Description
Thayer’s Great Ballot Box Mystery c. 1916 was hailed as The Wonder Trick of 1916 and what a beauty it was. Louis Gaynor reproduced one of these for Stevens Magic here.
This version was one of the very early items created by Thomas Pohle when he had a workshop in Berlin. It was built as a prototype after seeing the effect in Dr. Albo 04 that he borrowed from his magic friend “Braco” (Ralf Wichmann). A few years later when fellow countryman, Willi Wessel, was renting some space in his workshop, Thomas gave it to Willi. I recently purchased it directly from Willi. This is the only version that Thomas built.
It still works though the handle design is a little fragile and Thomas tells me he would build it a little differently today – of course he was a very young man back then and and has had another 44 years of experience since 🙂
Unlike the original Thayer version, although it is fine for the spectator to handle briefly it cannot be examined as thoroughly and the gimmick is not designed to be removed during performance as with the Thayer version.
Notice: After so many years of storage the gimmick sticks sometimes and the handle is quite fragile. But given this was a one of a kind prototype from over forty years ago it has held up amazingly well 🙂
Effect: Sweet and simple. Three different colored cubes are shown. A spectator is asked to place one of them into the small ballot box which the performer holds behind his back. Then the spectator is asked to concentrate on the color of their choice (after concealing the other two cubes). The performer is always able to call the color of any ball placed into the Ballot Box.
You will NOT be disappointed with this ingenious method. This can be performed blindfolded and is self-contained and easy to do.
History: The Ballot Box obtains its name from the ancient form of voting in lodges. If a new member was to be voted upon, each voting member had the right to put in a colored ball OR if the new member was not desirable to him, he would put in a black ball! Yes, this is where the saying; “He was black balled” came to be 🙂
(Notice: Includes: Printed Instructions.)
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