Reviews

This is my first effect from Hong Kong manufacturer and dealer TCC.  TCC’s slogan is “Maximum Quality & Minimum Price” and based on what I have seen so far they are living up to the sentiment 🙂

 TCC have been making magic since 2008 and they are committed to produce very high quality magic for an exceptional value.  This set of Copper Silver Brass coins is better than most other sets I have ever seen. Only a set from Todd  Lassen for six+ times the price is better.  At $55 these are amazing.  An excellent looking and realistic Chinese coin with old English penny and half dollar.  The coins sound and look good and this could easily be the set you use for the rest of you life.

The coins come in a neat leather pouch and in a box that looks like something from Apple.  Hard to believe the price-point. Great Job TCC 🙂

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TCC have been making magic since 2008 and they are committed to produce very high quality magic for an exceptional value.  I have seen many Mini Drawer Boxes over the years and this one falls about in the middle of the pack. It is very well made but doesn’t have a breath taking design like The Cleveland Drawer Box or Dave Powell’s amazing Victorian Prediction Box. Also the mechanism is pretty fool proof but it is not hidden so you cannot show the whole bottom of the box without covering a small section with your hand.

The method is very standard with nothing to really new here.  It can be shown empty and then it can be shown full.  If you were just using this for cards it is pretty big which is probably one of the reasons TCC call it the Anything Box.  Unlike some drawer boxes it has spare space in the bottom so you can exchange  small things like coins, billets and tissue paper – but this is certainly not a new feature or unique to this drawer box as TCC claim.  Alan Warner created an amazing routine using this same approach with his Chan Chu and quite a few of the smaller boxes do have some room to exchange items.  Just don’t expect to change a red deck for a blue deck!

Where the Anything Box really scores is the price  for $80 in 2022 you won’t get anything even close to the quality or the utility.  I would certainly prefer a smaller box so that you could easily walk-around with this.  It will fit in your outer jacket pocket but it will fill it up.

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TCC have been making magic since 2008 and they are committed to produce very high quality magic for an exceptional value. This is a well made set of knives in a nice leather holder and good quality online video (with English subtitles). 

These knives handle well and transform very easily (some of the easiest I have used) and most people will love them 🙂

However, I see one issue that bothers me a little.  The colors  are not solid – the white has some swirls of grey and the black has some swirls of grey and in certain lighting it might take a minute to recognize the color change.  It might be a small point, but I like my color changes bold and beautiful.  I’m not talking shocking pink here, but if you are going to use black and white make sure there is no ambiguity.

The quality is certainly there, and it is obvious that TCC is all very consistent with their high quality, I just think they have fallen a little short with the color choices 🙁

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TCC have been making magic since 2008 and they are committed to produce very high quality magic for an exceptional value

I LOVE THIS ORGANIZER 🙂

This is beautifully made, perfectly provisioned and packs a lot of space into a very easy to handle close-up organizer. I could easily see myself buying three (why not six!) of these and setting different routines in each one. I think this is the best version of close-up case of its type I have seen. Most of the others are two big.

Now it is not massive so spreading a whole deck out is not so easy, but for the sort of magic I do most things can be accommodated.

TCC really knocked this one out of the park – great job guys 🙂

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Here is a real beauty from Thomas Pohle. It is very easy to get a little jaded with all these little boxes that we see from various craftsmen – they can’t all be amazing can they … but this one certainly is 🙂

It is not a new effect and we have seen similar effects with matchboxes and blocks of metal and most recently from Magic Wagon and their Miracle Block.  However, none of them look this good.  The block has no segmented lines as is common (including Magic Wagon’s version) with this type of effect.  And it doesn’t matter how hard you look you’ll find no holes or joins.  If you watch the instruction video provided by Thomas even he has some trouble resetting it – because it is that good.

The block is the only gimmicked item and these blocks take four days to complete.

