5 Stars

If you have ever loved playing with the beautiful brass chips of Per Clausen, Eddie Gibson, El Duco and many others you have good old Sam Dalal to thank for that.  Sam created a series of ground breaking chip effects in the late 1970’s and they have been copied and improved ever since.

This is the second Chip effect Sam created called Super Psychic Chips and like Rainbow Chips it has been copied and “improved” ever since including: Prediction Chips by Per Clausen, Chinese Sting by Eddie Gibson and Colour Coins by Mark Leveridge.

But you have Sam Dalal to thank for the original ideas that seemed to have generated a whole sub industry of Chip Effects ever since 🙂

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This is a great looking prop from Sam Dalal – it is well made and looks great even close-up. It makes for an interesting variant to the other more classic card in balloon effects.

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This is more like it! I have owned a number of versions of this effect – but this is by far the best made, easiest, and most convincing – well apart from the original of course!

The bolt can be examined both before and after, the bolt visibly unscrews itself even with the magician away from the bolt. The bolt can be covered by a glass dome. You can even look inside the case and it just looks like a simple close-up case.

This is the best item I’ve seen from India to date – very good indeed.

If I had any complaints at all – and I’d be pushing myself – the box itself although it looks nice is quite cheap in construction. It would not hold up to be thrown around too much. But at the price point, I’m not sure what else could be done.

If you’ve been burnt with this effect before, now is the time to try again. I really love this effect!

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Don’t Leave home without it!

I used this in preference to the German made cane I’ve had for years. It is longer and a bit more startling because its silver. I don’t think any of the appearing canes really look like canes, so why not produce one that looks more magical.

This silver one fits the bill nicely!

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The original version of this effect was created by Jose M. Llacer for Selecciones Magicas c. 1995. This is Sam Dalal’s version which I remember I was really impressed with when I purchased it in Las Vegas in 1998.

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This is a wonderful find from the great German craftsman Willi Wessel. He made this deluxe set originally for himself and then just three other sets for close friends.  He did not offer this to his normal customers and I only obtained this because Willi sold me his one earlier this year 🙂

The presentation case has been upgraded (complete with a real inlaid Chinese design on the top of the box) and includes an extra paddle that has the Chinese writing on both sides.  There is a special recess in the box to allow the easy switch for the second paddle on the off-beat as you show the color change of the chips.  In my routine I chose to load the paddle with a $100 final impact but you could just switch it out so that the paddle can be examined. I’m sure other variations will spring to mind.

What I like about Willi’s routines is that he extracts every inch of magic from his props.  This set comes with the routine by Howard Schwarzman and Willi’s original instructions in German.  I will also include a link to a special video from Willi explaining the switch.  He talks about a switch based on an idea by Larry Jennings. I ended up using a slightly different switch in my video, but you can use either approach.  Because the heat is off the switch it really is quite straight forward.

The other thing I like about this particular routine is that you sometimes use the paddle move and sometimes don’t and so it reinforces the legitimacy of the moves.

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In 1999 my wife and I had just become American Citizens (I was born in England and she in Canada) and had a party for our friends to celebrate and I was the main entertainment 🙂

I ended the show with my wife by my side and produced this wonderful American flag from Sam Dalal and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house 🙂

This flag works very smoothly and is amazing quality for the price.

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This effect dates back to 1827. After being unseen for some decades The Great Carmo reintroduced it in the UK c. 1932 and it is still often referred to as the Carmo Beads in the UK.  The rights to Carmo’s was purchased by Davenport’s from The Great Carmo c. 1938 and they marketed it at The Great Carmo Bead Mystery.  This did not stop U.F. Grant releasing it as The Arabian Bead Mystery c. 1939 and it became a pet effect of Jay Marshall. John Fedko re-titled it as The Beads of Prussia and that is the current term in the USA.

Sam has created a very nice quality one with sold plastic beads and tube.  The gimmick also works very well.

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