Conjuring Credits

The Origins of Wonder

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misc:changing_spot_card [2017/01/10 08:17] – Added citation for the claim made in the first paragraph. tylerwilsonmisc:changing_spot_card [2017/01/10 09:39] – Added conjuring citation as well. tylerwilson
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 ======Changing Spot Card====== ======Changing Spot Card======
  
-This perennial dealers’ item, in which the number of spots on each side of a card changes several times, has its roots in the centuries-old card bearing two diamond pips, one at the center, the other at one end. By displaying the card with fingers covering the end pip, the card appears to be an Ace. If the fingers instead cover the blank end, the card seems to be a Three. This ruse appeared in //[[http://askalexander.org/display/36270/Gibeci+re/107|L’Antidote ou le contrepoison des chevaliers d’industrie]]//, 1768, p. 107 of the Pieper translation. This book was translated in //Gibecière//, Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2012, p. 60-175.+This perennial dealers’ item, in which the number of spots on each side of a card changes several times, has its roots in the centuries-old card bearing two diamond pips, one at the center, the other at one end. By displaying the card with fingers covering the end pip, the card appears to be an Ace. If the fingers instead cover the blank end, the card seems to be a Three. The ruse appeared in the unpublished //[[http://askalexander.org/display/30886/Gibeci+re/141|Sloane 424]]//, c. 1600s, p. 141 of the Pieper translation. This manuscript was published in //Gibecière//, Vol. 5 No. 2, Summer 2010, p. 141-172. Conjurors didn't have a monopoly on the concept; card cheats were using the same ploy against the banker in Faro, as detailed in //[[http://askalexander.org/display/36270/Gibeci+re/107|L’Antidote ou le contrepoison des chevaliers d’industrie]]//, 1768, p. 107 of the Pieper translation. This book was translated in //Gibecière//, Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2012, p. 60-175.
  
 In Professor Hoffmann’s //Tricks with Cards//, 1889, pp. 48-51, he describes a double faced card with diamond pips printed on both sides. The first side as two diamonds arranged as were those on the old Ace/Three card. The other side of the card has eight diamonds, arranged in a way that, with the fingers covering diamonds or a blank area, the card can be displayed as a Five or a Nine. He proceeds to describe a routine by the French magician Eugéne Verbeck. Verbeck forced a Nine of Diamonds, which he then switched for the double-faced pip card. He used this card to create the illusion he was picking off the pips in stages. The double-faced nature of the gimmicked card was kept hidden, and the card was turned over secretly. When Verbeck got down to one pip, he did a Bottom Change for a blank-faced card, which could be left for inspection. In Professor Hoffmann’s //Tricks with Cards//, 1889, pp. 48-51, he describes a double faced card with diamond pips printed on both sides. The first side as two diamonds arranged as were those on the old Ace/Three card. The other side of the card has eight diamonds, arranged in a way that, with the fingers covering diamonds or a blank area, the card can be displayed as a Five or a Nine. He proceeds to describe a routine by the French magician Eugéne Verbeck. Verbeck forced a Nine of Diamonds, which he then switched for the double-faced pip card. He used this card to create the illusion he was picking off the pips in stages. The double-faced nature of the gimmicked card was kept hidden, and the card was turned over secretly. When Verbeck got down to one pip, he did a Bottom Change for a blank-faced card, which could be left for inspection.