Exclusive | Peek at Houdinis handcuffs in NYC exhibit on Golden Age of magicians

Now you see it!A rare collection of tools and tricks used by legendary magician Harry Houdini for seemingly inexplicable escape acts — including handcuffs and neck and leg shackles — are now on display a century after his death.The quirky display is part of a new exhibit of over 300 rare and never-before-seen artifacts from magic’s heyday in the Big Apple that opened this month at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, dubbed “Mystery & Wonder: A Legacy of Golden Age Magicians in New York City.”The expansive display, fashioned to look like an early 20th century magic shop, also includes a massive wand collection, dramatic one-of-a-kind magic show posters and century-old instructional books.Exhibit curator Annemarie van Roessel told The Post the mystical retrospective is the first of its kind to explore how magic knowledge was passed down in the city during magic’s “golden age” — whether behind the stage curtain, inside Midtown magic shops or meetings of the Society of American Magicians.“There aren’t any professors of magic history: [Magicians] are responsible for building for their own history,” van Roessel told The Post at the show’s opening reception Wednesday.Magicians — many of whom were immigrants from Europe, van Roessel noted — flocked to New York City during the “Golden Age” from 1875 to the 1930s for its abundance of stages, magic stores and community hubs, she said.The performers also helped facilitate the larger cultural exchange between artists in New York and London, which was also a hot spot for magicians at the time.Steve Cohen, a sponsor of the exhibit and veteran magician who runs the 25-year-old Chamber Magic show at the Lotte New York Palace, said it’s a no-brainer why magicians are still flocking to the Big Apple as they did at the turn of the century.“It’s the center of art,” he said.“When you come to New York, you expect to see the best.”The core of the collection stems from Soci...