Vanishing Deck Case (Allround Card Etui) by Tony Lackner

This appears to be the original version of the effect that was subsequently refined and improved by New Jersey magic dealer and craftsman, Al Largamisino, called Your Choice which was built (with permission) in many versions by Howard Baltus at The Trickery as Mysterious Card Boxes and also copied (without permission) by Steve Bender at Ickle Pickle as Your Choice.

Effect: You open up the case and show two decks of cards, one red and one blue, and the spectator chooses one (say the red deck) which is removed and you perform a card trick with it. You have them choose a card from the red deck and with a mystic pass say it has disappeared from the red deck, of course the spectator wants to see proof, and when you show the red deck they can still see your card. Then you remark, slightly embarrassed, that you made a mistake and vanished it from the blue deck instead. Of course the spectator is even less impressed and does not believe you, so you open the lid to show the whole blue deck has clearly vanished – so not only has their card vanished but the whole deck. And the box is very clearly empty.

From this clever method, but fairly basic routine, I believe Al Largaamisino added the idea to make a forced card with red back appear in place of the vanished deck. In later versions a method to also vanish their chosen card from the red deck was included too. Which became known as the Mysterious Card Boxes.

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