Andy Martin

Clever, Convincing, and Beautifully Made!

This happens to be one of my favorite Alan Warner pieces. It makes use of an old principle to great effect and really produces an outstanding miracle.

Simply stated the effect is this: the box is shown and 2 sets of 5 tiles are tipped out. The spectator gets 5 and the magician gets 5. The magician then starts to place his tiles into the box face down, followed by the spectator one at a time. In each case the magician places his first, but when the box is turned over the order of the tiles match perfectly.

There are no switches or tricky sleights, the tiles and box can be examined, and it really looks this clean. A wonderful miracle from one of Magic’s Master Craftsmen.

Highly Recommended

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Ah! Alan Warner Genius and Beauty Combined!

I’ve always liked the look of these beautiful teak boxes. They are compact and strong and with the the red and blue chinese symbols look very striking.

What is even better about these boxes is that they are a general switching device, anything that fits in one box can be transported into the other box: cards, billets, letters, colors, etc. You could use them in forces, do as I do effects, mind reading effects – the list is long!

There are no switches, flaps or external devices – the boxes are totally self contained and the method is just so very clever.

You will love how they look and how they operate – very different from any othe card boxes I have seen.

Highly Recommended!

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Stronger than you would imagine!

At first glance Checkmate looks like you are predicting a 1 out of 3 outcome, but in fact it is stronger than that since you not only predict which color chess piece they will choose, but also which plaque they will place it on.

There is no forcing of colors, the answer can be different each time, but the effect cannot be repeated. The mulitple outs that are constructed into the wooden tablets are very convincing and not contrived as sometimes is the case.

I used to give this 4 stars, but over the years I have grown to appreciate its simplicy even more so have raised it to a 5.

Highly Recommended!

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Great Gimmicks, but takes some handling!

It is easy to have the belief that when you buy gimmicked coins you won’t really need to do any sleights. In the case of this effect it is not true. The gimmicks are very nicely made, and create an impossible effect. However, to do this convincingly requires a fair amount of practice of some standard sleights.

Of course, once you have mastered the moves you will have an absolute miracle on your hands and feel pretty proud of yourself at the same time!

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Magic Dealers might as well close!

I have spent a fortune on magic tricks and it amuses me how easily Richard Osterlind performs these incredible miracles with such every day objects. When you see him go through classic effects by Koran, Annemann, Corinda, Hoy, and others using precisely the methods and routines that they employed, without all of the "clever" enhancements that have come along over the years, it is really quite mind blowing.

It also becomes very clear, as I pointed out in my book review of Bruce Elliot’s Classic Secrets of Magic, that you really don’t need a lot of money to be a world class magician or mentalist. Just practice and presentation and lots of it.

Now it is fun buying "clever" magic tricks. Just don’t try to convince yourself that you need them to amaze and entertain an audience. You don’t and Richard Osterlind demonstrates this oh so clearly.

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I just Love this Effect!

This is the second version of T.A. Water’s Box Office that I have assembled from off the shelf parts – the other version was a bit more impressive, but in fact this one works better. It is just a very clever idea and whenever I find a box that will work I try and find some pieces to use for it.

I was particularly happy with this set because the box is perfectly designed for the effect.

The effect is well known by now I’m sure but goes as follows: you open the lid on the Pharaoh Keepsake box and inside are 5 different Egyptian symbols. You turn around and ask the spectator to choose any symbol, place it in their pocket and close the lid so that you cannot see it. You then open up the drawer of the box and find that there is just one symbol as a prediction in the box – naturally it matches their selection.

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The Best Card Clips!

Well when you want the best card clips money can buy you need look no further than Joe Porper.

These just do the job they were designed to do and keep your cards straight and in good working order. Until I started doing more walk-around recently I didn’t really see the use for them. But your cards start getting tatty really quickly if you don’t have some sort of clip.

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Great for Hobbyists – just don’t open a Store with it!

Making up decks with short cards, narrow cards and rough and smooth is great fun! Until this unit came along there really wasn’t much of an alternative but to get a professional unit to do your card cutting. Of course if you had the cash having one of these would be best. However, not many people have $700-$2000 spare to spend on a card cutter.

I have made up three decks with this card cutter and found it to do a fine job. It is not very flexible because you are unable to change the size of the cut you are making – if it is not one of the 5 templates that come with the unit. Most hobbyists want to create short cards or strippers, and as long as you don’t want to increase the depth of the cut this will do a fine job. You have to be careful and hold the card steady but it is certainly possible to create a svengali or stripper deck with no problem. And is quicker than you would imagine – about 30 minutes should see you done with a complete deck once you get the hang of it.

I was unable to create a Chameleon deck (where you have cards in sets of 3) as the short cards were not short enough and gave me incomplete results.

But if you need to shorten odd cards for packet tricks or make up some standard decks you should be fine and it is great fun to experiment. This unit will not round corners either so you will need something else to do that, and the instructions provide a number of options. You can get them from an office supplies store or pay twice as much for this one!

I hope to be able to get a proper card cutter one day, but until that happens this will keep me happy!

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This is Wild!

Every now and then an effect comes along that is so different it floors all the pros. This effect is just one of those effects. It looks like real magic, if we can remember what that looks like!

It is easy to do but does take a bit of handling practice … that means it will take 5 mins. to do it when you receive it but a couple of hours handling to make it smooth and get the angles right.

The gimmick works with any normal deck of cards and if you desire to use a different brand or color you can do so with a little effort. The cards can be freely handled before and after the effect too.

A very nice piece of real magic for the Holidays!

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This really is a Wonderful Utility Prop!

I love this prop. It has many, many uses and is a clever, but simple to operate, prop that you will love. You can perform many kinds of prediction effects from cards, to billets, to random questions. You can use it to force a card or cards, colors, numbers, etc. You can use it for a very clean Bank Night effect.

You can also use this prop to display cards, as a tray or as a black board. In addition, it is a very clever switching device that is very clean and silent. It truly is a utility prop.

This version comes with 4 pages of routines and ideas by Jay Leslie.

This effect was created by Herb Ort in 1956. It was then purchased by Jim Swoger in 1971 and the House of Enchantment. It has subsequently been re-released by Jay Leslie and the House of Enchantment in 2004. Illusion Makers made an unauthorized copy using the same method in the late ’70s or early ’80’s called Quadraplex. Quadraplex was built slightly better than the current Util-A-Prop with finer woods and materials, but they did so without any authority or permission of the original inventor. Even so Util-A-Prop is very well made and you will find many uses for it.

Highly Recommended!

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