5 Stars

This is a beautifully produced stage version of the Frozen in Time 2.0 – The Swedish Touch.  And not only does it work the same (and perfectly at that), it looks amazing.  They really did a bang-up job on this.

I found the stage version took a little more time to get the knack due to the size of the clock but an extra five minutes of practice is not going to kill you 🙂

I suggest you get both so you’re always ready to roll no matter what the situation.  The final image shows the difference in size between the standard and the stage version.  The stage version is much bigger but not unmanageable at all.

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What a clever brass utility box this is and made so perfectly by Terry Roses. It comes in a beautiful inlaid oak  carrying case too. Terry Roses does it all: he is a sleight of hand enthusiast, an avid collector of gambling equipment, locks, Houdiniana, a lecturer, a fantastic craftsman, and the secret identity of Dr. X.  These were originally sold directly by Terry Roses c. 1982 and in 1987 a few sets were also sold by Stevens Magic Emporium.  SME called this item the Ultimate Prediction Bottle (Plug Box) just to keep things interesting and historians guessing.

Although, I had read about a plug box before in Modern Magic and Thayer Quality Magic and even recall that Viking’s Bill Vanishing Tube was based on the same principle, this is the first one I have played with.  And I must say I love it 🙂  It is very effective and can be used to vanish, produce and exchange coins and other smaller items with ease.

Includes:

• The Brass Plug-Box
• The Oak inlaid carrying case.
• Instructions from Modern Magic.
• Instructions from Thayer Quality Magic and an NMC Presentation Routine (Bonus).
• Three different Fantasy Coins which look and feel real and add a little mystery to the various effects you can do with this clever little box (Bonus).

It is nice to get surprised when you pick up one of these old brass items that really is a very wonderful device and perfectly machined.

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As a follow-up to Murphy’s amazing Mental Dice, these are the thumper (vibration) based individual dice in black and white.  They are just as amazing as the three dice set and now you can be blindfolded when you perform the effect.

All the routines that come with it are clever and entertaining but the Basic 3-phase routine  or the Color Match are more than enough to convince your audience you can do real magic with just a single die.  In fact, when I first saw the Color Match performed I was fooled by the ending too.  What is more if you have the Mental Dice already you can program the thumper to work with those too, (though you can’t have more than three dice trained to one thumper).

Many effects can be done with a single dice. They work perfectly every time and are easy to charge and easy to understand and work amazingly well.

These dice are so close to real magic, it almost feels like cheating  🙂

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As cool and reliable as the latest version of Anverdi’s Mental Dice is there are plenty of magicians and collectors that avoid any sort of electronics in their magic.  Luckily, there have been a number of effects where you can discern the number on top without any electronics.  They began c. 1973 with Milson’s (yes before Milson-Worth) Mental Die, the next version was Chazpro’s Die-Cipher c. 1990, then Die-Cipher II was released c. 1994.  Last year (2020) Secret Factory released their Collector’s ESP Die which was another great non-electronic item. There have also been many other versions as can be seen in the final photo generously provided by Canadian Collector John M. Talbot (thanks John!).

But for quality and sheer simplicity of use (though certainly not simplicity of manufacture) this version from Magic Wagon is probably going to be moved to the top of the list for non-electronic Mental Die effects.  The method is very clever but easy to use and learn and you probably won’t need your reading glasses either.  It works so well when I first tried it out I didn’t think it was working, until I read the instructions again 🙁

No batteries, nothing added or taken away and the box can be examined pretty strictly.  Does the box look like a magic trick, yes probably, but I think most of the Mental Die effects do.  But either way I’m pretty sure you’ll love this method and the beauty of this product.

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This was Joe Lefler’s signature piece and it came in various colors and stains. This is the Red Oak version which looks amazing. Over the years Joe improved and refined the routine and this comes with the rarely seen updated full routine which really shows how best to perform this amazing non-force version of Hen Fetsch’s Mental Epic.

