Review by Andy Martin for Chained Lightning by Tannen's
4 out of 5
I wish I could have seen Lou Tannen perform this. It sounds amazing from the ad copy 🙂
After reading the instructions it sounds easy enough but I’m not sure how effective it is until I see a Speed Demo of this bad boy, and I hope to spend some time on this soon to produce one. I think if you practiced this for a couple of hours you would be able to get the timing down pretty smoothly. I didn’t have that amount of time for the Speed Demo and it is not perfect but it is ok. If I was performing this on a regular basis I think it would become second nature, but not this time.
The props are well made and this certainly has the potential to be more amazing than an earlier version of this effect called Magic Welding by Louis Nikola, though it does require a couple of moves to achieve the same effect.
Review by Andy Martin for AppeaRing by Bopoco Magic, Silver Wing, Carpenter Wong
4 out of 5
This is a wonderful idea and looks amazing.
However, the quality of this prop is a little questionable so I don’t know how long it will last, but it actually works well thus far. The band thickness you can use is also quite limited, it only works with thin bands and I would not want to give the prop to the spectator to open for very long, but in a controlled environment it can be a really amazing effect.
The remote is small and works very well. Once you have a ring that fits you’ll find this very easy to perform.
Review by Lee Alex for The Crown Jewels by Supreme Magic Company, Arthur Leo
4 out of 5
“The Crown Jewels” used to be a staple in my children’s shows. The one pictured here appears to be a later version. The jewels in the version I have are glitter-covered, not hologram.
I was very particular about the colours of the jewels as I began the routine with three separate silks in the holes in the crown – red, yellow and blue to match the missing jewels. These were in fact a Blendo silk. The same silk was then used with the tumbler. I too was dubious about the method, but that is what I used every single show, and it seemed to get the responses!
I have bought a brand new original of this (was lucky enough to find the glitter jewels in the colours I wanted), so now I have spare parts from the one I used to perform in the late ’80s. I am happy to say that the tumbler I picked up appears never to have been used – no scratches, and the silk supplied (always purple?) is still folded in its original state.
I wanted to replace my original card cover too as that had been battered with a lot of use over the years. I am sure if this item were to be produced today, the card would be laminated, or indeed made from a more substantial material. Surprisingly the edges of the original card are bare – so many of Supreme’s silk screened cards were edged with something similar to gaffer tape.
After the demise of Supreme Magic, Ian Adair released a version of this effect, but I always preferred the Supreme one – simple esthetics.
I was not aware of the “Royal Robbery” – for me the crown looks too complicated with so many jewels. Again I would choose the Supreme version for the
way the crown looks.
As has been pointed out by Andy, this effect could be topical once again. It would be an easy matter to replace the picture of the king with a caricature of King Charles III!
Review by Andy Martin for Vampire (Vintage) by Abbott's
4 out of 5
This is the original version of Abbott’s Vampire – it is not my favorite version of the classic effect The Vampire Block. But as long as you have the correct gimmick it can work very smoothly as the video show.
Review by Jeff Topp for Diary of Decision by Doc Dixon
4 out of 5
After getting the hang of this little gem. I love it. You can really play this up. After I’m done with the diary I go to a webpage that has the meanings of all the 52 cards. Which I read to the spectator as well as an add on. Too bad this is a deleted item.
Review by Andy Martin for Tip Color (Color Clairvoyance) by Hollywood Magic
4 out of 5
This little box was made in Germany and it is a bit like a poor man’s Jewels of Shah Jahan – you can perform the same effect for a fraction of the cost. I am not sure if Bert Wheeler’s Hollywood Magic were the first company to import this item, but they were the earliest ad I could find. It was also sold by Paul Diamond, Tannen’s and others under the name Color Clairvoyance.
Although the box is made from plastic it is good quality and works very well. The mechanism is easy to operate and difficult to detect.
Review by Andy Martin for The Princess Mystic Vial by Joe Berg, Charles Miller
4 out of 5
A great little outfit created by Joe Berg and Charles Miller that was very popular in the early days of the Princess Magic Shop in Chicago. It can be adapted to many effects, and includes three as released.
I had a few issues with the cork and it does take some practice to be quiet, but it probably needs a different size cork to the one supplied (which is likely not the original, given that this effect is almost 100 years old). But I think if you find the correct cork and spend an afternoon playing with it this could be a real winner and you’ll have something the other guy does not.
Review by MIKE KETCHAM for Broken and Restored Plate (The Plate Restored) by Haenchen
4 out of 5
GREAT TRICK BUT THE MAGICIAN MUST HAVE A GENEROUS SUPPLY OF MATCHING PLATES BECAUSE YOU DESTROY A PLATE WITH EVERY PRESENTATION. I OBTAINED A LARGE SUPPLY OF MATCHING PLATES @ GOODWILL
Review by Andy Martin for Wooden Collection by Sam Dalal
4 out of 5
Here is a wonderful collection of low priced “Collector’s” items from the famous Indian producer of magic products Sam Dalal ? Good old Sam the Sham, you can’t keep a good man down.
No one is going to believe these items rival the wood craftsmanship of (in no particular order) Colin Rose, Alan Warner, Kent Bergmann, Owen Magic Supreme, Michael Baker, Paul Lembo, Mel Babcock, Dave Powell, Magic Wagon, Thomas Pohle, Francois Danis, Louis Gaynor, Viking Mfg., to name just a few of the many thousands on this website.
However, if you have a low budget or are used to plastic versions of these items you’ll be more than happy with these wooden miracles from Sam.
Review by Andy Martin for Divining Rods 2 by Tannen's, Unknown
4 out of 5
The standard version of this effect was apparently so popular the mini version was released about six months later. When I first saw this version I thought it was the mini version until I received it and noticed it weighed twice as much as the standard version. So this is not the “Mini” version. Internally it is quite a lot more complex than the original version released by Tannen’s too. So I don’t know if this was later released by Tannen’s or in fact a different manufacturer. I am assuming it was created by a different manufacturer.
The one improvement on this version is you can cleanly slowly the back of the prop without any thumbs. However, this also means that you actually have to touch the box to discover what the choices were.
Although this appears to be a copy of the Tannen’s version (which itself is inspired by Ed Mellon’s Quantimental) it could in fact have been released earlier.
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