Blue Phantom (Early Run) by Tony Lackner, Harold Voit

The Blue Phantom was invented by Viennese magician Hans Trunk c. 1924 who called it “Das blaue Wunder” (The Blue Wonder). It was introduced to the USA c. 1930 by Thayer Quality Magic as “The Blue Phantom” and it became an instant hit, and has been doing well ever since. It is also known as: The Chinese Clock and The Traveling Checker.  In fact The Blue Phantom and The Wandering Mummy (both of which were built by Tony Lackner with great success) seem to continue to be built and rebuilt with no shortage of buyers or interest each time.

This version built by Tony Lackner and distributed by Harold Voit has been the gold-standard for the close-up version for many years. This is one of the very earliest versions purchased directly from Zauber Zentrale in Germany c. 1980 and it is perfect. You can also tell it is one of the earliest because later runs had a button you could depress on the back to supposedly help with the effect.  However, that button comes with a cost: now you cannot hand out the top tube to the spectator as discussed in the original instructions.  For me the button has little value and is certainly not necessary so I would prefer one without the button.

In  recent years I have preferred the versions of the Blue Phantom created by Andy Hurst, however many people still prefer this Tony Lacker classic and when I play with this beautiful specimen I can see why.  It really is a beauty.

This was the first version of the Blue Phantom that I ever owned and at 6″ tall I always thought it was a close-up effect.  I had no idea that the standard version was a stage sized effect often 16″ or more tall, so when I purchased a normal sized one years later I was surprised to see how big it was!

Includes:

• Blue Phantom and Chips
• Presentation Box (bonus).
• Instructions in both German and English.

Effect: The standard effect is clean and simple: Several separate checkers are stacked on the rod with the blue one at the top. They are then covered by the cylinder. Upon lifting the cylinder, it is seen that the blue checker has mysteriously moved to the center of the stack! The cylinder is replaced and it once again removed only to find the blue checker has melted all the way down to the bottom of the stack! The checkers are then removed one by one and shown once again to be just seven solid and separate checkers.

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