The Magic Fans (Zauberfächern) by Thomas Pohle

Here is another early and rare item from Thomas Pohle – a beautiful pair of matching paddles. When I first received these there was no instructions – just two paddles in a fabric case made by  Willi Wessel. I added some red spots and a basic paddle routine with a few little touches to create a routine I am quite happy with  which you can see in the Speed Demo.

With help from Joe Long I was to able ascertain these were original released as Zauberfächern by Eckhard Boettcher c. 1984 with a routine by Punx from his 1977 book: “Euch zu meinen Füßen“. The routine was later translated and released in Punx’s book: Once Upon a Time.

Since making these fans isn’t easy, Thomas made them in a deluxe version. The fans are made of brass, surface-treated (so they don’t tarnish), have an engraved border decoration on both sides, and are mounted on a wooden ladle handle.

Effect:  My Routine: A fabric case is shown and a gold and wooden paddle is removed which is completely blank on both sides.. One side is waved over a small container with a red spot inside and suddenly the spot appears on the paddle. Now there is a spot on one side and no spot on the other.

The empty side is touched again to the container and now you have a spot on each side.. A second paddle is shown inside the case and the small spot container is waved over the case and when the paddle is pulled out it too has a red spot on it. This is shown on both sides.

So now you have a single spot on both sides of both paddles.. With a shake the single spot jumps from one paddle to the other – now you have two spots on one paddle and none on the other.

The magician says I can remedy that but when he goes to touch the small container with the red spot inside – the spot has now disappeared so he can’t use that anymore.. Instead he waves the paddle with two spots and one jumps over to the first paddle and the performer remarks this is a good place to stop before we start to see little red spots every where 🙂

Original Routine by Punx: The Magic Fans, an almost devilish adventure in which first five, then ten, and finally even thirty marks appear on two empty fans.

The patter begins: I started practicing magic when I was still a little boy: My way to school led past an auction house with large display windows, which I would look into every morning. One morning, I saw a lot of men in top hats and a multitude of strange objects that were flashing and twinkling.

This made me so curious that I forgot about school and went inside, where I learned that a magician’s estate was being auctioned. Among all the colorful, bizarre objects, right at the front and within my grasp, on a silk cushion, lay these two fans. I didn’t know what they meant. But I felt a mysterious attraction to them and picked one up.

…

The google translation gets a little tricky after this, but it gives you a flavor of what to expect.

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