Year: 2020

This effect originally called Bloxo, was invented by John Rice and sold by Harry Stanley c. 1960.

Pagoda is the definitive version of the the effect using a solid blade or rod to secure the blocks and was created magnificently by the Dutch master craftsman: Eddy Taytelbaum.  Eddy did such an amazing job he inspired many craftsmen including: Alan Warner, Mel Babock, Milson-Worth and more recently Magic Wagon to create their own versions.

Eddy made two sizes of Pagoda and this is the significantly rarer, small version. I say small because his standard version is small (4-1/2″ by 2-3/4″ high and 1-3/8″ deep), this one is tiny (3-1/2″ by 2-3/4″ high by 7/8″ deep).  When compared with my previous favorite version created by my good friend Alan Warner this version is dwarfed (see final three photos). 

Not only is Eddy’s version exquisite, he uses a different approach to extracting the chosen blocks.  Instead of letting the box spin around and have the blocks fall out, in a potentially random and risky fashion, he turns the box around so that all six blocks can been seen and uses a small wand (or in my photos a small metallic cocktail sword) to push out the chosen blocks, leaving the others clearly and unmistakably impaled. 

Eddy also supplies a custom color cube to help select the colors completely at random (I am in two minds if you should use that or not since it slows down the routine a little, but it is up to you.)

Most of the versions that come up for auction on Potter & Potter and elsewhere are of the larger version, and it is rare to see this tiny version, but it is great to see it in the collection 🙂

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Harry Leat’s masterpiece, Run Rabbit Run, has never looked so good 🙂 

Since my early teenage years, like 100’s of magicians before me, I saw the incredible entertainment value of Run Rabbit Run when working with children of all ages.  To this day I think it is one of the best children’s effects ever devised and I have owned many versions. 

But nothing comes close to this amazing version from Dutch Craftsman Frans Reijnier at the Holland Magic Studio. This is something you will want to collect and perform to your children and grandchildren.

What makes this version so good?

• The mechanism provides the most movements with the simplest of motions.  You can control the rabbit with either hand and switch seamlessly between hands.  You can hold the unit in your hands or perform the motions with the base on a table or stand.
• The rabbit can move fast or slow all under your control
• The vanish of the rabbit can be achieved without having to take the rabbit out again and dropping back inside the house.  Instead he simply runs into either house and vanishes into thin air, without you going anywhere near either house.
• The rabbit goes from side to side and pops out the top of one house and the side of the other, and finally is discovered in the tree.
• The rabbit that runs from house to house and vanishes is the same rabbit in each instance and you can show him up front and place him in the grass and then the running begins!
• Your hands appear to be nowhere near the action so when the rabbit pops out the side of one home your hands and fingers can be 6 inches or more away.
• All packs flat into custom display case.

Why would collector’s what to get this?

• It is small enough to be considered micro or mini-magic. If Eddy Taytelbaum made magic for Children, he would be proud to call this his own.
• Every motion and design element has been meticulously designed with a neat slot for everything.
• It is so darn cute. Cuter than Collectors’ Workshop’s Hippity Hop Rabbits or Chance Wolf’s Hop Hop Hares or Anverdi’s Barking Dog.
• Comes in a special custom display case and signed Certificate of Authenticity
• Limited edition of thirty units worldwide.

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As cool and reliable as the latest version of Anverdi’s Mental Dice is there are plenty of magicians that avoid any sort of electronics in their magic.  Luckily, there have been a number of effects where you can discern the value of the die on top without any electronics.  They began c. 1973 with Milson’s (yes before Milson-Worth) Mental Die, the next version was Chazpro’s Die-Cipher c. 1990, then Die-Cipher II was released c. 1994. 

Now the Secret Factory have released their own high end Collector’s version that improves the method from all previous versions and looks stunning.  Of course the price is substantially more too, but if you wanted to get the simplest and most beautiful version of this great effect with zero electronics you will need to search no longer.

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Q-rrito IV is a beautiful looking rabbit that is quite animated.  This version IV released c. 2013 improves upon Version III  introduced c. 2009.  Although the circuit board is programmable I did not even attempt to do that, I just worked with the standard routine.   The instructions detail how to program the device step by step, but I would be very careful because there are no backups and if you mess things up you’ll be stuck with possibly an unusable rabbit 🙁

The original instructions are four pages long, but most of that is maintenance and how to program the unit.  Only three sentences cover the routine with little information on how to make it work.  I spent about 6 hours playing with and positioning things correctly and finally came up with this basic routine that seems to work well.  You can still add more patter of course, but the basic routine is laid out clearly for you below, rather than in the original instructions.

