Crystal Casket (Crystal Cube) (Spring Loaded) by Ickle Pickle

Even though Gary Michaels seems to really dislike this effect from Steve Bender at Ickle Pickle, not everyone feels the same way about this prop. For the price I think it is one of the best Crystal Caskets I have seen – my casket is still going strong 19 years after I purchased it. And Danny Oreleans wrote a very positive review in Genii March 1997 too. So you can’t believe all you read online 🙂

Effect: The cube is 6″x6″x6″ and each edge is covered with glitter tape which creates a 3/4″ frame around the six faces. The spring hinge is a huge improvement on some of the other versions out there and even if the release is a simple paper clip, it works perfectly decades later. It is easy to load and very easy to use.

I still love this version, and almost 20 years later the price has risen from $60 to $75 and I still think that is a great price for the effect, I wonder how Gary feels?

Rarely docs the name of a trick tell you how it works, but the Crystal Clear Box, In one form or another, has been around a long time. I bet that there arc very few of you who haven’t seen or held the predecessor to Ickle Pickle’s newest version. Although it has been sold under many names over the years, what I’m referring to is a clear plastic – originally, it was probably made of glass – cube inside of which a scarf could instantly appear. For years these were made In a variety of sizes and the edges were covered with different forms of tape.. Although they were certainly not difficult to work, sometimes you needed to shake the box in order to get the flap to flip and reveal the load.

Ickle Pickle has made a major improvement in the technology of this apparatus. The flap is now attached to a spring hinge, so all you need to do is touch the tiny lever and Wham, the flap flips and your load – be It a silk, sponge balls or spring money – instantly appears. The automation of this device makes it almost impossible to mishandle as long as you orient the cube so that the mirror flap starts out on the bottom and ends up in the back. And you don’t have to worry about the flap accidentally flipping back after the load is removed from the box.

Recently I was performing at an awards banquet and the marketing director told me that the president of her company wanted to make money appear. I purchased the Spring-Loaded Crystal Clear Magic Cube, loaded It with spring bills and taught it to him in about 60 seconds. He had a lot of fun with It and his employees gave him more applause than the trick actually deserves.

This is what my friend Bill Herz calls “push-button” magic at Its best. No skill required. The prop itself is a nicely sized 6″ x 6″ x 6″ cube. Each edge is covered with glitter tape which creates a 3/4″ frame around each of the six faces. This looks a little tacky but you can easily cover it with another color of your own choosing If “glitter” is not your cup of tea.

Most magicians have chosen to use this type of prop to produce objects that the audience perceives as compressible – sponge balls, silks or paper money. This apparatus could help you create a much more mysterious effect if the audience believed the production Item were solid. I might suggest experimenting with some of the marvelous expandable and compressible rubber fruit, bottles, eggs, rocks and bricks that arc available now.

I recommend that those of you who own and use the standard version of this effect consider upgrading to this spring loaded version. If you work at corporate meetings and arc asked to teach executives to perform tricks, this Is a wonderful trick for the executive who has lofty dreams of doing magic, but little time to master them. If a stage routine that you do calls for a way

(Danny Orleans – Genii, March 1997)

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