal entries.  More often than not, their metal of choice was silver as she notes, "Silver is the mirror of the soul related to the moon energies.  It strengthens connections of the astral and physical bodies.  A metal unmatched in its psychic energies and healing abilities, I have used it as a spell medium, to heal the speech impaired and to help public speakers achieve eloquence.  Induced into the drink, it has expelled the toxins that caused headaches, arthritis, intestinal and blood disorders.  More importantly it attracts, enhances and stores energies of gemstones, driving out negative energies the stone may have absorbed."
She goes on to tell us, these, like many of her green onyx pieces were worn when doing "astrological work" and she notes of these stones, "Their subtle energies focus ability and comprehension to analyze the stars and planets."
The larger pin measures approximately 2 1/8" x 1 5/8" x 3/8" and weighs 16.2 grams.
It is set with a green onyx, 1 1/8" x 3/4" cabochon mask and a 1/4" round dome cabochon of fine grind, cut and color.
The smaller pin measures approximately 1 5/8" x 1 1/16" x 3/8" and weighs 9.1 grams.
It is set with a green onyx, 15/16" x 9/16" cabochon mask and a 3/16" round dome cabochon of fine grind, cut and color.
Each is marked, STERLING MEXICO with no maker's or assay marks, which indicates to us they bypassed Taxco's loosely run State Assay Office.  The pins tests as .925 Sterling Silver Standard.
One of her journal entries concerning these brooch sets reads; “The pins will link two when shared.  Concentrate and focus your will.  Gazing along the surface of the stone will provide a glimpse into the past, present or future, as you will."
It is certainly a nicely aged and unusual vintage brooch set with an extraordinary provenance that is much nicer than the photographs are able to depict.
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We have been contacted and visited by a number of people who were interested in the items from this estate since our first batch was listed.
Among the buyers have been known psychics and practitioners.  More than one, after adorning themselves or handling their purchase, stated "this is a woman of power!"
Many of our customers, after receiving items from this estate have reported dream contacts and other unexplained phenomenon.
Unusual, authentic Voodoo Priestess Estate piece and at a bargain price!
This is truly a rare opportunity to own anything with attributes to this estate.
The majority of this estate is now gone.
Most of what we had left, and it was considerable, has been split up and sold to a couple of private, foreign collector practitioners and will never be available to the public again.
We made the decision to do this as we have had some pretty strange visits from even stranger individuals and there have been enough unexplained phenomenon going on in the warehouse where her things were kept that many of our employees refused to go in there.
The pieces offered and sold here are some of the few remaining pieces that will ever be offered to the public.
Nice addition to any collection, wardrobe or decor, displays really well.
Really doesn't get any better than this.
There are 13 photographs, so please give them time to load,
and
enjoy the listing.
Buyer to pay .85 for Insured 1st. Class Mail with USPS Tracking and handling with lagniappe.
We Combine Shipping.
Rest assured your order will be carefully packed to withstand the onslaught of the most deranged of Postal Workers.
International Buyer's, Please email us for a Shipping Quote.
Payment is due at listing end.  Check our other listings,
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©Text and Photos Copyright 2001-2021 bushidobuce, all rights reserved.
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Our photographs are never enhanced or manipulated.
Above taken with incandescent light, below with broad spectrum led, ultra violet and infra-red lighting.
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