The standard routine is about a 2 minute program where Q-rrito  follows precisely the same movements each time.  Once you have the rabbit you can play with what he can do.  He picks up things using Velcro and magnets and it is easy enough change the cards should you desire. Because the rabbit follows the same motion each time you can see where he will go and place things accordingly.  This is my routine:

• You start with the top hat covered with a silk. 
• Turn on the rabbit, and say: “Would you like to meet my friend Reggie?” (they say yes).
• Remove the silk and announce “Ladies and Gentlmen: Reggie the Rabbit! 
• To your embarrassment they just see Reggie‘s back as he continues to nap. The rabbit will take 10 seconds to wake up.
• Then finally Reggie pops up and looks around moving his head had paws and bobbing and weaving. Learn the motions and the more you interact with him the better the performance.
• You have a card chosen (forced) and place the cards in the top hat while Reggie is still moving around.
• “What’s wrong Reggie?”  He goes down again and picks up a carrot …
• You say “No, No, that won’t work, (removing the carrot) please find the card Reggie!”  And he goes down and brings back the Tree of Hearts!
• “No No Reggie! That is not the right card, perhaps you need these glasses?” – and you place a pair of small glasses on his head.  He looks quite cute.  “You ask him will they work for you?”
• Reggie goes back down into the hat and the glasses either fall off or move to the top of his head and he comes back quickly shaking his head No No No!  These glasses won’t work.
• Then Reggie goes down again and this time he finds the card and shows it for all to see!
• He takes his well-earned applause, thanks the audience and goes back into the hat to sleep.
• Then you cover him up again (and turn him off).

You have quite a lot of lee way and if you play with Q-rrito IV  but the placement of the cards and carrot are important.  With the set-up I use I now have almost 100% success rate of picking up the cards, carrot, and glasses.  As long as you build up a good rapport with him it won’t matter too much if one of the things fails.  But if you position them correctly it should be fine.  I spent hours figuring out where to place the Velcro, the cards and the carrot so you don’t have to.  None of this was in the instructions when I received it.

The Rabbit itself is adorable and very plush made from the WWF Plush Collection by the prestigious Dutch firm Ann Club Plush.

My wife loves Reggie 🙂

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When you first get this you’ll probably be disappointed 🙁  But don’t despair read on …

The Ring-A-Majig does not look as well engineered or finished as Chance Wolf’s Ultimate Ring Grinder, and it is nowhere near as pretty as Viking’s Deluxe Ring Grinder or as elegant as CW’s Ring Cruncher.  But if you plan on actually vanishing a ring this is the perfect utility device.  It is true it doesn’t look like a collectible magic prop, but it does look like an industrial device that a mad scientist could have created in his back room.  This is a good thing and looks can be deceiving because although it might not look as slick as Chance’s grinder, it functions perfectly.  It is built by Tim Wisseman so you know it is engineered to last.

If I wanted to actually perform a Ring Grinder type effect, the reasons I prefer this to other Ring Grinders are:

• It doesn’t look like a magic prop.
• Although there is a large hole in the bottom to deliver the ring, it can covered with three fingers and convincingly be shown on all sides.
• The flash addition creates a perfect distraction to steal away the ring at the appropriate time.  In fact you could steal away an elephant if you wanted 🙂
• Because it looks like an industrial device it is much easier for the audience to believe something has really gone wrong.
• The comedy potential with this device is improved because of the above.

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Arsène Lupin (Slawomir Piestrzeniewicz) is a qualified medical doctor from Poland who  became a full-time professional magician in 1980.  He placed second for Manipulation in FISM 1982 and 1991, and third for Invention in 2003.  He creates some really wonderful and unique magic that is well priced. 

This is well made effect by the Arsène that is similar in method to Final Card however instead of just one card being found, 4 numbers are revealed in the end.  The effect described, with all of the audience looking at their watches, sounds more amazing than the method really is.  For sure it is possible to perform the effect as stated below, but it does require fairly precise timing and most people will probably not want to be bothered with it.  Instead they will go with a more fixed target of a prediction or a birth date, etc.

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I’ve often appreciated the extra effort that Jim Sherman’s National Magic Company put into their instruction sheets, the N.M.C. Presentation Routines, as they were called.  They are consistently formatted, with tips, ideas, and details, and much better than many magic dealers and manufacturers.

So imagine my surprise when I found these three volumes of well over 300 N.M.C. effects fully described with their full, original, instruction sheets. Unlike Glenn Gravatt’s impressive Thayer Quality Magic Instruction Sheets  these volumes are not traditionally printed books, they are instead created from the actual instruction sheets and bound.  I have no idea how many of these were sold or even whether they were created by keen enthusiasts I’m just pleased they were done. 

