5 Stars

Ed Massey invented this clever and original effect.  The initial version of Squeeze Away Block first appeared in Blackstone’s Annual of Magic c. 1929 in a contribution written and illustrated by Massey. Commercial versions started appearing c. 1946.

This is Conjuror’s Workbench (Jack Ruda) beautiful close-up version of it where you visibly make the solid center block disappear right in front of their eyes only to have it show up in a hat or somewhere else.

Made from solid black walnut, hand rubbed furniture-grade finish, top and sides are doweled with brass pins and the bottom is attached with screws for strength. The blocks are solid maple and the gimmick is made of brass and aluminum. There were only 12 of these made.

As much as I love the mechanics of the larger versions of this effect, they do have some real angle issues. The close-up versions are much easier to perform and this version from Jack Ruda is perfect to perform.

Click here for more information.

This is Richard Himber’s brilliant “The Big Trick” 🙂  This was initially released with the Topper effect, and was later advertised on its own. It is more startling than Topper which is probably why they did that.

I’ve seen many version’s of the razor blade cutting the deck, and it all started with Richard Himber’s Big Trick.  The quality of this box is something to behold: fine Italian leather, 24k gold dectorating, and solid gleaming chrome.  Looks stunning and beautiful.

The effect is easy to do and the reset takes less about a minute.  I love it 🙂

Click here for more information.

I’ve wanted to obtain one of Richard Himber’s Topper card boxes for many years and finally managed to track one down.  It looks beautiful and the two effects that were released with it are perfect:

• Topper
• The Big Trick

The key with this effect is the force has to be clean and so I created a special deck and added the torn corner to really sell the finale.  I don’t think it gets much better than this.

It is easy to do and has a very quick reset.  If you don’t want to tear the corner (which was not originally part of Richard’s effect) then the reset is even simpler, but I think it adds a lot with the torn corner.

Click here for more information.

What an absolute beauty this card box is from Bill Adams’ World of Magic. This is one of the very few card boxes I have seen that locks both ways – before the change the box can be examined and after the change too.  In fact you can actually use it multiple times. The craftsmanship on this box is easily as good as Owens Magic.

There are no magnets to get in the way either, with nothing added or taken away.  Pretty much the perfect Card Box.

Notice: It is a good size but will not hold a standard Jumbo card.

Click here for more information.