Month: December 2019

And here is the final effect from Magic Wagon for 2019 and I’m actually caught up for the first time in years! This is another unique and well made effect which looks good and will certainly appeal to collectors. There appears to be no sign as to where the little golden meteor ball disappears too – it simply vanishes between the two blocks into thin air!

In some ways it is similar to the Atomic ball effect with a little more dressing. Some collector’s really love all the dressing up of the props, but if you are going to perform to lay people I prefer things stripped down – well made, but without all the frills. That is why I much prefer the original Magiro Hydro Die to the much more impressive Magic Wagon Majestic Hydro Die. In many ways this is why I like Eddy Taytelbaum’s magic so much – he makes really excellent props but with the possible exception of his Mummies they are understated without too many extra embellishments. But it takes all sorts and these beautiful props do make for a very wonderful display 🙂

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This is a real beauty from P&L. It is not too bulky like others I have seen, and really looks like a vintage funnel and works perfectly with water flowing on demand. These were originally issued c. 1937 in nickel silver  (sometimes called Cupro Silver – click here for a discussion) and only later c. 1958 released in copper.

If you add a gimmicked ice pick you can “puncture” the boys arm before you start the pumping action!

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This is a beautiful illusion inspired by Harry Bohleno’s Visible Block Penetration c. 1946 though performed in a horizontal position. You know it is going to be good when you can find at least three YouTube videos of the effect. Yes three is the tell tale sign for Magic Wagon items 🙂 And although the videos shown are all good, Simon Corneille’s (Simcoscor) is exceptional. You will be very happy with this bad boy.

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A clever and beautiful transposition from Owen’s. Originally sold by Thayer’s as A Mirror Casket, Die and Flag c. 1918. It is easy to do and although this is not for close-up as a parlor or stage effect it will wow them all!

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Copper Sandwich was actually invented by Al Koran c. 1948 and was originally performed with a matchbox and the gimmicked coins of the time (see New Pentagram April 1973, pg. 13). Eddie Gibson refined it, using more advanced coins, and created the brass box for an even cleaner and more amazing penetration.

This is the original version of Copper Sandwich with UK coins and compares with this later version using US coins.

It is a great effect which is easy to do and leaves no clues as to how the penetration occurs.

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The Coin Wand was first exposed in Hoffman’s Modern Magic as The Half-Crown (or Florin) Wand (pg. 203), it was first used in performance c. 1872. Stanyon’s advertised their version c. 1902, Roterberg advertised there version c. 1904, and Thayer (which would be the closet decedent to this Owen’s one) were advertising there’s at least as early 1921 but probably earlier. They also had a Slender Coin Wand, but this did not use the same mechanical approach.

This wand from Owen’s is the cleanest and most beautiful coin wand I have seen. It works perfectly and is smooth as silk. It even has a cap to cover the end when not being used as a coin wand.  You can also view the coin from both sides.  It is very solid and measures 14″ with 2 1/8″ tips. It weighs 5.6oz, it matches the standard wand here.

Really exceptional.

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What a beautiful, clever and mystifying effect this is! 

When you first see this performed it is hard to fully comprehend how quickly your hand will burn when you put it over a candle.  Even from a few inches it feels like it is burning within a couple of seconds.  If you try it you will see immediately that almost the second you put your hand over the flame you have to remove it.

However, with this well engineered and clever gimmick you can literally keep your hand there for minutes without any discomfort.  How it works it kind of amazing and it really doesn’t matter how high the candle is – I tried it with 4″, 6″ and 9″ candles and they are big candles.  So it will cover a whole slew of candles, and none of them are gimmicked.  You can pretty much use any candle though it does work better with wider pillar candles.  I use 3″ wide ones with the various heights as shown.

The gimmick is expertly engineered and the remote control is a small key fob size and works perfectly.  You don’t actually need the remote control, but it does add that  extra kicker effect where you can have a spectator be able to withstand the heat or not without even getting close to the candle.

This is some powerful magic and a really interesting effect that is unique.  It can be done in a variety of situations with no set-up and simply looks amazing and just how real magic should look!

This is the Rex Ignis Advanced Version with the remote option.  The Advanced Version allows you to use a matchbox, card box, or the classic invisible set-up, so it is more flexible for the performer.

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This chest is inspired by one of my favorite prediction chests, The Dr. Q. Prediction Chest. It has two main differences:

• It is quite a lot smaller than the Owen’s chest (see the last four photos for comparisons)
• The chest really can’t be examined or handled closely by the spectator because there is no locking mechanism to protect the gimmick – if you touch the gimmick it will move!  Whereas with the Dr. Q. you could search all day and not find a thing.

Having said that because there is no locking mechanism it makes it a little easier to use.  It is a fine box for sure and John M. Talbot’s routine about the Titanic is perfect for this little box.  If you like neat little boxes with secret gimmicks you will for sure find a use for this bad boy.

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They don’t make them like this anymore! Abbott’s started making high end shooting wands or Bang Wands c. 1938. I believe this one comes from c. 1987 because it has gold tips and the earlier wands had chrome plated tips. But it could be earlier. It is easily the heaviest and most substantial Bang Wand I have ever handled. For a brief moment I thought it was an Owen’s wand as it looks very similar to the Owen’s wands (see final photo), but it is not stamped Owen’s, the tips are slightly shorter, I could not find a Wand like this from Owen’s and finally it clearly matches the Abbott’s description.

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