4 Stars

Magiarte were a magic dealer and manufacturer in Portugal of a unique line of magic c. 1956-1996.  They were founded by Armindo de Matos and Eduardo Franco.  Their beautiful hand painted props are quite rare today and are perfect for display.

The instructions that came with this item say that the photo album starts off with all six color postcards and then just one vanishes to appear later in the ornate frame.  But a listing on Potter & Potter says the album starts empty and then the six color postcards appear inside the album.  I think the best way to present this would be like this:

• Show the empty stage stand and six color postcard and flags.
• Place the six flags (Portugal, France, Spain, UK, USA, and Brazil) with the back out on the stand
• Show the six color postcards.
• Flip through the empty photo album that has place holders for six countries with flags.
• Have a flag chosen from the stand to select which country wins the contest.
• Vanish the six color postcards (using your favorite method!).
• Show the appearance of postcards inside the photo album.
• But one is missing and instead a large flag is shown in its place.
• Reveal the chosen flag (it is the same flag as appeared in the album).
• Show the chosen color postcard appearing on the stage stand.

This seems to be a better routine with a lot of magic and some beautiful colorful props the likes of which you probably have not seen very often.

This effect certainly could be performed, but it probably has more appeal to the collector. The stage stand where the beauty contest winner appears is a little temperamental and has to be handled with some extra control. The photo album and flag cards are cardboard and paper and they probably would not stand up to too much abuse. Having said that they look very good for a sixty year old prop!

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Magic Wagon had a phenomenal 2020 and created some amazing items.  This is Magic Wagon’s version of U.F. Grant’s Bamboo Chest and Glass. Until I saw Rob’s video (brotherbor on youtube) I was going to write this one off as a bit of a dud, but Rob really brings it home with the extra vanish – that was a stroke of genius!

I still think that by removing the liquid piece and making the vase smaller Magic Wagon have made this less amazing than the original.  But as Rob clearly shows, with a little big of imagination you can still perform this and make it seem quite amazing and entertaining 🙂

It is beautifully made, and if you perform it the way Rob does with the bonus “vanish” I think it can be a fooler.  But if you don’t, I think this is more of a puzzle and not an outright fooler as the original version clearly was (assuming of course it was performed well!).

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Mary Tomich formed the Thaumysta Magic Co. in 1992 and catered for bizarrists and kindred spirits.  The Elfin Chest is almost a big hit – the props looks very interesting and the effect and method are all workable.  But the props are so small they are difficult to use.  The sun revelation etched into the crystal ball is ok, but not as clear as I would like.  If I was to perform this I think I would get some larger cards and maybe get a better image of the sun on the ball. 

A worthy and interesting attempt with an intriguing patter, but just misses the mark.

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The original version of this effect was invented by the genius Robert Harbin c. 1946 as Dippy Magnet. The Dutch Micro Magic master, Eddy Taytelbaum, created a stunning version which earned him third place at the 1961 FISM Close-Up/Card Competition.  Another beautiful version was built by Carl Williams in the Okito-Williams style.

This version by Georges Proust though not as pretty as Carl’s is still very well made and is a lot cheaper and more practical to actually perform.  There are five routines included and some interesting ideas that I’m sure you will find one to use and perform.

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Here is another item offered through Howard Schwarzman’s Limited Editions Magic line created by Magiro.  It was originally released by Eckhard Boettcher as Mentale Zauberstäbchen.  It uses the same method that was used by Viking’s Trans-Mental c. 1988.  However, I spoke to George Robinson and he has never seen Magiro’s version, instead he came up with the idea from an old Brema effect called Coin Divination.  Viking’s version is certainly a more superior product, but they both work well.

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This is Vincenzo Di Fatta version of Mike Shelley’s and Morty Rudnick’s Zig Zag Card Outdone. Even though it came out 21 years later it is not more deceptive.  The plastic manufacture makes it more durable and solid, but it is about twice as thick as the original and it is easier to flash things if you don’t keep the unit straight on.  It is still a great illusion, but I just think the original is better.

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This is a very worthy attempt by Jim Sherman’s National Magic Company to create a card box as good as P&L’s stunning Ultra Perfect Card Box. 

My copy is past it’s prime (and it looks like the interior has been repainted), but you can see how close Jim got.  The soldering is not as clean and the overall finish  is a not as shiny (though that could be age).  If you look at the final photos you can see how similar it looks to the Standard Model P&L pictured.  But a very worthy attempt and a nice looking card box for sure.

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This is visually appealing item from Bob Kline and there were only 12 made.  The unit stands 14″ high and is very well made of thick Plexiglas. The wheel spins very smoothly and it is easy to perform.  If desired the whole dial can be examined and freely spun before and after.

The effect is very similar to the classic Spirit Clock Dial using cards instead of a clock dial.  The method in fact is the same as Tony Lackner’s Astral Dial though I’m pretty sure it was first used decades before that.

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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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One more from the talented Kent Bergmann! Before Kent became the king of 3D printing he created quite a stir with his Z-Wood (Zebrawood) line of magic. This is a rare beauty from those times. Anything from his Z-Wood Magic line is highly sought after by collectors.

Betcha looks really pretty, but the effects that come with it are a little disappointing compared with the quality of the props.  In essence there is a magician’s choice, a mathematical game, a corny joke, and a surprising magical transposition to end. Luckily all is not lost … if I was to perform Betcha I would incorporate one or two other effects:

• Free Will using the props that come with Betcha (die, chess piece, domino, and prediction)
• And for a real optional kicker the new Anverdi Mental Dice.

This is the order I would run them in:

1. Play the game of NIM
2. Free Will (play this last if you don’t do the Anverdi Mental Dice)
3. Domino transposition
4. Anverdi Mental Dice (Extra Optional Bonus)

If you don’t have either Free Will or the new Anverdi Mental Dice I would strongly advise that you get them …

Of course you can stick with the original routine and you might decide to tweak it a little.  It is not bad, but just felt a little light for the beautiful props. If it was a cheaper item it would probably be fine.  But who are we kidding, if you are a collector you’ll probably never perform this anyway, so it will look great on the shelf regardless 🙂

I would give this 5 stars if Free Will had been incorporated into the original effect.

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