5 Stars

What a clever idea from Jeff Prace. The basic method, used with coins, is old but what Jeff has created is something, as far as I know, completely new. It is one of those rare instances where the second you see the trick you know you have a winner on your hands.  I immediately purchased three full decks and will get more.  This is the sort of prop you will want to make sure you never run out of ever.

It is perfectly made and looks as innocent as you can make a force.  There is nothing to do but have the spectator tear the cards up and shake their hands.

The only real challenge for this prop is finding an effect that benefits from the perfect force.  I was playing with this and at the same time was taking photos of Milson Worth’s Curious Cubes and thought – that would be perfect.

You are going to absolutely love Random Card Generator – really excellent job Jeff 🙂

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Johnson Precision Magic or Johnson Products are well known for their fake coins and brass coin gimmicks. But this was one of their early non-coin effects, that was made equally well as any of their coin work.

This has been long unavailable which is a shame because it really is a wonderful effect. The props are well made and it has a clean simple method that will impress you.

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A Tricky Tray was invented by Oswald Rae and described in his book The More You Watch (c. 1938). However, although it is a switching tray it is not the same as  Ken Allen’s prop called Tricky Tray that was released 16 years later (C. 1954) and sold in two versions: the standard Tricky Tray (7″ x 12″) and the Tricky Tray Jr. (5.5″ x 7″).

Oswald Rae’s tray is significantly more complex than Ken Allen’s and for most circumstances I would use Ken’s.  You can do similar effects with both, though Ken’s is more flexible and because it is so thin and plain it really does seem free from trickery.

Ken sold both of his trays with six pages of detailed instructions that features some really good ideas over and above the popular Bank Night effect.

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Daggering was invented by Fred Lowe c. 1964.  This version was released by Repro 71 c. 1975 with no mention of Fred Lowe anywhere.  In addition, as released, Repro 71 did not even include the Dagger itself or even an oriental stick.

I added the “dagger” for completeness.  What you cannot see in the photos, of course, is the gimmick that makes it all work.  Unfortunately, I have not seen an original Fred Lowe gimmick so cannot comment on how close Repro 71’s is.  However, Repro 71 do provide a well constructed gimmick which works perfectly for the effect.  It just would have been nice to have some mention of Fred Lowe 🙁

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This wonderful kids item was invented by Jimmy Fingers and released by Max Andrews under his Vampire Magic brand. It has a lot going for it with brightly colored wooden props, an interesting patter line, and some great magic where the piggies vanish even though they are apparently tied up for all to see and produced later from a sty that was clearly empty before.

This is the later improved model where both windows are on hinges and open individually which make for a more convincing show that the pigs are locked in place.

You don’t see kids magic like this anymore that is for sure: great props, a fun engaging story coupled with some strong magic 🙂

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This entertaining kids routine was first published by David Kite in Abracadabra (Feb. 1st, 1969) then released by Roy Baker c. 1970.

It has a lot going on with classic sucker turn-it-around action and visual changes and a surprise ending that really flaws the kids 🙂

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What a wonderful effect from Gene Elmo and the routine designed by David Ginn and published in M.U.M. (October 1981) and later in David’s book School Show Presentations is priceless. Although Test Tube Bunny is basically a version of of U.F. Grants Crystal Silk Cylinder the design and routine take it to the next level for sure.

Like most collectors (and performers for that matter) I don’t have a real bunny but I found the closest cuddly bunny I could find that matches the picture on the silk.  If you look at the photo closely it is almost the spitting image of the picture on the silk.  It is these attentions to detail that make all the difference and you know we have your back in The Porcupine 🙂

Notice: This is in good used condition.  There is some scuffing on the interior gimmick, but if you like the video you’ll see it does not impact the effect at all.  This does not come with the original instructions but I have included the full routine from David Ginn and a copy of Grants’ instructions for Crystal Silk Cylinder.

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Ben Stone invented the Two Hole Wrist Chopper and although Joe Karson (of Zombie fame) might want to lay claim to it (and it is still called the Karson Wrist Chopper on the Owen’s site) – he did not invent it, but Ben Stone did and it is clearly documented by Michael Rose in his wonderful book Joe Karson – Beyond Zombie (Chapter 11).

This version is a really beautiful version of Ben’s signature effect.

Rumor has it, these were made about 1990 by an East Coast magic dealer. Ben Stone was actually shown this and asked if he made it, he said, “No, but I’m still the original creator.”  Ben admired the workmanship behind it.  If you know who created this please contact me here.

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U.F. Grant took the Pagoda Mystery from Thayer and created a double load version and it works very well.  This is the Mak magic one and it really is solidly made.

If you wanted to maximize your output and surprise factor you could do very well with this outfit.

Includes:

• Grant’s Double Load Pagoda (Large) by Mak Magic
• 36″ Rice Silk ($55 retail bonus.)
• Large bouquet of Spring flowers (bonus.)
• Appearing Teddy Bear ($96 retail bonus.)

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What a very clean and impressive effect by Hathaway.  The Abbott’s version is quite different and a lot larger than the Haenchen version here.

I do really like this effect but it has one major problem – every time you perform this you need to destroy the handkerchief. This is not a problem if you can get them cheaply but when I worked with this I needed a 17″ handkerchief to cover the space, and those are harder to find.  In addition the handkerchiefs that work best are silk not cotton – cotton can get too bulky.

Also, of course, if you use silk handkerchiefs good luck borrowing one from a spectator.  I think these days you can rarely assume someone has a white handkerchief readily available anyway.  So I would not even attempt to borrow the hanky.  So now you just need to find cheap silks for repeat performances, which I think is possible.  For my tests I was paying $15 per silk so I could not do many live tests.

But I think if you use the correct handkerchief’s this is quite an amazing illusion.  But it takes work, sourcing, and practice to get it right.

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