Hello All,

Does anybody have Tops, Volume 5, Number 9, September 1949, p. 17 at their finger tips? This is supposedly an article by U. F. Grant concerning some variations on the Heath Di-Ciphering Dice. (I found the reference to it in an old, old Linking Ring.)

If so, could you please take a quick look at it and let me know if you think I should plunk down a substantial chunk of my monthly stipend from the Feds for old codgers to browse a one page article. All I'm asking is whether you think it's interesting or useful. There's very little written on these dice by anyone other than Annemann, Chesbro or Gardner so I was surprised to run across this tonight.

Many thanks for your opinion,

Thomas Henry

Hi Gang,

I figured I should report back, to prevent anyone from wasting his or her time on this. I bit the bullet and blew 40 bucks on this. It has bibliographic interest, of course, but the tiny article was otherwise money down the drain.

Anyway, I got the year wrong in my original request which had me head-scratching at first! (It's 1940).

Thomas Henry

Hi Thomas! Sorry about the needless expense!

I just read your OP. If I had read it sooner, I could have told you that Gen Grant worked at Abbott's in the late '30s and, very early '40s. (I don't know the EXACT dates. --I was just 10 in '41, and only just beginning. (I did my first "show & tell" for class mates when I was 11, and, my first real show when I was 13.)

Gen and Percy apparently had a "difference of opinion", and, Gen. left Colon, and, shortly after, opened his own shop in Columbus, Ohio. He had clever ideas, and, did well.

At one time, I had a Lota, that although it may have been made in Colon, and sold by Percy, certainly had had Gen's inventive genius "involved"! You could have it examined! It was "clean"! (The gaff could be removed, and, reinserted.)


Apparently, Gen had written the piece about Heath's trick, in "TOPS", before he left Colon.

Hi Dick,

Thanks for the commiseration, and the info. Yeah, it really cut into my monthly allowance to get this. On the other hand, I love reading about the magicians and magic of that time, so am getting another pleasure out of it.

My first visit to a magic store was to Abbott's in 1967 for the Get-Together, so looking over this old Tops brings back the memories.

Thomas Henry