4 Stars

Beautiful Wood and Funny Routine!

This is my sort of magic these days. It’s made with very nice props that are small and pretty much indestructable. There are no electronics or things to remember or any real set up. And the price is very reasonable.

The routine has great comedy potential and no tricky moves. Instead of just handing out 5 envelopes and you win the one with the $20 bill in as with the usual Bank Night type effect, you have some fun with it. You show these 5 "Turned Discs" that you give the audience the chance to win some cash with. Through a seemingly fair sequence of eliminations you end up with the last remaining disk. It uses a known technique that I have personally never seen or used before, and it works very well.

What makes this different is the way in which you first reveal what each specator won and then what you finally have won. You’re entertaining them with these lines directly related to the words written on each disc, and then wow them at the end as you split open your Disc and pocket the cash!

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A Modern Day Fitzkee?

I love it when intelligent, gifted magicians take time out to really analyze our industry and art. Jamy Ian Swiss, like the greatly respected Trilogy of Dariel Fitzkee, holds no punches and makes some very thought provoking observations on magic, magicians, and mentalism.

In my book anything that makes magicians think twice about what they do and say is a winner. We don’t need more mediocrity in magic; this goes for performers, inventors, dealers, and manufacturers. By reading authors like Mr Swiss maybe our industry can get over its love of itself and actually start to produce great magic and entertainment that was abundant forty or more years ago.

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A Clever Piece that Magician’s will like!

This piece from Mikame Craft is beautifully made with a clever mechanism to allow you to reveal a card or image that is placed beneath the close-up mat.

It is made to the usual high standards of Mikame Craft, though interestingly enough is finished in black instead of their more usual natural wood. It can be used as your close-up case with 3 felt lined drawers to put items, and at any time you can have them choose a card or write on a piece of paper with your back turned. Then to ensure no one can see it you ask them to place the card underneath the mat. When you turn back around you remove from one of the drawers in the unit a pad and paper and proceed to describe the card, etc.

This is one of those effects that will surely please magician’s but it seems a bit unnatural to put it under the mat, what’s wrong with just turning it face down. It’s a small point but worth considering. The way I justify it is that I first have them choose a card freely using a marked deck and get them to put their hand over it. I then reveal their card by stroking the hand and reading the vibes. Then I say "Let’s make it really difficult this time. When I turn my back I want you to take out any card look at it and slip it under the mat so there is no way whatsoever I can know your card." Of course I still get the card right.

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Wow, why the heck has someone not done this before?

This is a a wonderful hanky to vanish a ring. It is heavy weight with a real heavy and sold ring embedded within the hanky, and the mechanism works perfectly.

I immediately pulled out my Samurai as soon as this arrived so that I could add it to my show. This is soooo easy, and so convincing.

Well done George – a great idea with a simple, high quality prop that will last a life time!

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A bit too heavy for me!

This is a very thorough book about the man who susposedly wrote one of the great card Classics: The Expert at The Card Table by S.W. Erdnase. Unfortunately, for me it was a bit too heavy going. Over 430 pages of fairly small type. I managed the first 100 pages and flipped through the rest.

The conclusions reached by Bart Whaley, Martin Gardner and Jeff Busby are the subject of a great deal of contention and there appears to be a lot of evidence to support the theory that S.W. Erdnase was not Milton Franklin Andrews. A great thread on this whole subject can be found on the Genii Forum by clicking here.

I think you would find this very stimulating reading if you were a big fan of Erdnase, but given that I have not read it yet (oh my word!) its hard for me to get too excited by it. I have however just ordered the 100 year Anniversary edition so maybe I will revisit this book another day after I have emersed myself in the classic itself!

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Great Idea, Ok Props.

This is a really great idea for doing the standard Mental Epic with nothing more than the 3 pens and some cards. It works well and is convincing.

However, my pens could have been gimmicked better … I ended up gluing them myself when they arrived. On talking to the inventor I think I had an isolated case and in fact the pens that are used are good quality markers and once you play with them a while they work fine.

If you love Mental Epic, but want to travel light these are perfect for you!

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A Beautiful Box and Routine!

This is the Viking version of this effect and is certainly better than the original. Although, it comes with a clean prediction of any card that the spectator chooses using the sword it has many other uses where a card box is required. It has a unique release mechanism for the transformation which means the box can be handled by the spectator before the transformation if so desired.

The only real downside with this effect as it arrives from the dealer is that the sword it comes with does not fit in the box! This is quite annoying because one of the real justifications of having the box in the first place is to store the knife, deck of cards, and prediction.

However, after a quick look on ebay I found this great little 6" sword that looks the part and fits the box perfectly. If you look at the original version of this box you’ll see how the knob on the lid has this big wide brass ring where the knob is, and on the newer version that does not exist. It’s this sort of attention to detail that makes George Robinson such a fine craftsman!

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Good old Howie!

Well this is something I have only see advertised on the site of the cuddly and honest dealer: to check this out and other exclusives that Howie is carrying. You won’t be dissappointed with what you find!

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