Andy Martin

Amazing Quality, Great Magic!

More real furniture quality magic from those fast and efficient guys over at the Magic Wagon. The finish out on these props is just breathtaking – the inlay work is marvellous and everything is trimmed with this fine velvety material – it just looks very classy.

The new line has a very distinctive look and I think you can expect more great items from these guys in the near future.

Not only is this card box amazing to look at but the effect is rather unique. In a nutshell you show the box with the ribbon around it securely trapping a single card (or cards) that can be seen at all times through the glass. A spectator is given a normal deck of cards to shuffle and a card freely selected. When the card is removed from the card box it is seen to match perfectly. The card can be different every time and it is all examinable if required.

The instructions are clear and everything I have received from this company has been delivered and packaged very well.

Highly Recommended!

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Breathtaking Quality!

Ok so it is clear by now that the Magic Wagon guys are serious about quality props. This is probably the single finest piece of magic woodwork I have ever seen. It is that good! The finish, the lines, the inlay, the velvety lining, the snugness and fine tolerances of the whole unit is just breathtaking!

Everything about this screams high end quality. The effect might be as old as the hills and you grandmother may well guess the method, but to lay people the effect is stunning.

And for Collector’s what a huge treat you are in for, you will not be able to find a finer piece of "furniture" to fill your magic den with and each of the pieces in this line are just so much better than amost anything being produced today.

The instructions are clear and everything I have received from this company has been delivered and packaged very well.

Highly Recommended!

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Finally a gimmicked watch that works as a real watch and boy does it work!

Big Balls Richard Osterlind may not need to use a gimmicked watch, but for the rest of us they sure make things easier. Watches for the Mentalist seem to fall into two main camps: those based on the Stull Watch and those based upon Collector’s Workshop Perfect Time. In the former, the watch is gimmicked in such a way that you can predict what time the watch will stop at when set under cover by a spectator, and in the latter the watch can move quickly to any time chosen once a spectator says the time. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, and to a certain extent it is really personal preference.

This new watch from Bazar de Magia falls into the Stull Watch camp. Basically, even though the watch can be freely set to any time when the spectator sets it under cover you know precisely what time it will stop at. From there the rest is presentation. This particular watch rotates through 4 different times so it can be used multiple times to the same audience and also works in a walk around situation. In this sense it is similar to their last watch TimeTrix. However, the one very big difference is this watch not only really works, it is a great looking watch that most people would be more than happy to wear as their every day watch.

Having a watch that actually works really makes a huge difference. It is robust enough and easily good looking enough to wear as your normal watch, so now you are ready at a moments notice to amuse and amaze.

This is just the best practical Stull type watch I have seen. It is very accurate, comes with 17 great routines in a 33 page full-color instruction booklet, and is on my wrist right now.

These will go fast once word gets around, so snap one up now.

Most highly recommended!

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Wow! This is amazing!

So there are lots of effects based on the Koornwinder Kar, where the car finds the spectator’s selected card, but there is nothing I have seen like this amazing little car.

Yes the car finds the spectator’s card but how it finds it is so wonderful you’ll be playing with it just for fun! In the standard routine you draw 4 tracks on a piece of paper and place a different card at the end of each track. The tracks can cross or start as one then diverge, but the car always travels to the right track and hence finds the specators card. Everytime!

There are no magnets or hidden shims in the paper and in fact the paper and car can be examined – there is nothing to find. The spectator can even place the car on the track! The basic ability of this car is that it will always follow the track you want it to. You can create complex tracks and lines and the car will follow them. You just need a pen to create the track and you are off – just a normal pen and a normal piece of paper.

It really is an amazing idea – goodbye Koornwinder Kar this is so much better!

Highly Recommended!

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Wow! Winston Freer was a Genius!

What an incredible miracle this effect is! Very different in method from anything like it that I have seen.

In a nutshell the effect is this: a puzzle fills a frame and is made up of 10 different sized pieces with 7 x 9 = 63 squares. On 3 successive tries a single tile is removed. Each time the puzzle can be quickly reassembled and each time there are 63 squares. In the end, the puzzle is put back into the frame, and even though 3 squares are missing it still fits the frame precisely the same as when you started.

