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Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
I have posted this in the Secret Sessions area of the Café, so as not to expose the mechanics in open forum. Posting here to hopefully attract some more people with knowledge of this.
Anyone with knowledge of vintage apparatus, please take a look. http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......rum=37&2
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
I had one of these several years ago. I had no idea what it was or how it worked.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
The closest I've been able to come is that it is a partial set of an Owen Rice Orange Checkers (missing the rice vase). Having seen one of those in a photo sent by a collector, plus other evidence, that all seems to fit. However, another very knowledgable collector has reason to believe it might be connected to Resor.
It's one of those fun mysteries!
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
Rick Fisher Elite user Rick Fisher 471 Posts |
Hi Michael: This looks very similiar to a trick Abbotts put out many years ago called BLUE PHANTOM. I looked at the illustration in the catalog and it pretty much matches the tube decor.
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
It's not the same. The Blue Phantom had a post that ran up through the center of the checker stack. Also, there were six yellow checkers and one blue checker.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
magicgettogether Special user Michigan 556 Posts |
Bill Palmer is right, Abbotts has a used Blue Phantom in their shop, I am enclosing a pic.
Click here to view attached image. |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
Here is a bit of trivia about the name "Blue Phantom." The original name of the trick was "das blaue Wunder" which is German for "the absolute miracle." It could also be translated "the real baffler." When J. Barrows Mussey translated this into English, he was trying to find a more literal translation for the phrase, and he conjured this one up, instead. The trick was invented by Hans Trunk, a director from Vienna.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
Gentlemen,
Thanks for your input. I am familiar with the Blue Phantom, and knew this is not what I had. All evidence and expert evaluation points to my set being an older Owen Orange, Rice, Checkers, minus the rice vase. As the rice vases were once and are still available as separate pieces, I hope to one day complete this set. They are a bit pricey, though. Much more so than what I paid for the pieces I got! Bill, Thank you for the history lesson. Where did you find this? ~michael
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
hugmagic Inner circle 7655 Posts |
The Blue Phantom is described in "Illustrated Magic" by Ottokar Fischer also.
Richard
Richard E. Hughes, Hughes Magic Inc., 352 N. Prospect St., Ravenna, OH 44266 (330)296-4023
www.hughesmagic.com email-hugmagic@raex.com Write direct as I will be turning off my PM's. |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
That's the reference I was using. I forgot to mention what book it was in.
The original book, das Wunderbuch der Zauberkunst, was translated into Engilsh by J. Barrows Mussey as Illustrated Magic. Mussey's co-editor on the project was Fulton Oursler. Why they chose this name for the trick is beyond me. It may have been an override by the senior editor, Fulton Oursler. I had similar problems with Craige Snader when I translated the Punx books. Craige often chose titles for things that were not really accurate. BTW, almost every magician has something or another by J. Barrows Mussey in his library. His usual pen name was Henry Hay.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
hugmagic Inner circle 7655 Posts |
I figured you as a great German scholar would have used it as a reference. But I did not post the name until I had a chance to check the spellings. It is a great book that really inspired me on getting interested in apparatus.
Richard
Richard E. Hughes, Hughes Magic Inc., 352 N. Prospect St., Ravenna, OH 44266 (330)296-4023
www.hughesmagic.com email-hugmagic@raex.com Write direct as I will be turning off my PM's. |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
Illustrated Magic was one of the first magic books that I checked out of the Houston Public Library. I was fascinated by those photographs of all of the interesting gimcracks and gew-gaws that were shown in the book. Fortunately for me, the book is not rare by any means, having gone into several printings.
About 1972, when I got back into magic, I found a copy at a used book store and purchased it. I've owned about a half dozen copies. OLMS came out with a reproduction of the original German copy, and I got one of them from Harold Voit. Later, Ted Lesley gave me an original copy, and I also purchased one on line from a book dealer in Berlin. I currently have two of the English version, the two original German copies and the reproduction German copy. I have found that they are excellent trading material -- not so much for trade with other magicians, but as something to trade to a machinist in exchange for special work on a prop. Machinists quite often think of these fantastic mechanisms as the real secrets of magic, and they find them incredibly intriguing. I got a whole new socket and some other work done on a broom suspension just for a copy of this book.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
I'll have to dig out my copy. I recall the Blue Phantom shown in there, but didn't remember it having contained the history, as well. Copies seem to show up on Ebay frequently. The prices are usually good, too.
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
It doesn't contain the history. All it does is explain the trick. I got the history of the trick from some translation work I did for Harold Voit. He put out a miniature version which worked exactly like the one in Illustrated Magic, but which also had a very interesting routine.
BTW, when Thayer/Owen pinched the trick, they made an "improvement" that ruined the illusion. That was the use of the half shell. This is deceptive only at fairly long distances. The original had a shell that went the entire length of the stack of checkers. A lot of the history of the tricks that were pinched from Germany and Austria after WWI was lost to us, and has only come out recently. For example, the metal version of the glass penetration is a German item. It was invented by a fellow named Krug. The plastic version is the knockoff.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
Thanks again, Bill!
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
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