The three volumes cover over 300 effects created and/or sold by N.M.C. c. 1928-1950 (N.M.C. was sold c. 1963 and I’m not sure how many new effects were added during the 50’s and 60’s, but this seems like a pretty complete file.)

There is a lot of magic in these bad boys 🙂

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This is the best version of the classic effect Multum in Parvo (Multum en Parvo, Multum in Reverse) using the significantly simplified and self-contained method created by the Malaysian Magician and Inventor, Tan Hock Chuan, c. 1947, though conceived years earlier.

Tan Hock Chuan published his method in The Magic Wand (Vol. 36, 1947) after reading an effect that was credited to Benson DuLay in The Magic Wand (Vol. 35, 1946) called: Milko Multum Im Parvo. DuLay’s method was considerably more complex and required the use of custom glasses, table and tray and although the effect was pretty much the same, once you had seen Tan Hock Chuan’s self-contained glasses without a gimmicked table and tray, there was little reason to ever use the DuLay method again. In Bart Whaley’s wonderful resource, Who’s Who in Magic, Benson Dulay is credited as the creator of Multum in Parvo, and Burtini even won 1st Prize for the Invention, at the 1948 FISM. This is accurate, but the method created by Tan Hock Chuan, is the version that everyone sees and has used pretty much since he created it.  Indeed, in Tan Hock Chuan’s original routine he actually vanishes the small tumbler at the end using a Squash style gimmick, which makes for an even more impressive ending to an already clever routine.

This version, true to Tan Hock Chuan’s method, was first introduced by Mephisto-Huis in the 1960’s. Custom crafted using thick Perspex (plexi-glass) and sold by Harry Stanley, and later Ron MacMillan, The Magic Hands, and others and is still the gold standard for this effect. 

Unlike some versions. Mephisto-Huis thought through the design and added in a useful feature by including a special molding inside each glass to widen the pour area.  If you know the method and effect you will understand immediately what I am referring to.

To give you an idea of how thick the perspex is, the hole designs you can see on each glass are actually drilled into the glass.  Although this is clearly a stage effect even from about six feet it is  very difficult to make out any gimmickry with the glasses.  This is a really wonderful version of this classic effect and performed well looks absolutely amazing.

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2020 began very well for Magic Wagon with two wonderful releases early in the year. This is a perfect utility device to cleanly force 1 out of 5 billets or small cards.  It is inspired by Magic Wagon’s earlier release the MasterMind Box c. 2010 (which is one of the few items I missed when it came out originally for no particular reason).  It is quite similar to Louis Gaynor’s Miser’s Dream Box also from the same year, however the mechanism is quite different and easier to use with nothing hidden in your hands, or added or taken away.  But what really sets this release apart is the two wonderful routines written by John M. Talbot which are very well written and really make the most of this beautiful prop. 

When John gets involved you know you are in for a treat as we saw with his wonderful routine 3rd Degree Psychic included with Mini Diceloation.  With Revelation! John is back in fine form. Along with writing the overall routines for the basic effect he includes two other wonderful routines:

• The Wish Box – a great idea which maximizes the experience and really engages the audience.  Done well there won’t be a dry eye in the house.  What is also neat about this routine is that it is very versatile and it will allow you to include all sorts of cultural references to fully capture the imagination of the audience.  It can be applied to almost any theme you need for your show (Christmas, Graduation, Wedding, New Baby, Retirement, etc.)
• The Gamble – this provides a great bit of mentalism, combined with surprising finish that will have them kicking and praising you at the same time.

What John also does is to inspire you to to think about how you could use this box to improve existing routines.  When you have five  guaranteed outs you can often think of routines you already do that could be extended or improved with this box.  Because it is a box it could possibly hold the props too, so  you can provide a reason for the box in the first place and perform the standard routine and then make it stronger with a final killer revelation.

This is a wonderful box that comes with some wonderful routines and has plenty of potential besides.  Great Job guys 🙂

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One of my favorite glass penetrations is the Glass (Quadruple) Penetration that was invented by Peter Warlock c. 1937. It is sometimes known as the English Glass Penetration and there have been a number of versions created, even as recently as 2008 when Magic Wagon had  their own attempt with their Mod Quad Penetration.

Twelve years later they are back again with a new version which is much closer to the original, but in close-up size.  This prop scales down very well and because of the size the mechanism is much easier to use.  If you watch the video you will witness the perfect routine created by Simon Corneille.  Simon’s routine is a master class in how to get everything out of this beautiful prop.  He adds a few components and chooses the perfect music and his execution is flawless.

If you don’t believe you are watching real magic then you never will.  Simon’s video is one of the best I have ever seen for any Magic Wagon item.  The amazing prop and Simon’s routine are both really excellent 🙂

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