5 Stars

My good Friend Alan Warner always shows me the money  🙂

There have been many versions of the money maker, I liked the Delben Blotter and Carl Williams’ version even more, and of course Owen’s Denver Mint. However, Alan Warner in his usual imaginative style has taken a fairly simple effect made it look beautiful and added the double whammy of the note changing not once but twice.

The box is very distinctive and the mechanism works very cleanly.  It is actually quite amazing how he gets the change to work twice without removing or stealing anything away. Very simple to do and a sheer delight to behold.

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This is one of Mikame’s Finest! This is a very well made chest for switching cards, billets, business cards, and other small thin items. It’s primary unique feature is that the gimmick does not operate until you press the secret release – this means that you can have a spectator freely open and close it and nothing will happen until you are ready. The gimmick operates very well and is pretty much invisible.

It also looks very nice and is a pleasure to operate. Of course Mikame are not the first to have a card box like this and in fact Viking/Collector’s Workshop have two devices that are actually better in some circumstances:

• Chameleon Chest which has a larger load area and is used very much to switch billets. Unfortunately, you cannot give it out for examination – normal handling is ok, but you have to watch the spectator. The Chameleon Chest also comes with some very wonderful routines by Larry Becker.
• Psychic Sword – this box is actually closest to the features of the Mikame Changing Chest, in that it has a locking mechanism such that the box can be opened and closed before operating the gimmick. The mechanism is well hidden, but not secret and the gimmick could be operated almost without a spectator knowing it. Probably unlikely, but certainly not impossible. The Mikame one is secret and could not operate without knowing the secret.

So which one do you choose? Well I guess I would choose Chameleon Chest first, then Psychic Sword, then the Mikame one. However, having all three is a perfect solution and you will find times when each one proves useful!

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The Magician’s Changing Chest is one of Mikame’s Finest!  It is a very well made chest for switching cards, billets, business cards, and other small thin items. It’s primary unique feature is that the gimmick does not operate until you press the secret release – this means that you can have a spectator freely open and close it and nothing will happen until you are ready. The gimmick operates very well and is pretty much invisible.

The other feature of this chest is its size – it is large enough to load up with your full close-up act and you can be using it to remove items from during your show – making it seem even more innocent.  You can then blow them away with an amazingly clean prediction effect which is so perfect for this chest –   Hen Fetsch’s Tridento.

It is hard to find a better effect suited for this chest and because it’s use is so clean it really becomes a miracle as you can see in the video.

Includes:

• The beautiful Mikame Magician’s Changing Chest.
• Two decks of cards required for the amazing Hen Fetsch effect Tridento.

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Mel Babcock is the king of Die Boxes, and his See-Thru Block Box is no exception. It’s hard to imagine where the block goes – but baby it sure does go! This is much heavier and better quality than the Mikame Craft  which you might have seen before. When you hold this in your hand you know you have a prop that will last a lifetime – just feels so solid.

This is the rarer red block, all of the other ones I have seen use a bright yellow block.  This is the 3″ size.

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This is one of the earliest pieces created by Michael Baker. It was built after Bob Tysl contacted Michael to build a vanish created by Eric Lewis that was featured in Albo 04 – Further Classic Magic With Apparatus by Robert J. Albo.

Five years later he went on to make an even more impressive and colorful version featured here. But this was the original version and what a clever beauty it is.

The sound of the vanish does need to be masked by placing the tube down at the same time, but as can be seen in the video it can be quite effective.  What is the real convincer is you can see the block in the tube even when it is removed from the cabinet.  Also the cabinet can be looked at quite closely from the front and the top before and after the vanish and nothing can be seen. When you first try it, the vanish is quite magical in itself – where did that block go 🙂

The Sewell Block on Rod Appearance is more well known and is one of the most amazing appearances you will find.

Although the later version of this effect is better, at the time this version was one of the most technically challenging props you could build. The effect is amazing and this will look impressive in your collection and it is much rarer too. Michael only made two of these.

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If you have ever loved playing with the beautiful brass chips of Per Clausen, Eddie Gibson, El Duco and many others you have good old Sam Dalal to thank for that.  Sam created a series of ground breaking chip effects in the late 1970’s and they have been copied and improved ever since.

But Rainbow Chips was the original that paved the way for all these brass miracles all the way from India and Sam The Sham 🙂  And Sam tells me they sold tens of thousands of these bad boys!

Rainbow Chips were inspired by a still older effect called Spooky Spots c. 1948.

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If you have ever loved playing with the beautiful brass chips of Per Clausen, Eddie Gibson, El Duco and many others you have good old Sam Dalal to thank for that.  Sam created a series of ground breaking chip effects in the late 1970’s and they have been copied and improved ever since.

This is the second Chip effect Sam created called Super Psychic Chips and like Rainbow Chips it has been copied and “improved” ever since including: Prediction Chips by Per Clausen, Chinese Sting by Eddie Gibson and Colour Coins by Mark Leveridge.

But you have Sam Dalal to thank for the original ideas that seemed to have generated a whole sub industry of Chip Effects ever since 🙂

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This is a great looking prop from Sam Dalal – it is well made and looks great even close-up. It makes for an interesting variant to the other more classic card in balloon effects.

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This is more like it! I have owned a number of versions of this effect – but this is by far the best made, easiest, and most convincing – well apart from the original of course!

The bolt can be examined both before and after, the bolt visibly unscrews itself even with the magician away from the bolt. The bolt can be covered by a glass dome. You can even look inside the case and it just looks like a simple close-up case.

This is the best item I’ve seen from India to date – very good indeed.

If I had any complaints at all – and I’d be pushing myself – the box itself although it looks nice is quite cheap in construction. It would not hold up to be thrown around too much. But at the price point, I’m not sure what else could be done.

If you’ve been burnt with this effect before, now is the time to try again. I really love this effect!

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