Sand and Sugar (Sugar and Sand) by Davenport’s, Louis Histed

This wonderful effect was invented by Louis Histed c. 1932. The sole manufacturing rights were granted to Davenport’s c. 1941 but this has not stopped other manufacturers building this over the years.  It is often called Sugar and Sand so be wary when doing searches since both titles seem to be used quite freely even in the same instructions 🙂

This Davenport’s version most closely follows Histed’s original designs and is very different from the Abbott’s version shown here.  Abbott’s uses a much simpler method but until I had seen the Davenport’s version I had no idea of the differences.  Apart from taking the idea without permission Abbott’s were criticized for their “mighty poor imitation” but to be honest the Abbott’s version is the more practical to use for repeat performances.  The clean-up is much easier, though at first glance you would think that the Davenport’s version would be easier – the main issue is friction, the sand, salt or sugar (whichever you use) gets in the way and makes it trickier to separate the pieces for clean-up.  With the Abbott’s version there are a lot less moving parts, which means less to get jammed up with sand 🙂  Another nice feature of the Abbott’s version is reuse is easier though if you are careful it is still quite possible with the Davenport’s version. Finally, the pouring with the Abbott’s one is more regulated so it appears there is more sand from the small container as you can pour for longer.

That being said the Davenport’s version does permit a cleaner more hands off performance which I hope to show you in a video soon …  Also, if you watch the Abbott’s video you’ll notice I have to do some “strange moves”  a couple of times to ensure that the mechanism is activated.  This is not an issue with the Davenport’s version.

You rarely see effects these days with this much thought and with props built so well.  Instead of the plain red of the original version issued by Davenport’s (see final photo) these have been repainted in the style of Voisin and look amazing. Another really fine effect from almost eighty years ago – they certainly don’t make them like this anymore 🙂

A word on materials … Louis Histed and Davenport’s suggest you use either: Castor Sugar, Fine Salt and/or Silver Sand (fine ornamental sand).  In my tests and I have tried them all … Fine Salt tends to clump more, Castor Sugar is not bad, but the best (and most expensive) was fine ornamental sand that I purchased from Amazon here. If you plan on performing this regularly sourcing your material will be the first thing you need to decide upon.

Includes:

• Large and Small Canisters perfectly created by Davenport’s.
• Bamboo Tray to hold everything (bonus).
• Wand to measure the canisters (bonus).
• Full Davenport’s instructions.
• Use your own sand/salt/sugar – this is too heavy to ship and very cheap to buy near you.

Effect: A small and large canister are exhibited, and from out of the small canister there is poured into the big canister a limitless supply of sugar, so much of it that it’s twice as much as the small canister could ever hold, and it fills the twice as big canister!

When that is done, the small canister is again elevated and from, out of it pours a non-ending stream of sand, this overflowing the large canister and running down over the sides.

Next, the sand and sugar in the large canister vanishes completely, leaving not a trace.

Once again the small canister is lifted up, and once again a non-stop- stream of sand pours out into the large canister, again filling it!

Note that there is positively NO loading of any kind. It is self-contained and everything is in the two canisters, which are the only ones used. Yes! A grand and great mystery – nothing like it in magic before!

Patter: I want to tell you the story of the dishonest store keeper. Rumor had it that he mixed sand with the sugar and, as you can well imagine, this did not go down so well. This small canister represents the sand supply, and this one – wherein the store keeper kept his sugar.

Sure enough, we find him sanding the sugar, but little does he know that the weights and measures inspector is peeking thru the window. Satisfied with what he has seen, he bursts in the door, saying; “At last, I’ve caught you in the act.”

He peered into the canister and was amazed to see that it was empty. Feeling sure that there must be some trickery, he measured both the outside and inside. He was more amazed than ever. Had he been dreaming? As a last resort, he said to the store keeper; “‘That have you in that small canister?”

“Oh,” said the store keeper, “This is all I have left of my high grade white sugar and I was just getting ready to empty its contents into the large canister, when you so rudely interrupted.” And, sure enough, he started pouring pure white sugar. With a look of bewilderment, the inspector made a graceful exit, muttering words of apology for his mistake.

After a while, the store keeper slyly peeked thru the window, saying; “The coast is clear, now for more sand, for I need lots of sugar for tomorrow’s special sugar sale.” and, believe it or not, from the canister that was less than one-fourth the size of the large one, he filled it to overflowing, like this. I can almost hear you say, – “Will Wonders Never Cease?”

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