Review by Peter Chiang for Rich Bloch's Impossible Dream by Collectors' Workshop
5 out of 5
A nested box made for close-up magic.
It’s made of beautiful wood, very well crafted – and most of all, it’s a little thing!
Like most nested boxes, the performer needs to find their own way to make a ring or coin disappear first. Then, thanks to the clever design of the prop, there’s a convincing routine that makes it look like the object is “sent” into the box.
It’s a bit of a pity that not all of the boxes can be fully examined afterward, but it’s still great.
There are no angle issues, and while it makes a bit of noise, I don’t really care – because it’s such a cute little buddy, after all!
To the spectator, it feels more like a puzzle than a trick. To Alan Warner, it’s a love letter to collectors – a way to show off his incredible woodworking skills. The mechanism inside is so thin and well-crafted, it’s hard to believe it’s made of wood. There are no angle or noise issues, but with craftsmanship this good, those things just don’t matter anymore.
Review by Peter Chiang for The Witch's Tunnel (Ring-Automat) by Magiro, Howard Schwarzman
5 out of 5
This is the original version of Magic Wagon’s Ring Thru Sword Mystery. The prop is much smaller compared to the Magic Wagon version, which is what makes it truly remarkable, and the use of a plastic tube makes it appear even more “clean.” It would be better if the tube were a bit longer. When performing it, I encountered a slight angle issue. That being said, this prop is still very ingenious and well thought out.
Review by Andy Martin for Mighty Mini Chameleon Chest by Larry Becker, Tony Curtis, Magic Wagon
5 out of 5
Larry Becker created the first Chameleon Chest released by Larry and Viking. However, the Mighty Mini manufactured by Magic Wagon with the help of Tony Curtis is breathtaking!
The box is small, silent, very solid and beautiful to behold. The original one is still fine, but unless you are dealing with a lot of choices my preferred chest is the Mighty Mini and due to it’s size I feel it is even more versatile than the original.
As with many clever utility items once you have the perfect prop coming up with the perfect routine to do it justice. Larry includes six routines in the detailed instructions and any of them will work perfectly though in most cases you will need to provide some readily available extras like small golf pencils and pads.
For my routine I decided to base the routine on Mark Elsdon’s Guaranteed Jackpot. I found some perfect sized plastic numbers over at Amazon and came up with the following effect which I will video soon. I think it works very well with this beautiful box and I hope you like it.
Review by Andy Martin for Solid Brass Metamorphosis Coin by Bob Solari Magic
5 out of 5
Bob Solari released a series of Classic Collectibles in the early 1990’s. All of the pieces were well made in Solid Brass, they looked great, were solidly made, and worked perfectly. The effects in the series included:
This release is one of my favorites from Bob’s series – it looks great, is is easy enough for someone with my limited skills to perform and is easy to follow too 🙂
Review by Andy Martin for Phoenix Dice by Merlins Magic, Mark Lee
5 out of 5
This basic effect and method was first invented by James Lucier as The Cockeyed Skeleton In The Closet and described in Genii October 1949. The effect was also released c. 1949 through Sedghill Industries as The Scrambled Skeleton with credit also going to James Lucier. There have been many versions of all shapes and sizes ever since and Eddy Taytelbaum’s is probably the best I have seen.
Mark Lee of Merlins Magic has created a fine version and this is part of Merlins growing Premier Range. The one change that Mark has made is that each Die is gimmicked, instead of the more usual two, which means you can do some interesting routine variations, including at the end vanishing the red die completely 🙂 In addition, the addition of the lid for the tube ensures that no prying eyes are looking when they shouldn’t be.
I think you will like playing with this item and it has the most potential for innovation of the current crop of Premier Range items.
Review by Andy Martin for Vanishing Ring (Blue) by Sans Minds
5 out of 5
This is my favorite device for vanishing a ring. It works perfectly and looks clean without any preparation or set-up. This is the one to use. I can’t understand why Sans Minds stop making this beauty 🙁
Review by Andy Martin for Jumbo Metamorphosis (Fluchtkiste) Deluxe by Vienna Magic, Wolfgang Grosskopf
5 out of 5
This is a wonderful mini illusion with Jumbo Cards first created by Wolfgang Grosskopf as Fluchtkiste.
This is the nicest set I have seen and comes with a packing case to store the props. The packing case is a little beaten up but does its jobs and keeps the props together and protected. It is easy to perform and I added an extra stand to make it easier to present. Hopefully my Speed Demo will effectively demonstrate that 🙂
Review by Andy Martin for The Great Leon Glass Penetration by Merv Taylor, The Great Leon
5 out of 5
This amazing penetration was invented by The Great Leon (Leon Levy, NY 1876-1951) and manufactured perfectly by Merv Taylor c. 1945.
It really is remarkable how effective this looks and how easy it is to perform. When this was first released in August 1945 it was advertised as The Great Leon’s Improved Glass Penetration, but the instructions were called “The Great Leon Glass Penetration.” The original version came with 6 spikes, ribbon and skewer. However, by 1955 a couple of further improvements were made and the instructions were now called “The Great Leon’s Improved Glass Penetration.” It was released with 11 spikes and an external release for the gimmick.
In the instructions they talk about threading the ribbon in and out of the holes in addition to the spikes. To be honest I had mixed success with this because it takes extra time to thread the ribbon and I don’t think it looks as good as the spikes. So I added another 6 spikes and use 12 spikes and don’t spend much time with the ribbon.
This version is the original version and I have replaced the original cheaper 6 spikes with 12 golden colored galvanized steel spikes which blend perfectly with the color of the box.
In 2017 Magic Wagon released their version of this effect called Penetration 360 and in true Magic Wagon parlance they say their version was inspired by Merv Taylor’s version. Magic Wagon did not make any significant changes to the method. They describe how their version allows 14 spikes to penetrate the box. It is true this is not possible in the Merv Taylor version but this is simply because in the Merv Taylor routine he focuses on the ribbon going to and fro in the last few holes rather than all the spikes to add some extra interest. If Merv had wanted to put all the spikes through it would have been easy to do by changing the location of the center holes of the top. The way Magic Wagon describe this “ingenious addition” makes you think they did something special, whereas in fact all they did was reduce the size of the box. Now Magic Wagon did create a wonderful version and I would not take away from that, but I do wish they would not take so much credit for the effects they recreate when what they frequently do is use the exact same method with improved materials or fabrication techniques and aesthetic changes to the design.
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