But there is another long established magician /craftman whose pedigree goes way back to the days of Harry Stanley and Ken Brooke. Bob Swadling. With his lovely Oxfordshire accent and a brain and skilled hands that were trained at top level working in the aero/atomic industry that were turned to the craft of making outstanding magic props where quality and reliability were paramount. He was the man behind the scenes who made superb fake coins and other engineered items of magic for top professionals and the trade and on his retirement he created Swadling Magic, creators and manufacturers of original quality magic. I was reminded of all this at his excellent lecture at The Magic Circle earlier this week when once more I saw his amazing changing cards that literally change in mid air. (This is an outstanding item and he made me a special set some years ago whereby any card could be freely selected from a spread and shown to be the only card with a different coloured back. It’s quite brilliant)

But he showed a whole parade of brilliant thinking and craftsmanship, lovingly put together for those who value quality.From his Power Pack whereby a deck delivers timed coins into a tumbler, to his exquisitely made coin box, the stylish aluminium three shell game, torn and restored card that becomes whole in mid-are in a flash of fire and his visible coin through handkerchief where you actually see the coin  penetrate! Everything he makes looks terrific and works perfectly, the hallmark of Swadling magic. And look out for his shortly to be seen prize winning coin in the bottle whereby the coin is seen to penetrate in the side of the bottle!

And if you want to witness his ingenuity ask to see the Kristal Card Stab, designed by him for his daughter’s cabaret act where a dagger pushed through the side of a deck correctly stabs a selected card, seen on the blade as the deck drops away in a burst of flame. Great theatre and great magic. Bob and his wife Val (herself a magic competition prizewinner) are just off to to the U.S. for Christmas with their daughter but he’ll be at Blackpool so do yourself a favour and check out his outstandingly made magic. Or if you want a quick run down on his items, he produces  two DVD’s called “Magical Moments with Bob Swadling” – email:swadlingmagic@btinternet.com

But one dealer who really does come up with something good for most conventions and works really hard at getting the punters involved is Colin Rose of Five of Hearts Magic. Former professional magician and master craftsman he creates and makes all the original items on his stand and this year he rang the bell for children’s entertainers with an item called “Balls Up

Basically it is a stylish aluminium box on a stand and a large size puppet – monkey, puppy or what you will. The puppet and a number of coloured balls are placed in the box and at inappropriate moments during the magician’s patter the balls fly high in the air out of the box, one at a time, causing vocal reaction from the children. Wrapped in a routine whereby the puppet is ostensibly going to find the selected ball, it is a vehicle for sheer pantomime entertainment (it’s behind you etc.) Working children’s magicians recognising a great piece of magic theatre quickly snapped up “Balls Up” and Colin was sold out before the end of the week.

He not only offers the complete set up as described above but for magicians with imaginative presentation ideas he also offers just the gizmo with timer that does all the work that can be introduced into your own container. No wires, no threads, no batteries, completely self -contained and beautifully thought out and constructed in the quality that is the hallmark of magic by Five of Hearts productions. I don’t do children’s magic but I know  good heatre when I see it. Why not check out the details and see the demo on www.fiveofheartsmagic.co.uk

 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.