Conjuring Credits

The Origins of Wonder

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Progressive Ace Assembly

In this variant on the classic Ace Assembly, the Aces jump from pile to pile, accumulating in the process: The first Ace vanishes from its pile to join the second Ace in its pile. These two Aces then vanish and reappear with the third Ace in its pile. Then all three Aces vanish from that pile to join the fourth Ace in its pile. Roger Smith invented this variant and published it in Necromancer, Vol. 1 No. 1, Aug. 1970, p. 6.

However, evidence later submitted by Edward Marlo (see Marlo's Magazine, Vol. 1, 1976, p. 71) documents that Ken Krenzel suggested the plot to Dai Vernon in 1955. Vernon worked out a method at that time, and presumably Krenzel came up with a method around the same time. Krenzel's method was eventually published in Epilogue Special, No. 2, 1975, p. 9. Jeff Busby also corroborated this claim with a letter from Bill Simon to Faucett Ross, dated Nov. 19, 1955, in which Simon gave Vernon's method for the trick; see Arcane, No. 8, 1982, p. 90.