Month: August 2018

What a clever and clean take on Jack Hughes’ Card Go premise. This really is a surprise beauty built by Alan Wright for Supreme Magic c. 1974 based on one of the earliest ideas from The Great Norman. 

According to Eric Lewis in The Crowning Miracles (pg 194) the original Card Go was in fact also invented by The Great Norman but he sold the rights to manufacture to Jack Hughes, and since then it has been attributed to Jack Hughes.  The Great Norman’s real name was Norman Hazeldene and he grew up just outside Manchester in Stockport, Cheshire, England. But I wonder if this was the effect that Eric Lewis is referring to, because it is similar to Card Go, but not the same (hence Improved). I have found nothing else to say that Jack Hughes did not invent Card Go, including many ads from the 1940’s, and of course Jack Hughes’ World of Magic Books.

This version consists of an attractive anodized metal display stand in which a signed playing card is placed and easily seen by the audience. It is covered with a handkerchief and handed to a spectator to hold. The balance of the desk is gathered up, wrapped with a rubber band and given to another spectator.

On command the spectator removes the handkerchief and the card has vanished, only to be found back in the deck the other spectator is holding.

This is a beautifully self-contained device that you’ll love playing with and I haven’t seen another like it.
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Wow Kent’s 3D magic line is growing in leaps and bounds. The latest two items I have received are really raising the bar as what to expect from 3D printed magic today. I don’t think any of the other 3D printed items I have seen get close to the quality and effort that Kent is putting into them. If I didn’t know better Kent is trying to make you forget you even want real wooden items, whereas many other creators are just using 3D printers to get items out quicker.

What I continue to marvel at is how much thought goes into the size and shape of every piece. Kent thinks through his treasures both from a Collector’s standpoint with items sitting pretty on the shelf and a performers standpoint actually carrying and presenting the effects.

The effect for this item is clean and straightforward. You show the spectator an all white mummy resting in the sarcophagus. Then they get to choose one of six colored chips in a fair way and that chip is placed on top of the sarcophagus, which when opened now displays a mummy of the chosen color.

What is even better is that for repeat performances the mummy and chip chosen can be any one of six different colors. Although this is not a trick you could repeat to the same audience immediately.

If you are already on board with Kent’s 3D Magic Works you’ll love this and if not, this would be a perfect place to start.

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Kent Bergmann is taking 3D Printers to the next level and and raising our expectations of what 3D Magic should look like. His recent effects have just been amazing. I can’t imagine how much work and how long it takes for these bad boys to be printed, but I’m sure if you were to travel to Kent’s workshop you would hear the printers cranking away 24 hours a day.

This item is Kent’s version of the old Don Potts classic effect: The Mystery of The Pyramids that was put out by U.F. Grant in 1965. A few craftsman have created their own versions each with their own twists. But what I really like about Kent’s version is that it seems to be the first one that has a really good story line that makes the props make some sense. The effect and story is just part one of a Trilogy which should get most collectors excited. I would even say that the story was so much fun that I’m looking forward to the next installment in the trilogy. Maybe not Game of Thrones, but it is a magic trick after all 🙂

This is another amazing effect from Kent that you cannot miss out on. It works very smoothly and looks great and is very solidly made.

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