5 Stars

Wow what an amazing magic set 🙂

Like many magician’s my first steps into magic were through a box of tricks under the Christmas Tree. My set was the Hocus Pocus Magic Box c. 1972 – like many toy magic boxes it was filled with many of the same effects. And although it really was great for a nine year old, I quickly distanced myself from it. That would not have been the case if I had received this set from Supreme Magic.

I had not seen this box of magic Supreme Magic released c. 1987 until recently. And boy what a really wonderful box it is. Filled with amazing magic from Supreme’s huge catalog, and a very informative and useful 88 page book by Ian Adair.

Although each box had varied content, here is what is in this one:

1. Supreme Lubor Fiedler’s Posi-Negative – with 2 pages of instructions.
2. Supreme Fogel’s All Clear Forcing Bag – with 16 page booklet.
3. Supreme Giant Size Clever Ace –  with 16 page booklet featuring Peter Pit.
4. Supreme Brass Nut Release – with 4 pages of instructions and an amazingly good brass nut gimmick.
5. Supreme New Vanishing Wand – with 2 pages of instructions.
6. Supreme Hindu Devil’s Rope – with 4 pages of instructions.
7. Supreme Werry’s Fantastic Thimibles – with 3 pages of instructions.
8. Supreme Vest Pocket Bathing Beauty – with 1 page of instructions.
9. Supreme Werry’s Card Crash-Thru – with 4 pages of instructions.
10. Supreme Miracle X Wallet – with 3 pages of instructions (including a great version of Hen Fetsch’s Wallet Wallop)

Plus a very informative 88 page book by Ian Adair titled: How To Become a Supreme Magician, with table of contents:

• Introduction 7
• How To Become A Supreme Magician 8
• The Various Branches of Magic 18
  • Close-Up Magic 19
  • Children’s Magic 20
  • Conjuring with Cards 24
  • Stage Magic 27
  • It Must Be Mindreading 28
• Selecting Magic Apparatus 30
• Building a Magical Library 34
• How to Join a Magic Club 35
• Practise and Rehearsal 39
• Dress; Appearance and Etiquette 40
• Make-Up 41
• Misdirection 44
• Advertising and Publicity 46
• History of Mystery 56
• A Glossary of Conjuring Terms 69
• Bibliography (Recommended Magic Reading)  81
• Subscribing to Magical Magazines 83
• Acknowledgements 86

The book itself would have been very useful to any young magician trying to take magic more seriously and figure out what direction to grow in magic.

This is an amazing time capsule that will take you back and surprise you with some clever and easy to do magic.

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There seems to be quite a lot of buzz around this item. The props are nicely made and it looks very effective.  You can show five cards and they can freely pick any one and it will have the words on it you choose.  The gimmick is quite clever. Very versatile.

If you need to force 5 or more items (you can purchase more cards) and are in a parlor or stage environment, this would be a perfect, clean, easy to do and no hassle choice.  I personally would not add the vanish of the number which is shown as a bonus effect.

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I love this wallet! This is the really high-end version of Stephen Tucker’s Visa Cabaret. This is foolproof and works by some sophisticated electronics that you would never suspect.

The Know It All Wallet is in fact a remake of Bob Swadling’s Millennium Wallet using a different technology.  The two big differences are:

1. The effect can be performed without touching or holding the wallet at the end – the wallet can be given to the spectator and you never touch it again.
2. The Millennium Wallet required the use of specially gimmicked business cards to work.  The Know It All Wallet works with any thin object that fits in the wallet.

The wallet looks and feels almost identical otherwise.  To be honest until I saw this version I was more than happy with the Millennium and didn’t even think I wanted a different approach.  But there is no doubt you can be cleaner with this version.

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Anverdi’s Surprise Box is one of his finest creations. It came in a number of versions, also built by various dealers other than Anverdi.  This fine version was sold by Mephisto-Huis and I believe it was built by them too.  However,  it might have been made by Anverdi and just sold by Mephisto-Huis, since it is almost identical to the version that appears in the Anverdi book. Also it looks quite different from the one that I do believe was built by Mephisto-Huis here.  The cards that came with it were in fact made in Belgium (the home of Mephisto-Huis), but I replaced them with Bicycles for your performing pleasure 🙂  Also, the Anverdi book was in fact published by Mephisto-Huis so maybe they used some of their creations for the photos.  Without any other input I am going to assume this was actually built by Mephisto-Huis, but if you have any more information let me know.

Either way it came with a clear lid which was a nice touch.  The opaque lid version can be seen here.

