Here’s another real bird cage in the style of the vanishing birdcage that I found in the wild at a restaurant in Chicago!
This is just more proof that the vanishing birdcages once actually looked like something in real life!
-Louie
Here’s the newest addition to my vanishing birdcage collection.
This is the first vanishing birdcage in my collection that has the perch go the long way across the cage. This vanishing birdcage has the spoon (sleeve guard) still attached, that’s something that’s frequently broken off of these older cages.
This one had been damages and had a repair:
Unfortunately this cage’s repair is bent, so it’s currently an non-functional cage. I’m scared to try to bend it back. I don’t want to undo the repair and end up with a broken cage.
This is a great addition to the collection!
-Louie
Vanishing Birdcages from India have been popping up on eBay with way too high prices and descriptions. Here’s the image on one that recently popped up:
Let’s take a closer look at what those instructions say:
There’s so much wrong with that ad copy!
1: That cage isn’t a “Lindhorst Style”
2: That cage hasn’t been used thousands of times
3: Gene Anderson has never really been associated with the vanishing birdcage trick
4: Highly unlikely that this cage belonged to Gene Anderson
5: How has it been used by Gene thousands of times, if it’s “never used”
Then the red flag is the $110 price point, those cages are less than $50 new and still being made and easily available!
If you’re looking to buy a vanishing birdcage and aren’t sure if it’s a good one, feel free to contact me and I can give you my opinion on the one you’re thinking of.
-Louie
Today I’m making a couple of take up reels! These are reels that are typically used for the vanishing birdcage. They don’t have anything to do with the actual vanish of the cage, they simply take up slack in the pull and lock it short. This allows you freedom of motion before you do the cage vanish.
People frequently ask me what kind of cage this will work with, and the answer is that it’s great for any cage that works on a wrist to wrist pull. That means an Abbott’s style will work as well as an Owen vanishing birdcage.
The take up reel can be used for more than the birdcage. The Chimney Vanish with a silk will work or pretty much anything that goes up your sleeve. If you have any question about if this will work for you, feel free to contact me!
-Louie
Magicians frequently say that the modern style of vanishing birdcage doesn’t look like a cage. They really don’t, however cages that look like them do exists. I cme across them every now and then, here’s one:
and here’s another:
In real life, there really isn’t a birdcage that’s handheld anymore. Modern birdcages for pets are giant. No one really uses a handheld cage anymore.
-Louie
Here’s a new addition to my vanishing bird cage collection!
This one has the ends of the large bars pointed instead of square. In theory that is going to hang up less than having the ends square.
This is something that I have thought about, but never did to any of my cages. First of all, not all the corners would need to be pointed, just the ones that are on the leading side of the cage. Next, I think that IF this one did hang up on your sleeve, it would really hang up and wedge the sleeve into it making any possible continued yank up your sleeve much harder.
This is a fun cage variation to add to my collection!
-Louie
The newest addition to my vanishing birdcage is also one of the most interesting to me. This one came from a Potter and Potter auction and there really wasn’t much bidding action on it. I got it for $150 (gavel price) and they simply listed it as from the 1920’s and German.
This cage has some very fine detail work on it. Like the super tiny sleeve guard, there were two, but one is missing. The screws that hold it on are very fine!
This cage is missing a bar and it appears to have been repaired at some point. I also don’t think that the ring that the pull attaches to is original.
Another fun this is that this cage has a perch and this perch is a spring! I guess that is a lot easier to attach than a wooden one, and more flexible!
This is a fun addition to the collection!
-Louie
I recently acquired a new vanishing birdcage!
There are a couple of interesting things about this vanishing bird cage. The big thing is that the corners are upside down, the wires are on the inside of the cage and not on the outside.
The corners also feel longer than they need to be, and it turns out that’s a characteristics of YIMKA vanishing birdcages. All of the pictures of them that I’ve now seen have longer corners than most cages.
After a chat with Doug Edwards who is the Vanishing Birdcage guy, it appears that YIMKA made cages with the corners upside down and the standard way. YIMKA also stamped his cages, but not all of them. The cage I have is unstamped, but based on what I’ve learned, I’d say my new cage is probably a YIMKA!
One of the fun things for me is the detective work and figuring out what I’ve just bought!
-Louie
Click here to learn more about the Vanishing Birdcage!
Yesterday morning I headed down to the local TV station to promote National Magic Week. I was on their morning “lifestyle” show and it was a lot of fun. One of the challenges of doing TV is that you don’t know how much time you have, they tell you about how much time, but you never really know for sure.
Here’s what I had in my pockets right before the start of the segment:
These props would keep me covered for most situations that I could encounter. You may also notice the deck of cards isn’t a bicycle deck, it’s the Penguin Marked Deck. When I do TV spots, I try to always use a marked deck. That can potentially bail me out of some situations, like when the weatherman grabs a card and tell me to name it.
The other thing that I threw in my backpack was my vanishing birdcage.
Sometimes they ask you to do a quick trick as part of a teaser segment. These are usually a 5 – 10 second bit where you don’t talk, the host is introducing your segment. You need a very visual bit to be able to do in the background.
What I ended up doing for the show was my close up card set. I didn’t do the whole thing, but the reason I chose that was that it’s a modular trick. I can take things away from in to shorten it and it has multiple points that feel like the end. That makes that routine very useful for TV spots!
-Louie
I was chatting with my friend who makes vanishing bird cages and he was showing me picture of his Big 10 vanishing cage. The picture below is a normal full size (Owen) cage on the left and the Big 10 on the right.
What’s crazy is that the Big 10 cage is actually smaller when collapsed!
I use one of his smaller cages in my school assembly show Incredible Idioms® and I love it!! He makes great cages, and if you’re in the market for a vanishing birdcage, shoot me a note and I can get you in touch with him!
-Louie