If you are tired of the other block penetrations maybe it is time to dump those bad boys and get this beauty – the one block penetration to rule them all 🙂

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Russell Swann introduced and probably invented the Snake Basket c. 1939.  Jack Hughes released his amazingly inventive Snake Basket c. 1949.  That was about forty years before Collectors’ Workshop created their wonderful Khyber Kobra.  But what is really amazing about the Jack Hughes Snake Basket is how much action he gets from it with zero electronics or clockwork motors, just well designed springs and levers creates all the magic and entertainment you can handle 🙂

When this little guy arrived at my door he was looking a bit worse for wear and I’ve been working with him on and off for a few months.  The original snake has a small rope magnet in the head to attract the ball but this had lost its magnetic juice.  Also for the spinning lid and “snake in the grass” gag you are meant to stick a tack through the basket lid into the snake’s head.  When Chance Wolf built his beautiful recreation of this effect he used a magnet for this part because the tack was not a good long term (or short term) solution. So I included a fresh piece of “grass”, added a large and powerful magnet* to his head to cover up the old magnet and large tack hole. I also added a large magnet in the top of the lid and a smaller one in the base of the grass.  So now the snake easily attaches to the lid and the grass stays on the lid thanks to the magnets.  It took a few attempts but I finally ended up with the correct sized magnets that make it work easily.

With the exception of the spinning lid (which I’ve dropped due to the tack and it felt the weakest part of the routine) everything else in the original routine works well.  The snake and pieces maybe a little worn and show some marks and flaking paint but everything is still usable and effective. 

I spoke to Chance Wolf about how easy it was to pick up the card because I was having trouble.  Chance gave me a few tips that worked but also admitted with the original Hughes version the ability to pick up the card got harder as the unit aged. However,  when I was practicing this for the video I pretty much nailed it every time.  Like many things in magic once you have the knack it is pretty straight forward. The good news is that even if you do have to take a few tries this is a comedy item and a little jiggling can even add to the entertainment.

However you perform this beauty Jack Hughes demonstrates you don’t need electronics or clockwork motors to create some amazing visual magic and entertainment 🙂

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This is the first release of 2022 for Magic Wagon and although this year so far has not seen much innovation when it comes to brand new effects or ideas Magic Wagon’s ability to build perfect little miracles has not diminished. 🙂

This is a truly stunning version of Don Potts’ wonderful creation: The Mystery of the Pyramids released by U.F. Grant c. 1958.  There have been quite a few versions of this effect and Magic Wagon’s version fits very nicely with them depending on your artistic preference.

Magic Wagon’s version works very smoothly too.  It pretty much just works right out of the box and you will love playing with this one. Madison’s video is a joy to watch.

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This is one of my favorite Steve Dusheck effects that has recently been re-released under license by Airship Magic.  This set is from one of original runs c. 1979 and is a perfect example of Dusheck genius 🙂 

What I particularly like about this effect is how much magic is squeezed out of each gimmick and how you are left totally clean and the coins can be examined at the end.  When you first try this out you’ll even surprise yourself how good it looks!

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I first read about this effect in Paul Clive’s excellent book Card Tricks Without Skill when I was a 12 or 13.  I have used it on and off ever since and although I’ve read over one hundred variations since then I still pretty much perform it the way Curry first described it.  There is a fascinating account of this card trick being performed to Winston Churchill in Curry’s Magician’s Magic which added to my intrigue of this effect when I was a teenager.

In recent years the only thing I have changed is to use a deck of Steven Perry’s Belly Strippers so that you can start with a very clean shuffle of the cards before you begin.

I love this amazing card trick 🙂

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This amazing Card Shuffler was invented by Rudolph Notz c. 1950 and a USA patent was applied for it in 1950 and approved in 1955. These were manufactured and sold throughout the 1950’s by Nestor Johnson Mfg. Co of Chicago. They were very popular for a time and their demand was also fueled by the Canasta craze in the 1950’s.

These days you can only purchase vintage version of this device (they have not been made for decades) – but with a little bit of care and maintenance they will work much better and last a lot longer than the cheap plastic and electric ones you can purchase at Amazon.

I wanted to use one of these for a magical effect and thought the best use would be to perform one of the best card effects of all time: Out of This World.  And if you use a deck of Steven Perry’s Belly Strippers you are all set for an old world miracle 🙂

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