In the ads that ran with this they say you can deal out from 2-50 cards.  In my tests things become less reliable after about 25-30 cards.  It can work but it is much more reliable before 25.  It is easy enough to ensure that happens so I don’t consider this an issue.

This version is very reliable and as long as the batteries are fresh and you don’t add too many cards works cleanly every time.

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Eddy Taytelbaum has no equal and inspired the mini-magic line that Alan Warner took on as the next generation with splendid results. Eddy invented this effect and like many of his creations, including his amazing Mummy, it is the gold standard.  It is hard to always tell by photos alone, but with every single Taytelbaum effect I have owned they always work so smoothly.  This particularly effect is no different.

I have seen others copy this effect, but there is clearly NO comparison to the original. The slide is so elegant as only Eddy can handcraft. It’s all wood with a beautifully applied dark green paint and his signature gold striping on the edges. The paint job is so smooth I can only think of Milson-Worth as the only other builder with such excellent results. It is hinged so it can be opened to expel any suspicions (the slide is ungimmicked). A brass hinge at one end keeps the slide locked closed.

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One of my favorite glass penetrations is the Glass (Quadruple) Penetration that was invented by Peter Warlock in 1937. It is sometimes known as the English Glass Penetration and there have been a number of versions created, even as recently as 2020 when Magic Wagon created their Atomic Glass Penetration.

This is a very nice version of the Warlock effect created by Abbott’s – sadly although it is the exact same method as Peter Warlock’s version there is no mention of the inventor online or in the instructions.  I always find it sad when  a large company like Abbott’s chooses not to acknowledge the inventor of a well known effect such as this.  Even the name, Soft Glass, which sounds kind of cool, is not Abbott’s idea – it came when Jim Sherman of N.M.C. released their own version of Peter Warlock’s Glass Penetration (with permission from Davenport’s who held the rights at the time).  However, in N.M.C.’s catalog they did at least acknowledge the inventor as Peter Warlock (though early adverts did not).

Abbott’s original released this c. 1946 and this is a surprisingly good version by Abbott’s re-released in 2021.  It works very well and looks amazing.  The current routine that Abbott’s uses is a little different from many other Warlock versions – instead of having four needles to push through each hole they thread the needle through each one. I actually like this presentation and it flows quite well.

I think it helps to also begin by tapping the glass to show it solid with a full size magic wand as an extra convincer.

Includes:

• • The Soft Glass frame (complete with real glass).
  • A wooden needle with long ribbon.
  • A stylish wand (bonus: $49 retail).
  • Four metal needles with ribbons (bonus: should you want to do the Warlock presentation)

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The legendary British Inventor, Craftsman, and Dealer, Jack Hughes, invented Card Go c. 1938 when he was building magic for Davenport’s. 

This is a very rare find and the first time I have seen this improved version from Jack Hughes. This is even better and smoother than the original Jack Hughes version.

• It works with both Bridge and Poker sized cards
• Allows for more than one card to be vanished with zero reset.  You can vanish one after the other up to ten cards (not that you would want that many, but multiple vanishes does look good).
• The release uses two prongs made from clock springs, one on either side, which are very reliable and make for a clean vanish almost every time.
• Easy load – just drop the card in the frame (as though it was just a frame!).
• No premature Vanishes.
• The Vanish does not require visual queues, you can stare at the audience the whole time.
• Never misses – some versions of Card Go can miss and seeing a card flutter to the floor maybe funny but it is not very magical.
• Almost silent operation.

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This was created by Bob King c. 1990 using an improved version of the Modulo Arithmetic Principle.  Liam Montier has reworked it to use the ‘game-show’ presentation and suggested added the buzzer.

I started performing this effect this holiday season and I love it.  I changed the routine a little so that the spectator would always win something. It was a big hit with a wonderful surprise ending.

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This is one of best effects that Paul Richards has ever created! The gimmick is based upon Michael Pizzolla’s Synchronicity III c. 1987.  Though the gimmick that Michael uses was originally invented by Richard Himber and released as Thought Control c. 1957.  Luckily, Paul revamps the gimmick and takes the routine into quite a different place and creates a very unique and entertaining routine.

It looks different, has many uses and the cards can be freely examined if you desire at the end. The selection process could not be cleaner and you can make up your own stories to suit your performance.

I found that taking real book covers and altering the titles to match the words worked very well for me and I heard some gasps in the audience on the final reveals – “no way!”

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Although Okito almost certainly didn’t invent this type of production tube he did feature it in his act and Michael based his beautiful version on Okito’s versions featured in Dr. Albo’s books: The Oriental Magic of The Bambergs and The Ultimate Okito.

It makes for a wonderful production device because it can be used anytime during the act, is self-contained, easy to do and has a large load capacity.

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