5 Stars

You can’t keep a good Mummy down!  Inzani-Henley released at least three versions of their wandering mummy that I have been able to track down so far.

The first time the Wandering Mummy was available from a Magic dealer was in the mid 1950’s from the German Magic Dealer Joe Wildon.  These were manufactured by Oskar Rey and were similar to the set produced by Inzani-Henley in England but more detailed, gold in color, and about five years earlier.

Remo Inzani and John Henley obtained the rights in the late 50’s to craft and sell The Wandering Mummy in their own catalog. The first mention of Inzani-Henley’s mummy was in The Magic Circular September 1959, then in Abra November 1959 and in their own catalog in 1964. The first sets sold by Inzani-Henley were made for them by Oskar Rey, and later sets where made for Inzani-Henley by a craftsman in Devon, England.  This set is a later set made in Devon as can be seen by the Green figures and less detailed and more comic like features on the mummies themselves.

This version has a number of differences from the standard Mummy released by Inzani-Henley:

• The mummies are stained darker than the standard version.
• A neat presentation case houses both of the sarcophagi with padded foam and felt to stop them moving around when closed. These mummies are securely protected.  This case is not part of the original set, but looks and works perfectly.
• The instructions have been re-typeset and printed on vintage antique stationary, instead of the usual poorly printed photo copy that I have seen three times now.  This is a good thing because the instructions provided by Inzani-Henley are one of the best sets of instructions you will find.  They are so good in fact that Dr. Albo directly copies them in Dr. Albo Vol. 7 when he describes The Mummy (pg. 42).

There is no doubt the Oskar Rey version is the best version released by Inzani-Henley but this set works perfectly and you can’t go wrong with any of their Mummy sets 🙂

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What a beautiful set of Dizzy Dominoes from the talented Dutch craftsman Gerard Scanlan who runs Gallus Magic in Holland.

I’ve tried quite a few variations of Dizzy Dominoes over the years and to make a good set of dizzy dominoes the contrast between the dots and background has to be clear, but also not reflect the light too much.  Plus they have to be the right size to be easily seen and handled.  These beauties are very smooth and flow between the moves perfectly and they come in a beautiful presentation case that also allows you to end clean too if you desire.  Also the color of the oak is the same all the way through so, unlike painted sets, the color will not wear off even with intensive use.

Gerard includes his routine for a streamlined performance that anyone would be comfortable performing.

This is my first item from Gallus Magic and I hope there will be more to come in the years that follow.  Great job Gerard 🙂

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Arcane is crafted by Louis Paul Productions and it is a really beautiful version of Harold Voit’s Magic Puzzle often known as Merlin’s Magic Elixir.  This effect is often confused with Winston’s Freer’s Tile Puzzle or Tile Deal, and although the effect is almost the same the method is quite different.

When comparing Arcane with the original Voit Magic Puzzle, this set by Louis is truly unparalleled. If you’ve ever wondered why people adore effects crafted from wood, just take these beauties in your hands and play with them—you’ll instantly understand. Not only are they stunning, but even the accompanying carry bag is well-made and high quality.

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The Abacus was first created by George Kirkendall c. 1977 and it is a novel and fun way to reveal a playing card.  Louis Paul’s version is perfection of course.  It not only looks great, with a clearly discernible final card production, but  it will last a lifetime.

You do need to force a card using your favorite method, but the routine is easy and entertaining.  When was the last time you saw someone pull out an Abacus to check their calculations 🙂

The whole outfit comes in a simple heavy-duty cloth carry bag.

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I really like Baffo, sometimes known by it’s longer name “The Baffo Orange and Ring Box“, and was hoping to demonstrate it this weekend.  Sadly, the main gimmick broke and I have been unable to fix it.  The problem with 100 year old props is sometimes when you actually try to use them, they break 🙁

Anyway, this is a very clever idea created by Floyd Thayer and the method is certainly a fooler. Milson-Worth created a similar effect with their Orange Cabinet about sixty years later and although it uses a very different method (which has its good points and its bad) I prefer Baffo in most cases as it is more convincing and can be shown and handled much more cleanly than the Milson-Worth Orange Box (which can only be shown empty from a distance).

What I like about Baffo is their are two parts to the method and neither of them are particularly hard to build and are certainly easy to do yet they allow you to really perform a miracle.  Although Thayer uses a bit of poetic license in the description of features below – the use of the phrase “no revolving panels, traps, cloth flaps” is particularly close to the mark, but the effect described really is possible.

Though if there was truth in advertising you would at least add after: “threaded on the cord, is found the borrowed ring” … “which is removed by the performer, cleaned off and handed back to the spectator for examination” 🙂

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This clever item created by Floyd Thayer first appeared in the Thayer Catalog No. 5  c. 1921 and although the props can be thoroughly examined both before and after the effect this little miracle is easy to do.

There is one simple switch but it is done when their guard is totally down and there is zero heat on you.  The practice required is to make the actual appearance under the hanky as quick as possible – you want to try to avoid to be under there for too long 🙂

I will say this is the second Thayer prop I have added (the previous one being Baffo) requiring a borrowed ring and the ad copy completely ignores the fact that the ring being used is actually switched.  Maybe in the 1920’s everyone had pretty much the same wedding bands?  These days you would be better offer just using the provided rings and not bother to switch them, unless you know for sure your ring is very similar.  It still looks like a miracle because everything can be examined.

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Cocktail Shaker styled Niffin tubes were made in the 1930/40’s by Thayer Quality Magic and Stull too. The first one was invented by American magician Paul Fox (real name Paul Fuchs) in 1935 and debuted by him at the 1936 IBM Convention in Lima, Ohio.

This Thermo Canister by Thayer is a real beauty and certainly looks like some sort of thermos bottle instead of an obvious magician’s prop. I dressed up the routine and added a storage box that also provides ample coverage for the move when required which is always a welcome bonus, instead of having to introduce other props for cover.

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The most convincing switching device I have ever seen is the amazing Devil’s Mail Box by Thayer and later by Owen’s.  It is so clean you really can’t believe anything has happened.  After the initial success of the original design Thayer released a new version attributed to Len Sewell and called The Devil’s Card Rise (sometimes the Mysterious Card Rise).  This new device really is a marvel.

When I received this item it was a little worse for wear and did not include any instructions so I created my own based on the the original Devil’s Mail Box instructions, the advert and Thayer’s Rising Card instructions in Vol. 2 of Glenn Gravatt’s wonderful compilation of Thayer instruction sheets.  Dr. Albo shows the prop in a video for the Ultimate Thayer, but doesn’t actually perform the card rise feature or mention any specifics.  That being said after an afternoon playing with various approaches I’m confident I am very close.

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This is one of only two items that Magic Wagon produced in 2023 and it is their third attempt at tackling Peter Warlock’s amazing glass penetration. The versions created by Magic Wagon so far are:

1. Mod Quad Penetration – 2008
2. Atomic Glass Penetration – 2020
3. Mystic Window Penetration – 2023

(and this does not include all types of glass penetration they have created).

This version uses a slightly different method from the original and when you view the effect you notice these differences:

• the relative width of the overall frame has been reduced.
• four small squares of glass are used instead of one larger glass pane.

If you know how the original works this version might well fool you.  It is also certainly a little cleaner and simpler to perform.  However, by reducing the glass into smaller pieces to my mind it does not seem quite as impossible – it is much harder to “do something tricky” with a large piece of solid glass.  But if you love the sort of well made compact close-up magic that Magic Wagon is famous for you will surely love this version.

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