Hamilton Style Square Circle by Ron Reid

If you received one of these and did not know who created it you’d swear it was made by Warren Hamilton or Milson-Worth. The construction, paint job and black-art are absolute perfection.  This item is in fact a more standard. lower-end Square Circle* (from the likes of MAK Magic) that has been completely refinished and improved by Ron Reid.

Ron takes his work very seriously and after just seeing this one piece I know I’ll be on the look out for others.  He has been been refinishing props for about 30 years and got started by reading Paul Osborne’s column in Genii magazine.

As this is such a special square circle I didn’t want to just produce some silks so dressed up the routine a little as can be seen in the video and described below.

Includes:

• Truly beautiful Square Circle with the most perfect black-art I have seen.
• Three 16″ Silks (QH, KH, Skull)
• Playing Cards
• Instructions from Dr. Albo Vol. 7
• Use your own can of beer 🙂

Effect: A beautiful open front cabinet and tube are clearly shown empty.  A card is chosen (The King of Clubs) and shuffled back into the pack and the performer announces he is going to reveal their chosen card …

• The performer waves his hand over the cabinet and tube and pulls out a Queen of Hearts Silk from the empty tube and proudly says: “Your Card!”.  The spectator says “No” and the performer looses his swagger.
• The performer then says “Was your card a King?”  The spectator says yes and the performer again recovers and triumphantly pulls out another silk, this time The King of Hearts, and says “Now this is your card!”.  Again the spectator says “No”. 
• The performer is mortified, and pulls out a another silk of a skull and crossbones and say’s “I’m dying up here” 🙁
• Then the performer says “Boy I need a beer.”  and retrieves a full 16oz can of beer almost completely filling the tube.  And just as he is about to crack it open and drink it he notices something affixed to the back of the can.  The performer asks “Ok what was your card?”.  The spectator says “The King of Clubs”, and finally in triumph the performer shows the back of the beer with a miniature version of the King of Clubs securely attached and takes a triumphant bow 🙂

Construction Details: This is a Hamilton-style Square Circle  that has been refinished, inside and out. It is not an original Hamilton Square Circle (see final photo for a picture of an original Hamilton Square Circle from the 1950’s). Outer box has been refinished with satin colors (banner red, white, and aqua green) and then completed with gold and black pin striping. Front has polished brass bars. Inside of box and stand have been covered with precision-cut stiffened felt.

The round tube has a waterslide decal and a high gloss, clear coat finish. Inside has been done in a semi-gloss black. The deck of playing cards are included for scale. The load chamber is included, but not shown in the photo. It has been completely refinished, including black velvet covering it. No instructions included.

All parts of this apparatus have been done with the collector in mind, but this Square Circle will make an place in the professional’s repertoire.  All parts are in pristine, mint condition.

* The Square Circle, also known as The Chinese Pagoda, was invented by British Magician Louis S. Histed in 1930 and like many great ideas was pirated by dealers around the world.

Found something wrong? Help us improve things by clicking here!