I have included:

• The beautiful Supreme Slate of Mind (Red Oak).
• A Goshman Foam Brick (for audience member selection!).
• 4 dry-erase pens, not 2 as was supplied with the board originally.
• Two versions of the routine – the original one and the improved one that only was provided in later sales.  It makes the whole routine easier to perform, more entertaining, and more amazing 🙂

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Here we have another beautiful and collectible item from Ottavio Belli’s N8 Quality Magic.  The effect uses the same basic method created by Al Baker and Nate Liepzig c. 1934 with the introduction of the Al ‘N’ Nate Coin Box.

However, the effect that Ottavio creates has come along way from the original idea which has been used in probably 100’s of effects since, and unlike most of the different versions this multi-phase routine has enough going on that even magician’s familiar with the basic method could easily be fooled.

The props looks amazing and this is one way modern craftsmen can create incredible magic collections by finding their lane and creating a suite of amazing looking and effective  items, that have a distinctive look and each item adds some tweaks and improvements on the originals to keep them interesting and desirable by collectors.

This looks great and is easy to learn and perform.

Great job Ottavio 🙂

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The Porcupine was the name of my favorite local pub when I was working in London in the 1980’s.  I was in London in 2017 and The Porcupine is still going strong 🙂

I have many fond memories of going to The Porcupine and a couple of years ago I decided to renovate my old home office into the new Porcupine. My plan was to have a place where I could relax after work,  practice magic, listen to music, entertain a few friends and take all of my Speed Demo videos.

It has taken me most of this year to get something off the ground but I am about finished with the first phase – what is left is mainly small stuff, a few posters, accessories, etc., but all the heavy lifting is done.

I look forward to creating some great videos over the coming years and also to create a set of routines that I can perform when any one asks me in The Porcupine to “show us a trick Andy”.

I’m happy to say that this new Porcupine is my new Happy Place and I spend as much time as I can in here 🙂

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This is one of Alan’s very early Children’s effects with super large (9.5″ x 4.5″) dominoes so they can be seen by the whole party.  The effect is very similar to the close-up effect do-mini-o though in fact the color change with this effect for the final domino uses all three ribbon colors (The painted close-up effect uses one color each and the teak close-up effect uses two colors.)

What is particularly satisfying about this effect is not only is it very solid, easy to do, and visual but the dominoes have a double locking action so they can be handled freely before and after should you desire.

A rare vintage beauty you don’t see very often and would look great as a backdrop to some of Alan’s smaller domino pieces 🙂

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I always felt this was an amazing mirror box with a clever way of dumping the evidence and making it 100%  clean,  but the routine it was shipped with was not fully fleshed out.  So I spent sometime and added a few simple items to come up with this routine below which I think does a little more justice to the prop.

I have included:

• The Original Box and Gimmick
• A large 36″ Silk King Studio silk with a Full house beautifully printed on it (a $59 value)
• A Plastic stand
• Some spring flowers
• A deck of cards

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Jack Hughes, the legendary British Inventor, Craftsman, and Dealer who invented many staples in magic that we take for granted today (including: TV Card Frame (1936), Attaboy (early 1930s), Clatter Box (1951) and many more. He also invented the first visible coins to glass c. 1937, way before Copenetro, even though when Bob Kline introduced his version of Coins in Glass called Copenetro (with the same method) almost 10 years later in 1947, he claimed he had invented it and that Jack Hughes was the pirate.  I think history speaks for itself here and there is little doubt these days that Jack Hughes was the originator of the Visible Coins to Glass effect that many people attribute to Bob Kline. You can read more here.

I used to perform a later version by Jack Hughes  all the time as a teenager and into my 20’s – it was always easy to set, reliable in operation, and a great crowd pleaser.  But this version built by Abbott’s to Jack Hughes’ specifications and under license is the best one I have tried. The reset is simpler than any version of Coins To Glass I have owned and the accuracy is as good as it gets.  Sometimes a coin might miss the inner glass but most fall squarely inside the inner shot glass.

It has a better action than any Copenetro I have tried too.  It is also very small which is really useful when you actually want to amaze your audience 🙂

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