Year: 2015

The Jersey Devil is back! This is one of the best ideas I have seen in card magic for years, and certainly one of Bob’s best ideas. I love it.

It really is a very basic principle that I’m pretty sure will be copied by many. But as far as I can tell my good friend Bob Solari was the first person to use it. Once you know how it works you will most certainly be thinking – You Clever Bastard Bob!

The instructional video is also very well produced and Bob looks the best he has for years; you get the impression he even enjoyed making it! Bob sells the gimmicked decks for $10 a pop with the DVD, but that is amazingly cheap for the work involved.

On the video there are four great tricks – three from Bob and one from his buddy (and Slydini student) Bill Wisch. A very clean Out of This World effect, a lost and found card effect, a 4 of any kind effect and another color separation where not only are the colors separated into reds and blacks but also odds and evens.
And you will certainly find other uses for this idea. You will be performing it straight away and love the power you have. The deck is gimmicked but to all intents and purposes it is not – no rough and smooth, short cards, longs cards, slick cards or any other such madness.

Did I say I love this idea? Go Bobby! Get a copy now!

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Another Anverdi classic that looks and works perfectly. I’ve been meaning to track one of these beauties down for a few years now, and finally found one in almost new condition that works flawlessly. When this came out 20-30 years ago (?) it was a sure fire miracle. Now of course there are probably dozens of similar effects and I’m not sure how convincing any of them are these days, with the amazing things you can do with smart phones.

Even if it is not as amazing as it once was due to technologies advances, it clearly shows how advanced Anverdi himself was. The fact that his electronic miracles still work so well today is a testament to his genius. With this die the transmitter is fairly large, but it has a long lead that allows you to hide the small LED output under your watch strap (for example) so you can easily see which side of the die up without apparently having anything in your hands or looking off stage. Works perfectly and in the right setting can still be a fooler for sure.

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Good old Nick!

Nick de Palma was an inconsistent builder – sometimes his magic would just not work, but when he got it right he did a great job. This is my third copy of this effect from Nick, and it works perfectly. It looks great and is smoother in operation than even the Magic Wagon version.

Howie at the now closed Trickery used to work closely with Nick and I know he misses Nick since he passed away in 2009 I believe. I am glad to have this memory of simpler times from a builder that wasn’t well known, but when he was on his game really did create some great magic and make me smile.

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This is still my favorite effect from Fabrice Delaure and I was pleased to pick this up back in August of 2014. I believe it was produced around 2001-2003. Fabrice no longer makes magic like this – it is all white board and iphone related gadgets. Whilst some of these are cool, I don’t think they are as magical, since there are so many screen transmission systems available to the general public anyway.

The effect is simple: you hand the box of “giants” to the audience and they can take out as many of them as they desire – you can be out of the room and never need to see or touch the box again. I have affixed the names of American Presidents to the bottom of each giant so you can tell who they are. I leave a wallet in full view of the spectators, and when I return, I pick up the wallet and unzip the compartment and there are 3 (say) cards in there each depicting the name of the president.

What I like about the box is that it is not high tech or glitzy – I preferred the original brown wooden boxes he used, but this black one up close doesn’t look as modern as it looks in the photos, and certainly looks devoid of any electronics.

The transmitter and receiver work 100% of the time and are very reliable.

Highly Recommended for collector’s of fine old school electronic miracles!

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One of Thomas Pohle’s best. Beautifully made precision boxes with various possible routines. My favorite is an amazing prediction effect where the spectator matches the colored chips previously hidden inside the boxes by the performer. In which the spectator places a different color chip in front of each box, with no force whatsoever, and yet every time they match with the chips inside each of the boxes.

The amazing magic and craftsmanship of Thomas Pohle has long been unsung, and thanks to some initial exposure from Joe Long I am trying to help Thomas become a household name in the USA and beyond. Thomas certainly deserves it after creating beautiful clever magic for over thirty years!

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Thomas Pohle creates some beautiful, clever magic and original that you don’t see so much of these days. This clever color changing box features a dramatic change from an all white box that can be shown all around to an all blue box. Nothing is added or taken away either, and reset is almost instant.

The amazing magic and craftsmanship of Thomas Pohle has long been unsung, and thanks to some initial exposure from Joe Long I am trying to help Thomas become a household name in the USA and beyond. Thomas certainly deserves it after creating beautiful, clever magic for over thirty years!

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Thomas Pohle started his magic manufacturing business around the same time as Eckhard Boettcher opened his Magic Dealership: Zauber Butike, and they worked closely together. As is often the case, the name of the dealer was featured and the name of the craftsman behind the magic was sadly neglected. So I’m trying to change that one trick at a time!

Another beauty from Thomas Pohle in the 90’s. A very clever penetration of three solid blocks held in place by wooden swords inside a small “jewel cupboard”. The blocks are shown locked in place until the moment of release. The cabinet is shown completely empty, and the blocks and swords may be handed for examination

The amazing magic and craftsmanship of Thomas Pohle has long been unsung, and thanks to some initial exposure from Joe Long I am trying to help Thomas become a household name in the USA and beyond. Thomas certainly deserves it after creating beautiful, clever magic for over thirty years!

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Another beauty from Thomas Pohle which not only looks amazing it is very clever in its method. The routine is a three-phase routine. In the first phase, the spectator places the cube inside of the box as you are turned away and you are able to reveal the color on top without touching the box. You then are able to turn the cube over inside of the box – yes one minute is has Blue (say) on top then it has Red (say) – and the cube itself fits very snugly inside the box. For a final phase and something that truly knocks their socks off, you place the cube back inside the box and it vanishes from the box only to penetrate the table and appear beneath. This really is an amazing effect. Built only the way Thomas Pohle knows how.

The amazing magic and craftsmanship of Thomas Pohle has long been unsung, and thanks to some initial exposure from Joe Long I am trying to help Thomas become a household name in the USA and beyond. Thomas certainly deserves it after creating beautiful clever magic for over thirty years!

Click here for more information.

Thomas Pohle started his magic manufacturing business around the same time as Eckhard Boettcher opened his Magic Dealership: Zauber Butike, and they worked closely together. As is often the case, the name of the dealer was featured and the name of the craftsman behind the magic was sadly neglected. So I’m trying to change that one trick at a time!

This is a wonderful effect, based on an original Ken Brooke idea in which coins travel from under one tea cup to another. Thomas’s idea to use two frames instead of the tea cups make this a more practical and more amazing effect. The props are beautifully made by Thomas and they are bright and colorful. The original effect used a standard Boston Box and half dollars, but Thomas has created a custom box with unique Chinese coins making this a very unique and interesting looking item.

The amazing magic and craftsmanship of Thomas Pohle has long been unsung, and thanks to some initial exposure from Joe Long I am trying to help Thomas become a household name in the USA and beyond. Thomas certainly deserves it after creating beautiful clever magic for over thirty years!

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A rare natural wood beauty from the amazing Thomas Pohle. Thomas created a few versions of this clever effect, but this is certainly one of the prettiest. No matter how the numbers are stacked the numbers always rearrange to 1-2-3. What is particularly cool about this effect in all of its versions is that there are no shells or add on pieces, nothing it taken away or added, there are no covers or slides or even catches to release things. A very unique principle from the amazing mind of Thomas Pohle.

The amazing magic and craftsmanship of Thomas Pohle has long been unsung, and thanks to some initial exposure from Joe Long I am trying to help Thomas become a household name in the USA and beyond. Thomas certainly deserves it after creating beautiful clever magic for over thirty years!

Click here for more information.