Year: 2021

First there was Otto, then Jo-Anne and Gwendolyn, and along with many others I finally have tracked down Jack Hughes’ wonderful Fifi 🙂 

Fifi is bold and beautiful and quite a lot larger than the modern day standard duck: Warren Hamilton’s Jo-Anne, though they both weigh about the same (approximately  1 lb.), and I’ve included a photo at the end for comparison.

Fifi uses a different approach to picking the cards, with no moving parts or stickness, which works surprisingly well – I had a few issues at first until I got the knack of it.  It is easier to grab more than one card, but that is true of all ducks depending on the state of the cards.  Fifi is designed for bridge sized playing cards (which I include) – many items from the UK use bridge sized decks because that was certainly much more common last century (and I expect it still is).

I do think the colors and size make Fifi a little more fun, but as I have mentioned before the Card Duck appeal primarily stems from the interaction of the performer with the duck – it could be a sock puppet and you could get just as much out of it.  But for collectors Fifi will look amazing in your collection 🙂

Click here for more information.

This is really a simple and useful switching stand for Jumbo cards.  It can be used for a clean Four Aces effect or for the transformation to any desired set of a few cards.  According to Verrall Wass (Tomorrow’s Devant, The Sphinx, August 1944, pg. 154) this effect was actually invented by Ned Williams (Robert Harbin) and although Ned is not credited he is mentioned in the ad.  This also was known as Four of a Kind (well at least the instructions that came with it say that, but I have found no other reference to it being called that name).

To perform it requires two decks of Jumbo cards, and with this effect the new style, thinner Jumbo Bicycles work better than the old thicker ones so I have included two brand new decks of current Bicycle Jumbo Cards.

Possible Presentations:

• A demo of this effect is performed by Dr. Albo on Disc 9 of The Ultimate Thayer. However, Dr. Albo uses random indifferent cards rather than the A, 2, 3, 4 of each suit as mentioned in the effect below.   Using A, 2, 3, 4 is a really nice way of performing the Four Aces, and makes it easier to spot the movement of the aces.  In addition with the A, 2, 3, 4 presentation the other three aces actually move to the designated pile rather than being replaced with an indifferent 4th card. So you end up with 3 cards in each pile (2,3,4) and only the aces pile has 4 cards.  Of course you can perform it the more traditional way too – the system is very flexible.
• Another presentation is to mention that whatever number they choose all of the cards at that number will appear at the chosen spot.  They say “3”, and at location “3” are all four 3’s, and then the magician also shows that all the A’s are in location “1”, all the 2’s in location “2”, and all the 4’s in location “4”.
• You could use it to produce multiple chosen (forced) cards,
• Change indifferent cards to Poker hands and you get the winning hand.
• It could be used with jumbo flash cards and other cards that fit in the slots.

In the ad copy it states: “invite the audience to select or designate any one of the four piles” that is Dealer Speak for “Magician’s Choice” 🙂  Or you can simply mishear and say “Pile 2” did you say?

This is a very fine looking prop that looks great, has the flexibility to perform multiple effects, and can be used in small parlors and stage settings.

Click here for more information.

Another beauty from the Dutch magic dealer and craftsman Harry Keyl.  This is a wonderful piece of micro-magic that packs neatly inside itself for storage – that’s right the racetrack turns into a case to carry it all!  It looks very similar to the work of the Dutch master Eddy Taytelbaum and this is the first one I have seen.

These were also sold by Supreme Magic Company and it was one of Edwin’s favorite effects and he would often carry the neat set in his pocket ready for the perfect opportunity to perform this adorable miracle 🙂

Click here for more information.