The plot of causing two cards to fuse into one was published by Norm Houghton as “Stranger of Another Color” in Ibidem, No. 5, Apr. 1956, p. 19. Houghton had a blue-backed card fuse to the face of a red-backed selection. No signatures were involved.

Several years later, signatures made their way into the fold. The first fusion of signed cards, one signed by a spectator on its face, the second by the performer on its back, is Art Spring's “Matched Cards” in The Pallbearers Review, Vol. 4, No. 10, Aug. 1969, p. 278.

Four issues later, Karl Fulves added a note regarding Spring's effect (see The Pallbearers Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, Dec. 1969, p. 308). Fulves first mentioned Houghton's trick. He then described an effect he recalled in which two chosen cards, unsigned, are returned to the deck, one face down, the other face up. When the deck is spread, the face-up selection is found fused, back to back with the face-down selection, creating a double-faced card. This trick has yet to be identified.

The open use of a double-backed card was later introduced to enhance the effect. Gene Maze, Richard Kaufman, and David Arthur used this gaffed card in their “Fusion” routine from CardWorks, 1981, p. 47. Strictly speaking, this isn’t a fusion routine, regardless of the title. The cards weren’t presented as fused but merely “stuck together” (which, while similar, is conceptually different). The double-backer was then split back into two cards, giving the merger no permanency.

1981 also saw the publication of Paul Harris and Looy Simonoff's “The Beast with Two Backs” in Close-Up Fantasies Finalé, 1981, p. 113. This trick ended with two cards permanently fused together in the form of a red/blue double-backer.

The first published variation to use a double-faced card to fuse together two spectator-signed selections is “Hotfoot” by Jay Sankey, in Sankey Panky, 1986, p. 76.

Wesley James has claimed the Fusion plot as his, but he didn't publish his “Forgery” until Stop Fooling Us!, 1989, p. 39. James has two cards fuse, one signed by the spectator, the other by the performer. Even if calculating by the 1965 creation date James claims for his trick (see Enchantments, 2004, p. 5), Houghton's fusion effect, although lacking signatures, predates it by nine years.

The complexity in the development of the card-fusion concept makes it a forbidding topic for succinct discussion. The citations above offer points of origin and some highlights in its evolution. To explore the subject further, refer to:

* Category in Denis Behr's "Conjuring Archive"

Prior to the fusion effect being applied to cards, it was suggested for coins and billiard balls.

Prior to cards being fused face-to-face or back-to-back, George Fairclough published a method of fusing cards end-to-end. His trick, “The Mystical Aces and Kings” appeared in The Sphinx, Vol. 6 No. 8, Oct. 1907, p. 93.