Now for the good news, nothing is added or taken away, the props and moves look clean, and there are no false compartments or slides. It really is as clean as it looks and reset is as easy as counting from 1 to 10! Learning to actually do the moves will take five minutes or so, however, performing it will take a little longer so that the presentation flows nicely with the amazing effect. The routine that is included is an entertaining story involving the Theory of Relativity and comes with written directions and a DVD. On the DVD John Rogers performs the effect and includes basic instructions and performance tips.

Highly Recommended!

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Delben Quality Today!

I have always been a fan of Ben Stone’s Delben Blotter. Unfortunately, they have been increasingly difficult to track down, and apart from the awful, unathorized blotter from Magic Makers, they have not been available for years.

With the permission of "Danny’s Trix & Kix" of Spring, TX (the current owners of the Delben line) George Robinson at Viking and Joe Steven’s at Steven’s Magic have collaborated and created a blotter that even Ben Stone would be proud of. George has stayed as close as possible to the original Delben Blotter (as can be seen in the last photo) and has produced a very attractive blotter at a good price.

It is great to see Ben’s work revived in the capable hands of George Robinson, and one can only wonder what other treats Joe and George have in store over the coming year?

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The Best Index Wallet?

Larry Becker + Lee Earle have a wonderful line of unique effects and tools for the mentalist. This particular wallet is one of my favorites. It allows you to basically predict up to 13 different predictions: cards, billets, bills, etc. It has so many possibilities, the mind boggles!

It is easier to use than any other index type wallet I have seen and certainly versatile. With 13 outs you can pretty much do anything.

The only issue with the wallet is the size – it is certainly larger than standard wallets, however this is necsssary for the flexibility of the index system. It does not arouse suspicion when used, but it just is unlikely to become your regular everyday wallet. But they don’t advertise it as such either so you should not be expecting that.

Highly Recommended!

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Even better than Run Rabbit Run!

I think that Run Rabbit Run is probably one of the best if not the best "Children’s Effects" ever devised. This version is even better because not only do you have all the fun of the original, but you can have extra fun with the whole Cookie Monster theme.

This may not be the strongest or best made version, but for sheer entertainment and story telling I think it is very hard to beat. No longer available, so difficult to track down. But if you see one, snap it up!

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Ah Original, Quality Magic!

Harold Voit has marketed some great magic. This item and one of my other favorites, the Wandering Mummies, are both beautifully made, effective, and clever – a collector’s dream.

This particular piece, made by the German Master Craftsman Tony Lackner, is really a utility item, in that you can control what the hand points to – and it can be different each spin. But when you dress it up like this, the performance and story aspects really incease and you can perform some very impressive, and scary, magic. Perfect for bizarre performances, or any Alan Warner collector who is inspired by his Equptian themes.

Briefly the effect is: 6 items are chosen – these can be anything within reason, and laid around the stand. A spectator selects one and is handed the box with Cleoptra’s hand encased. The spectator removes the hand and places it on the base. They then spin it and as it spins it slowly comes to a stop and points to their chosen card. The key thing is that the spectator places and spins the hand themself without any interaction from the magician.

A very beautiful effect. Be wary of cheap knock-offs that have recently been offered, get the original that Joe Steven’s is now offering again.

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High Quality, Clean, and Amazing

This effect is variation on a classic Al Koran routine and I must say how beautifully made the wallets are and how clean the whole effect is.

In performance, you show a deck of cards clearly to be all different. You show your wallet with a single card facing back towards them and a hundred Dollar bill. If you don’t get the prediction right they win the cash!

You ask them to simply count the cards face-up on to your hand and stop whenever they feel like it – there is no force. The card they stop at is the card used – you open your wallet and turn over the card (there is only one card in the wallet), and it matches their prediction. Now for the final suprise finish the wallet is turned over and printed in gold on the back of the wallet is the name of the card they chose.

Reset is a snap, and the result can be different between performances, so it can be done in a walk around situation.

The only down side with this effect is that you should ideally wear a jacket or something with large pockets, pant or shirt pockets are unlikely to be large enough.

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