Child's toy tin magic lantern with candle projection

Germany, c. 1900

ACMI Collection. Donated by William Kerr on behalf of Edwin Schefferle.

Object Equipment On display
Photograph by Egmont Contreras, ACMI.

Magic Lantern with removable chimney and internal wooden block.

The Empire Magic Lantern Outfit was donated by Edwin Schefferle - “When Edwin was about 10 years of age, he acquired a Magic Lantern Outfit from his Grandma. This fired his imagination; he would make images with ink on strips of cellophane and project these through the Magic Lantern by means of a candle onto an old sheet draped on the wall. The result was disappointing but encouraging. The one candle did not provide sufficient light especially during daylight. Little did he realise that he had opened a door on a world of projecting images on large screens. He had abandoned merry-go-rounds and wind mills but this was different. He never let go of his Magic Lantern; it could well have been dubbed his lighthouse showing him the way to go. What happened to his Magic Lantern? After his death in 2014 it was found among his belongings and was donated to the Australian Centre for Moving Image (ACMI) which superseded the State Film Centre, where Edwin spent most of his working life.” (text from book - ‘Life with a Purpose, Conversations with Edwin James Schefferle - Scheff’)

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

On display until

16 February 2031

ACMI: Gallery 1

Credits

creator

The Empire Magic Lantern Outfit

Production places
Germany
Production dates
c. 1900

Appears in

Group of items

Magic lantern projectors

Explore

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

E000271

Curatorial section

The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Pictures → MI-02. Play and Illusion → MI-02-C01 → Panel C7

Measurements

250 x 196 x 90mm

Object Types

3D Object

Magic Lantern

Projection equipment/Film and television equipment

Materials

tin, brass, glass, wood

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/99499--the-empire-magic-lantern/ |title=Child's toy tin magic lantern with candle projection |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=28 March 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}