ONE OF THE GREATEST and most dramatic card revelations from the last century to the present time is surely the Card Stab. To have a card chosen, shuffled back into the pack and then to be found by stabbing a knife into the side of the deck or to spread the cards across a table and stabbing the chosen card into the wooden surface  is dramatic, good theatre and a great mystery be it on stage, in a parlour or in close-up.

 Many of our finest magicians have presented this effect over the years with great success. Max Malinimade a feature of the effect performing in the drawing rooms of the great and the  good, spreading the cards on the host’s antique table and stabbing the correct card with a dagger whilst blindfolded. Ignoring any concern for a fine piece of furniture, Malini, always the hustler, boasted that his client would proudly display the damaged surface saying “The great Malini did that”  Well, that was Malini’s version!

Al Koran had a fabulous card stab years ago with a borrowed pack and was offered large amount of money by rich magicians before he generously published it in his book “Mastered Amazement“ which he co-authored with Jack Lamonte.

He’d borrow a pack of cards, have a card selected, returned to the pack that was cut several times and then wrap a banknote around the edge of the deck. With a borrowed pen knife he would then stab through the banknote into the pack, open up the deck and show that the knife was next to the selected card. He lived off that trick for a long time and it was quite sensational and helped establish his reputation.

Another excellent card stab was created by master craftsman and magician Bob Swadling who I believe designed this version for his daughter Crystal who was a professional magician. Again a card was selected and replaced in the pack which was wrapped completely in tissue paper and string. A dagger was plunged into the side of the packet which suddenly burst into flames, the cards now released dropped into a champagne bucket and the selected card was seen impaled on the dagger blade. It was a real show biz style presentation which was excellent  for cabaret and stage performance and was a highlight of Crystal’s act for some time.

Bob made a few of these and marketed them through his company Swadling Magic, which was excellent in concept and construction and featured in the act of many of our working professionals.

If you want a surefire, one-off,  no problems, ideal for television presentation version of the card stab you could not do better than to use a Svengali Deck. Card is selected, place back in the pack, cut many times and  a knife plunged through the side of the deck by the spectator.  Bingo. Right on the card.

Lastly , years ago Harry Stanley used to hold magic luncheons in a Chinese restaurant called Ley-Ons, situated near his studio in Wardour Street  where in town magicians used to meet, eat, and do magic including many overseas magicians from time to time.

One such visitor from the USA was a magician called Arnold Furst and he did an apparently impromptu card stab at the dinner table. He had a card selected, shuffled the deck, balanced the cards on a table knife, tossed the deck into the air and plunged the knife into the snowstorm of cards to produce the selected card impaled on the knife. It was very good. I’ll tip the gaff later on if you’re interested.

I’ll be setting up a password shortly for magicians so that detailed explanations of effects shown on this blog can be revealed to bona fide readers as I am aware that we are getting quite a few hits from lay people in other countries and the whole purpose of this feature was news and tricks for magicians.Watch this space.

Finally there is an excellent presentation of the Card Stab by Roberto Giobbi of Card College fame. All in all it’s one of our classics of card magic.

Filed under: Magic Miscellanea