4 Stars

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.

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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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This clever effect is sadly not new with Tannen’s 🙁

The same basic method was actually created ten years earlier by Ed Mellon and engineered by James Swoger as Quantimental. In fact Quantimental is easier to set, more flexible, quieter, and has more choices.

However, even if Divining Rods is not as good as the original it is still a great prop and will certainly fool the average person. As we saw with the Jewels of Shah Jahan the problem with these clever devices that allow us to determine what the spectators have chosen is how to reveal them.  I thought about a simple routine which I hope will come over in my Speed Demo 🙂

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This effect was first known as The Mystery of Mysteries and was created c. 1880 by Martinka in the USA and Zauber-Klingl in Europe.  It was made popular by the versions manufactured by West German manufacturer Zaubertechnik Haug (often know as ZT Haug) and Mephisto-Huis.

Bali Magic Woodworks make some good wooden items, and their items look great on the web. But once delivered they sometimes fall a little short of the effects they are copying – at least in the two items I’ve seen from them. When this box arrived it was literally impossible to use it. I spent about an hour sanding and cleaning things up and now it works perfectly. For a 60+ year old product this would be a little more acceptable, but for a brand new item this should not be the case.

Also the latch on the smaller box really should be smaller or at least without a top lip.  This is purely aesthetic, but it bothered me and with a little attention could have been avoided.  When it comes to these more collectible items, attention to detail really does matter 🙂

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What a beautiful item from the talented craftsman from Croatia, Damir Djanis.  This is the sixth of Damir’s items released by George Robinson at Viking Mfg. and there is no doubt it is magnificently crafted.

However, as an effect initially it did not do much for me. The provided patter is interesting enough if you like telling stories. And, if you are a good story teller, then I’m sure the spectators will also be entertained.  But I don’t think it matters how good a story teller you are, they will not be that amazed by the reveal at the end. Telling a lay person what is inside a cleverly constructed magic box is not that amazing to them.  Something like the Tele-Vision Box which has a cleaner and simpler construction is much more effective because of the two boxes and there seems no way you could ever see inside both.  But with just a single lid it doesn’t take too much to think of ways to look inside with a peek here and a mirror there (to the layman at least).

That being said if you are collecting Damir’s magic you are probably doing it for the sheer joy of owning beautiful magic and probably not performing them to anyone but your magic buddies and for that purpose it is perfect 🙂 With the one exception of Damir’s Intangibility I could not see myself performing any of his other effects to lay people.  To be fair this is also true with a huge amount of the collectible magic we all love and cherish, so Damir is no different in this regard 🙁

However, after some thought about this problem I came up with a routine that I would be happy to perform to lay people that is entertaining and I believe quite amazing using El Duco’s Signed Card to Hip Wallet – please check out the Speed Demo 🙂 🙂

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This is a simple and convincing effect that is nicely made and easy to learn with no sleights.  It was built by Mark Lee of Merlins Magic and is part of Merlins growing Premier Range (which is worth checking out if you like reasonably priced and interesting close-up wooden items).

It is not a new idea and Will Wessel created a much more elaborate version with an extended routine with his China Ring Miracle about forty years ago, and I’m pretty sure Willi was not the first to use the method. It is most likely inspired by Brema’s Coin Thru Match c. 1935.

However, it would not shock me if the same effect was released by Thayer or described in Hoffmann’s Modern Magic. Whoever invented the original method, it is a clever and effective idea and this version works perfectly.

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This effect was invented by Marvillo and you can see his original one here.

It sounds like a great effect and I would love to see this performed over the counter such that you would instantly purchase it 🙂

I think the routine is a little weak. As written you are expected to show clearly only two dice and not the third (gimmicked one) because in the instructions it says:

“The spectator has seen the first two dice and will not expect anything different of the third gimmicked die.”

Maybe this would true if you allowed the spectator to examine all three dice at the beginning.  But if you don’t and instead show the first two dice clearly and partially hide the third one, all the spectator is going to think – what the heck is going on with that die?

So you need to start with the three normal die, switch out for the gimmicked one, then switch it back again at the end.  None of this is the end of the world, but it does make performing this in a convincing way quite a bit harder.  In addition the locking of the dice with the pins is not very clean and I’d like to see that done smoothly.

All in all I am not impressed with the routine.  But as the advert says the prop itself is beautifully crafted and that is true and they were made by the close-up master manufacturer himself: Per Clausen 🙂

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This is easily the best quality item I’ve ever seen from the original Sasco and it was first sold in the early 1990’s. This is a really nice set and looks great.  You do have to do the famous Okito move and you can be the judge of how good I do it in the Speed Demo (let’s hope!).

If you like the video then you’ll almost certainly be able to do it better, because if you watch my videos you’ll know performing sleights is not one of my strengths 🙁

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