Who Is "Mr. F. Rahne?" Help Us Solve the Mystery!
Who was Harry Houdini writing to in 1910? If you think you know who "Mr. F. Rahne" was, share your ideas in the Comments section below!
Do you have any ideas about the identity of the "Mr. F. Rahne" this 1910 Harry Houdini letter is addressed to?
Mar 27, 2017
Amelia Earhart is widely revered — and rightly so — for her pioneering feats of aviation begun in the mid-1920s. But there is another, practically unknown, female aviator whose even earlier passion and daring were given some much-needed publicity during ROADSHOW's August 2016 visit to Palm Springs. John, a guest from Rosamond, California, showed appraiser Ken Sanders his ca. 1910 archive of aviation memorabilia once belonging to his great-grandmother, Bessica Raiche. (Watch the appraisal below.)
GUEST: I knew I had a great- grandmother. Her name was Bessica Raiche, but I didn't know the details behind it until probably ten years ago, when my mom brought her to my attention. She said that we had all these artifacts of hers.
APPRAISER: Who was Bessica? What did she do?
GUEST: She was the first woman aviator.
APPRAISER: In the United States.
GUEST: In the United States, yes. She built, designed her own planes, and flew them. Her and her husband did. Um, when their first plane was built, they actually built it in their house, and then come to find out that they couldn't get it out, so they had to tear the front of the house off to get it, to get it out.
APPRAISER: That's just amazing.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: When did she take her first flight?
GUEST: Her first flight, I think, was in 1908 and that was in a bi-plane. I think she got the flying bug and built her own plane. Her first solo flight was in 1910.
APPRAISER: I understand she was also a medical doctor?
GUEST: Yeah, she was a doctor before she became an aviator, and then due to health reasons, she had to quit the aviation business, and she went back into her medical practice.
APPRAISER: Until today, I had never heard of your illustrious great-grandmother, either.
GUEST: And many people haven't. (chuckles)
APPRAISER: How can this be that America's first female aviator is virtually unknown outside of a tiny circle of aviation aficionados?
GUEST: Yeah. I have no idea.
APPRAISER: Well, here you brought with us today this early medal that designates that she is America's first woman aviator. On the back of the medal, it's dated 1910.
GUEST: Correct.
APPRAISER: You've brought a picture of Bessica Raiche.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: There she is in her plane.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And over here in the air.
GUEST: Exactly. And the most amazing thing about it is, nobody knows who she is.
APPRAISER: Well, I'm hoping that through our conversation, maybe we can change that just a little bit.
GUEST: That would be nice.
APPRAISER: One of the items you brought is this letter from another rather famous gentleman, Harry Houdini.
GUEST: Yes, it says, the "first successful aviator in Australia." (laughs)
APPRAISER: I had no idea Harry Houdini was a pilot. He's better known for other things.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: But you have a treasure trove of all kinds of artifacts and images and other related material...
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: ...to her early aviation pioneer career.
GUEST: Yes, we do. We have quite a bit of it. Unfortunately, her husband, when they divorced, he ended up burning a lot of the stuff-- plane drawings, the designs. He sat in front of the fireplace and said that, "We don't need this anymore," and threw them, you know, threw them in the fire and burned them.
APPRAISER: Oh, my goodness, that, that's... Maybe that helps explain...
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: ...why she's not as famous as she deserves to be.
GUEST: Could very well be.
APPRAISER: The value of a Harry Houdini letter is in the $2,000 to $3,000 range at retail. For the collection we have before us, I think a valuation at retail would be $5,000.
GUEST: Okay. Very good.
John told Sanders that by the first decade of the 20th century, Raiche — who was already a trained physician — "got the flying bug," designing and building a biplane herself. She made her first solo flight in 1908, becoming America's first female aviator.
John explained that Raiche eventually had to give up flying for her own health reasons, and returned to practicing medicine. She also subsequently underwent a divorce and John said her ex-husband destroyed many materials related to Raiche's aviation hobby, including the drawings and designs for her airplane.
Among John's collection of the surviving memorabilia was a letter written by Harry Houdini to one "Mr. F. Rahne" in 1910. Another apparently little-known bit of aviation trivia is the fact that Houdini, the famed magician and escape artist, was also a pilot. At the end of the letter Houdini boasts of being "THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL AVIATOR IN AUSTRALIA."
Transcript of "Mr. F. Rahne" Letter from Harry Houdini
278 West 113th Street New York July 21.1910 Mr. F. Rahne —, Dear Sir —, THANKS for your very kind letter, and trust you will pardon my delay, as I have been west (Chicago Ill.) and only returned last evening. I leave for England August Tenth, and will be gone 10 months. If things go right, I shall *possibly* play all my engagements, traveling via my bi-plane, as the cities in Great Britian [sic] are close together. Will come down to Minealo , as soon as I get my moter [sic] car in trim. If you can let me know when to catch you "in" will make my visit according. Regards sincerely yours [signed] Harry Houdini THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL AVIATOR IN AUSTRALIA (Not much money in the title, but twas a lot of glory)
Sanders valued the Houdini letter at between $2,000 and $3,000, but the mystery remains — Who was "Mr. F. Rahne"?
If you have any ideas, please share them with us in the Comments section below!
Luke Crafton is ANTIQUES ROADSHOW's director of digital content and managing editor of the series website. Luke has been a producer with ROADSHOW since 2006.
