vintage magic – MagicShow.Tips

Silver Rocket Box by Richard Himber

I’m a huge fan of Richard Himber and his magic. One of the things that magicians say is that he had a huge ego and they support that by mentioning that he named his tricks the “himber wallet“, “himber ring” etc. That’s not quite true, those tricks were marketed under different names that didn’t have himber in the titles. Magicians started calling them himber ____.

At a magic auction a while ago ago I picked up a Silver Rocket Box that Richard Himber put out. It’s a super clever trick for producing silks.

@louiefoxx Silver Rocket Box vintage magic trick by Richard Himber! #vintagemagic #antiquemagic #vintage #magic #antique #collectiblemagic #louiefoxx #stagemagic #richardhimber ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I added the cup production. One thing that most silk productions lack is an ending. Usually they end with one big silk, which I think isn’t a good ending. You need to bunch up the silks and produce a bowling ball or whatever.

-Louie

Chinese Flame Clock

The Chinese Flame Clock is an interesting magic trick. This was invented by Ed Massey and mine appears to have been made by Milson Worth. This style of illusion isn’t really a modern style, however I’m sure there’s someone out there killing with it!

@louiefoxx Chinese Flame Clock! Vintate Magic Trick! #vintagemagic #antiquemagic #vintage #magic #antique #collectiblemagic #louiefoxx #stagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The trick is really solid, I think it’s pretty deceptive. It’s nothing that I would do, but it’s a great example of creating a method to make an effect happen!

-Louie

No 25 Gilbert Mysto Magic Show Set!

Recently when I was travelling, I came across this magic set in a junk shop

And here’s the picture of the lower tray

They really don’t make magic sets like this anymore. Everything has it’s own neat package, there’s some glass props, if I had the space to properly display it, it’d probably be more interested in it. However I think a bit overpriced at $795! I’m not a magic kit collector, but based on the people I talked to it priced about double what it’s worth.

-Louie

Mikame Treasure Box

Yesterday I wrote about some collectible magic tricks that I had recently acquired. I was looking at the Mikame Treasure Box and thought it could be more than just a production of silks or spring flowers.

Here’s what I came up with:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick! Mikame Treasure Box! #vintagemagic #mikame #treasurebox #magictrick #silkmagic #louiefoxx #magic #magician #antiquemagic #vintage ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

One of the things that I added and really like, but I think gets lost is that the single silk becomes tied to the chain of silks. There’s really not much to this, it’s just a couple of magnets. Then I think the trick needed a finish, besides a lot of silks, so ending with the drink production puts an end to the trick.

It was fun to brainstorm something fun with this prop!

-Louie

Collectible Magic Tricks

The other day I picked up a collection of used magic. As always the collection was 90% junk, however there were a couple of collectible things in the lot. There was a Milson Worth Chinese Flame Clock and a Mikame Treasure Box.

I really think the Flame Clock looks cool and it has a pretty unique effect. Here’s some video of what it does (the version is the video appears to be a different maker):

I’ve got these and more used magic listed for sale on my Used Magic Page!

-Louie

Silver Rocket Box by Richard Himber

I’m a huge fan of Richard Himber’s magic. He’s put out some really interesting stuff and generally did a really good job of branding it. That’s why we have the Himber Ring the Himber Wallet and my personal favorite the Himber Pail.

At a recent auction a Himber Silver Rocket box was for sale and I managed to get it at a reasonable price. This is a box that’s about 6 x 4 x 4 inches that is show empty by opening all of the sides. The sides are then closed and you produce a lot of silks from it.

I really like the way the load chamber moves around for the production. It’s a great example of economy of motion in apparatus.

It’s a cool piece to add to my collection!

-Louie

Props in Real Life!

There are some props that have always baffled me as they don’t look like anything I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. The props for the Rice, Orange and Checkers trick is one of them. Below is a Rings n’ Things set that I own:

The middle container is the rice vase where you fill with rice, then rice turns into an orange. At the hotel I’m at, I found what I think it’s supposed to be in real life:

I don’t think anyone has really used containers like that in my lifetime, but I found what they rice vase is supposed to look like! I now only slightly less dislike the Rice, Orange and Checkers trick.

-Louie

Vanishing Alarm Clock

A little while ago I agreed to do a school assembly tour next year. I’ll be doing 2-4 shows a day for about 8 weeks. For me doing these tours is about generating new material. Doing 15-20 shows a week, you really can take something and polish it, or know it’s not for you.

I was trying to think of a something to tie a bunch of unrelated ideas together. It hit me the other day, use idioms as the thing that links everything. An idiom is a saying, like “a broken clock is right twice a day” or “keep me in the loop“.

Those are two examples of things I’m working on right now for the show.

A while ago I ended up with a lot of vintage magic props. One of them is the stand for an old vanishing alarm clock. I went out and ordered an alarm clock with bells that ring and rigged it to work with a remote control. The idea is that alarm clock will come out of a box. It will be covered up with a handkerchief and hang on the stand. It will ring, then vanish. Then there will be ringing from the box it originally came out of and it will be back inside the box!

I’m excited to be able to have a use for a prop like this in my show, as this style of prop doesn’t normally have a spot in what I do.

-Louie

Spirit bell

A couple of months ago I had a garage sale find of a lot of vintage magic. I sold most of the props a few weeks ago. I kinda regretted selling the spirit bell that was part of that find. Well, the magic gods led me to another spirit bell! This one belonged to John Pomeroy whose company was GEM magic.

This one is a little bit bigger than the previous one that I had, it’s also heavier. The nice thing is that I have an extra glass bell. This one doesn’t have a stand, but it does have the wand that makes it ring.

The wand on this one has a better design than on the other one. The previous one had a button you pressed, where this one has a button you slide. The sliding action is more ergonomic and makes your hand move less when the bell rings.

Life is funny sometimes, I’ve never seen a spirit bell in person, and in the span of four months, I’ve owned two different ones!

-Louie

Remote Control Alarm Clock…

A couple of months ago I got a lot of vintage magic at a garage sale and one of the things was a vanishing alarm clock stand (no clocks). I also have a lot of remote control units here, so I made a remote control alarm clock:

When you push the button the alarm rings

I’m not sure how I’m going to do this in the show. Traditionally you cover the clock and hang it from the stand. When you hang it, it starts ringing and you pull away the cloth and the alarm clock is gone. Then the alarm clock reappears somewhere else. I think I’ll use the remote control alarm clock as the one that reappears and the ringing is how it will announce it’s reappearance.

-Louie