Andy Martin

This is another wonderful and interesting looking puzzle effect from Alan.  His two previous items: Red Chinese Puzzle and  The Oracle are quite different to Rainbow Puzzle and all have a place in your collection.  This starts of as a simple geometric rearrangement of the puzzle pieces from one complete puzzle to one with a missing piece.  Then the missing piece disappears from one box and ends up embedded in the puzzle in the other closed box.

Easy to do and easy to reset and remember with Alan’s clever visual aids 🙂 Never underestimate the power of a visual aid when it comes to setting magic props.  Alan uses the lid to remind you the order of the puzzle pieces and a black dot in the corners of the pieces to tell you which direction each piece should go.  It doesn’t sound much, but once you read the simple rule you’ll be able to create either puzzle without once referring back to the instructions – which is always a welcome feature in my book.

If you don’t have this one in your collection then it is time you did.

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What can I say about this beauty?  One of my all time favorite effects in magic is The Wandering Mummy and although Eddy Taytelbaum’s version is the most desirable I have owned many others.

Magic Wagon’s version is perhaps one of the cleanest version I have seen and works perfectly. What is unique about this version is that the two sarcophaguses nest together. This is a nice touch as you don’t need an extra box to carry the mummy’s in.

Magic Wagon have also taken care of all sounds that often accompany this effect and the routine can easily be performed without a hitch.  Quite amazingly I could not find one video demo of this item on YouTube,  which for such a popular and easy to perform effect is pretty surprising.

(Click here for more history about The Wandering Mummy)

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A wonderful looking illusion from Thomas Pohle.  It is very similar to Angleo Carbone’s Prison Box and Squeeze Thru, though Thomas has never owned either of these items.  His effect is based on a cardboard model he saw on YouTube. Thomas wanted to make it in wood – and improve it with his creation of the locking tab. While Thomas’ cabinet is not the same as the two effects mentioned – out of respect for Angelo Carbone – this initial run of Houdini’s Escape will be the only ones ever made. There were fifteen units sold.

Thomas has done an amazing job on the look and working of this effect – it looks perfect and the mechanism is smooth and easy to use.  It is possible to lock the unit in place (unlike the Angelo Carbone’s versions), and this is a minor miracle in itself, with very fine tolerances.  For me I don’t think it is necessary to lock the unit, but having the option is good to have.

A very fine piece that is sure to please both the Thomas Pohle fans and the Houdini Collectors, and given there are only fifteen units available these will be in higher demand.

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Here is a rare beauty from the German master magic duo of Tony Lackner and Eckhard Boettcher c. 2000.

The props are well made and look interesting and colorful and the method is easy to do.  It comes with a great patter  story filled with drama and intrigue which I have done my best to edit and enhance below (beginning with a basic google translation).  Basically the princess is hidden under one of the three pillars and if her brother, the prince, cannot find her on the first attempt, the lovely and beautiful princess will be forced to marry a hundred year old Persian scholar who is possibly the ugliest person in the world. 

The pressure is on to save the princess …  which of course you do by successfully producing an envelope with the name of the pillar that the princess is under 🙂

This effect has recently been remade and significantly upgraded using an electronic gimmick as The Mystery of Horus by N8 Quality Magic. This is the original that uses an old school method that needs no batteries, and requires no reset or maintenance.  Not a sexy method but reliable and just as amazing to the spectator 🙂

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The Coin Wand was first exposed in Hoffman’s Modern Magic as The Half-Crown (or Florin) Wand (pg. 203), it was first used in performance c. 1872. Stanyon’s advertised their version c. 1902, Roterberg advertised there version c. 1904, and Thayer were advertising theirs at least as early 1921 but probably earlier. Thayer also had a Slender Coin Wand, but this did not use the same mechanical approach.

Colin’s Coin Wand is about as smooth as the Owen’s Coin Wand though the finish is not quite as nice and there is no flared end with the Owen’s.  Like the Owen’s this does makes a slight scraping sound which can be heard very close-up, but this is not a close-up item anyway so it is moot.  Very fine motion.

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Magic Wagon had a phenomenal 2020 and created some amazing items.  This is Magic Wagon’s version of U.F. Grant’s Bamboo Chest and Glass.

Updated 3/18/2021: Forget about everything else I wrote below, Simon Corneille has just released his fantastic video and it really takes this effect to a whole new level. EXCELLENT Simon 🙂

Original Comments: 12/31/2020: Until I saw Rob’s video (brotherbor on youtube) I was going to write this one off as a bit of a dud, but Rob really brings it home with the extra vanish – that was a stroke of genius!

I still think that by removing the liquid piece and making the vase smaller Magic Wagon have made this less amazing than the original.  But as Rob clearly shows, with a little big of imagination you can still perform this and make it seem quite amazing and entertaining 🙂

It is beautifully made, and if you perform it the way Rob does with the bonus “vanish” I think it can be a fooler or the way Simon does it it is guaranteed to be a fooler.  But if you don’t, I think this is more of a puzzle and not an outright fooler as the original version clearly was (assuming of course it was performed well!).

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I’ve been a big fan of the Devano Rising Cards for years and until I saw Rob Bromley’s rising cards I was quite happy with my George Richbark produced Devanos.  However Rob Bromley’s Rising Cards is as good if not better in some ways than even the classic Devano.  The block is tiny – even slightly smaller than the Richbark but it is sealed.  This can be a good or a bad thing, but because the block is so thin it is mostly good.  The only real downside I have with the Rob Bromley rising cards is that they use a sticky instead of the metal pins used by the Devano.  I just prefer the pins, although the sticky appears to work just as well most of the time (just need to check it from time to time).

Anyway you can’t go wrong with this Rising Cards and it is the one I currently use too (I have some spares).

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Even though I normally don’t like gimmicked versions of Paul Curry’s “Out of This World” this deck is technically not gimmicked (it is simply a deck with a half red backs and half black backs) I do like Stephen Tucker’s thinking.  This is probably more to fool magicians than something you would replace Out of This World to lay people because the premise is kind of strange – why are you dealing the cards face-up?

But it still has some merit and unlike many other versions I decided to keep this one for now as it feels like there is some potential here 🙂

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The Cork Penetration was invented by Eddy Taytelbaum and there have been many versions over the years including these ones  (though I’m missing the wonderful version released by the talented Frenchman François Danis).  As is often the case Eddy’s version is still the gold standard but this is a very nice set from the talented Michael Baker. 

Most versions have a hole in the card but it is not always the case and Michael’s uses a complete card.  I also added a card with a hole just in case you wanted to perform it the more standard way.

This looks great in your collection and works perfectly too.

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Michael Baker is always working on something new or refining his existing line.   He now has produced this wonderful item in three sizes: Regular, Giant, and now this one, Mini.  A version was also created exclusively for Stevens Magic here.  

Vampire Block Escape is related to the popular Vampire Block but it does not use a chain or cord.  It uses a slightly different mechanism but looks great, works smoothly and is convincing to the spectator.

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