MAGIC SHOP STORIES
Sideshow Steve and I reminisce about visiting the famous New York City magic shops back in the 1970s...

VINTAGE MAGIC BOOKS
A peek into two of the antique magic books in my library...

VINTAGE MAGIC PROPS
A look back at some favorite magic props...

VINTAGE MAGIC CATALOGS
Before the Internet, there were the catalogs!
Here are my recollections of ordering from the giants of the mail order magic world...

JOHNSON SMITH CATALOGS
The Wish Books of my youth!
Here are my recollections of ordering from Johnson Smith...

MAGIC 8 BALL
Though we know it as a fun novelty toy, the Magic 8 Ball got its start as an authentic spiritualist tool.
It is a fascinating story...

MAGIC FRUIT CRATE LABELS
I get a lot of questions about how I decorate my back library, where I have been filming the demo videos.
A quick, easy to find and inexpensive choice is to use fruit crate labels.
Here are some colorful examples from my collection...

PHRENOLOGY
Phrenology is a quirky pseudoscientific idea that personality traits can be "read" by feeling the shape of the bumps on the head.
A replica of that head is in my collection...

ANTIQUE HANDCUFFS
After last week's post about the handcuffs used by Tony Curtis in the 1953 Houdini movie, I got several emails asking to see more antique handcuffs from my collection.
Here are a few of the hundreds of cuffs I have collected over the years...

HOUDINI MOVIE HANDCUFFS
If you think you can handcuff a magician, you are wrong!

ORIENTAL MAGIC
Why do some of the old classic tricks have a Chinese or Hindu theme?

What better way to show how big a giant is than to demonstrate how big his finger is in comparison to yours!
Let me show you some vintage giant's rings from my collection...

Broadly speaking, magic as a hobby embraces more than just the usual magic tricks and props.
Magicians are also fascinated by unusual and sometimes bizarre gimmicks, games and- stuff!
Let me show you some vintage novelty items from my collection...

The Talking Skull is a rare piece of magic history...

The Ball Vase is one of those legendary magic effects that has been around forever.
Many vases were finely turned from exotic wood, and seem to only get more beautiful with age.
Here are a few vintage and antique pieces from my magic collection...

The Thayer Blue Phantom is another rare prop, one of my favorites in my vintage and antique magic collection...

Originally made by Thayer Magic around 1935, this is a rather bizarre piece of magic equipment...

In the late 19th century, a little known traveling magician disappeared from a rooming house in upstate New York, leaving behind his trunk full of magic tricks, personal items- and posters.
This is the story of how I rescued the trunk from complete destruction...

Spiritualism- the belief that it is possible to communicate with the dead.
It all started with two young girls playing a prank in 1849, and grew into a movement that is still active today. ....

I have discovered many magical treasures in my travels, but probably none as exciting as finding these items that belonged to the great Harry Houdini....

Especially years ago, carnival games could be the biggest cons that the average person would experience.
Generally, the games were cleverly fixed in such a way that it would be impossible to win- unless the operator wanted you to win.
STEP RIGHT UP and let me show you how they worked...

Very old magic props are hard to find, mainly because they don't look like magic props.
Let me tell you about these Bran Vases...

Maurice "Morris" Saunders had a stellar career as THE GREAT RAYMOND, performing mainly in Europe and Australia.
Perhaps his greatest fame in the magic world is the huge amount of wonderful promotional materials he left behind.

Let me tell you about the Great Raymond...

The first installment in my series about antique magic props and their history.
Let me tell you about the Fire Globe...

The second installment in my series about antique magic props and their history.
Let me tell you about the Traveling Magician statue, a highly collectible piece that's nearly 150 years old.