Strong Box by Joe Porper

This is a wonderfully clever little box that defies detection, even with the utmost of scrutiny. Plus its very beautifully made by Joe Porper himself. The actual method is very similar to an earlier set of boxes released by Tom Yurasits.

Machinist/magician Joe Porper has created this aluminum box locked with a hasp and padlock. The body is machined out of solid aluminum with no seams or cracks. The lid is hinged on and seals tightly, so there seems to be no way an object could be put inside when the box is closed and locked, yet the magician can secretly insert an object such as a borrowed ring or signed bill.

Typically the box is in a hidden location, such as stowed in an upright paper bag. The performer borrows a small object, perhaps a lady’s ring, and vanishes it. Then the box is removed from the bag and shown to be locked securely with a padlock on a hasp. A key is brought out, the padlock unlocked, the hasp opened, and the vanished ring is found inside the box.

As with other locked boxes, the routines are generally meant to emphasize the impossible nature of getting something inside a locked box rather than providing mental power to open or unlock it. By substituting a gimmicked lock, however, you can add some mystery to getting the object out of the box after spectators realize it has somehow magically been transported into the box.

Effect: Unlike the normal Lippincott box, this can be started off in the “closed” condition. The spectator can even hold it in their hands, and lock it themselves and hang onto the key if you so desire – though of course that would not make any sense if you were doing a prediction with this. It is a matter of a second to release it to load a billet or ring or anything small inside the box. It almost locks itself when you’re done! In fact, the one problem with this is that it locks itself too quick and you can hear it talk!

This is a wonderful item and I’m sure it will become a collectible. As with all of Joe’s work, it is made to a high degree of precision and there is nothing else out there quite like it, which surely must appeal to both the performer and the collector in you!

Joe released a Strong Box 2.0 c. 2012 which had a different approach and the locking mechanism was changed. With 2.0 it was possible to load/unload without any cover which was not really possible with 1.0, however 2.0 could not withstand stringent examination and to my mind 1.0 was a better version – that is the one I would choose in nearly all cases given the choice.

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