The effect is easily described. A card is chosen and lost in the middle of the deck which is returned to the case. Then a coin is borrowed and signed and vanishes instantly. It reappears inside the deck, inside the case, resting on top of the chosen card.

Anthony also teaches a variation where a signed coin is in view right until after the spectator has taken the deck. A little more sleight of hand is required but it is still fairly straightforward.

What do you get?

You receive a neat package containing a highly gaffed deck of cards! The box is gaffed and so are a number of the cards themselves. The good news is that this is all done for you – so no construction required here. That being said, they do supply some special ‘something’ which would enable you to repair/replace some of the gimmicks – though the instructions for doing so are not yet available online. There is, however, a link to about 40 minutes of online instruction.

What do we think?

When I first saw the trailer it reminded me of an old Jay Sankey release – In a Flash – and it is good to see this credited on the website. Someone (Eugene Burger???) once said “There are few tricks that can’t be improved by the judicious use of flash paper” (I may have just made that up!) – and in some ways I prefer the plot and simplicity of handling of the Sankey effect.

On the other hand, it is probably fair to say you can have a bit more freedom in handling the Sherlock’oin cards – and could probably perform another effect or two with the deck before or after. This would be harder with In a Flash.

Pros and Coins

The clever gimmicks do make the handling of Sherlock’oin very straightforward. However, I found the vanish to be a bit fiddly with a light coin. I suspect that with a bit more practise this would come good, particularly as the gimmick ‘wore in’ a bit. The vanish is certainly incredibly visual and would give the impression that you were a black belt in sleight of hand!

The gimmick puts some constraints on the size of coin you can use – and in the UK I think that would restrict you to a 1p, 5p, 20p or old £1 coin. (I’ve not been able to try with a new £1 coin – but having checked the dimensions online I think they would be too big; as are 2p and 50p coins). However, I see no reason why you couldn’t perform the effect with a lady’s finger ring – and the impact might be even greater.

Teaching is clear and everything has been put together really well. I would expect the gimmicks to last for a decent length of time in normal use.
So there’s lots to like about this. But I remain slightly unconvinced. Sometimes magic creators go so far out of their way to make things ‘easy’ to perform, that the solution is more ‘complicated’ than necessary. I think this feels a bit like that. For that reason for my tastes I prefer the simplicity and the spectacle of In a Flash. But for those who prefer the slightly higher degree of freedom with these cards, and the potential for a very visual and fooling vanish, Sherlock’oin is well worth a look.

Sherlock’oin is available from the Merchant of Magic for £32.36 (at the time of writing)

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

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We’re going to start with something a little different which has caught my eye. Cube Sum is, I suppose, a variation on the old ‘mental logs’ trick. But to my mind it is much more disarming. In effect, your spectator throws a number of brightly coloured dice with 2-digit numbers on them and you can instantly reveal their total – without even looking at them. What I like about this is that the props look more like they could have come out of a board-game – lending a possible presentational angle – and they allow the scope for a number of variations. And great value at only £14.99.

This one’s somewhere between mental magic and card magic and, in fact, leaves your spectator with an impossible object which will leave them wowed. Essentially Gaff Caps is a pack of custom produced bottle caps which look like popular brands but have ‘reveals’ in them – so you can apparently pick up a bottle cap and ‘morph’ it into a prediction. Great if you often perform in bars or restaurants. £21.50

Regular readers will know I’m a big fan of magic books, and always have several on the go. Based on the commendations, this new release from Thomas Baxter – sounds really interesting. If you can get over the rather strange title – Not a Dianoetic Rage – it sounds to be chock full of good card magic. Looking forward to reading this. £38.99

In brief: Fine Print is an old Jay Sankey effect which is available again – providing a really clever prediction effect which appears in the small print on the front of an Ace of Spades.  This leaves the potential for an amusing presentation – and is great value at only £4.49.

And because we can’t resist keeping you up to date on the latest Bicycle Cards, have you seen the Arcanum Deck from Gamblers Warehouse?  Could be great for Halloween (I know it’s early – but if we leave it until October you’ll be too late!) or spooky presentations.  But a striking deck with gorgeous metallic inks.  £12.49 (also available in white).

That’s all for now.  We’ve got lots of new magic reviews coming in up including a feature on some magic wallets.  Join the conversation below or on Facebook if there are things you’d like us to cover.

The post Trick of the Month – June 2015 – mainly mental magic appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

Just type in the code : sankey25 in the ‘redeem voucher’ box at the checkout and they will reduce the price of all the Jay Sankey items by 25%.

Sankey has a knack for producing interesting twists on normal plots and has produced some great magic DVDs. He has produced loads of great card magic – one of our favourites is:

Don’t forget to use the voucher code!

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The post Trick of the Month – Apr 2008 appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

Here’s their blurb:

The spectator shuffles the pack, touches any card and the selected card is closely examined. You remove two Jokers from your pocket and both Jokers are also examined. The selected card is slowly sandwiched between the two Jokers and that’s when some VERY strange stuff starts to happen.

First, one end of the face up selection VISIBLY STRETCHES! Then the other end VISIBLY STRETCHES! For the jaw-dropping climax the two Jokers and the STILL STRETCHED selected card are all handed out to be thoroughly examined! You have turned the selected card into an honest-to-goodness holy relic!

Some more independent thoughts can be found here at Talk Magic.

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Another slightly odd design from USPCC. These have ‘tragic’ faces on the court cards, and glow under blacklight (UV). £3.99 in stock at Merchant of Magic or £3.50 at Cards Bicycle Tragic Royalty USPCCWorld Magic Shop.

They are also offering Jay Sankey’s Final Fusion (with DVD) at the reduced price of £11.75 (40% off) – a very powerful finish for any card routine.

The post Tragic Royalty Bicycle Cards appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

Four Jokers are fairly shown front and back, then one-by-one each of the printed Joker illustrations turn face down on the cards! Comes with cards (nicely printed on Bicycle stock) and DVD and another bonus routine – and currently less than HALF PRICE at £7.05!

(Click on the image for a video demo and more details)
 
 
 
 

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