Description
PLEASE NOTICE: DUE TO SHIPPING REGULATIONS AND/OR THE COST TO SHIP THIS LOT, WE ARE ONLY ACCEPTING BIDS WITH FINAL DESTINATIONS IN THE USA.The original idea for this effect was Herz aus Glas by Robert Farchmin in German c. 1938. The routine featured here was first published by Punx c. 1977 and this was translated into English by Bill Palmer c. 1987 with the release of Punx’s book Once Upon A Time.
In 1988 George Robinson Jr. of Haenchen and Co./ Viking Mfg. Co. was given manufacturing rights by Punx to produce this amazing and beautiful version. It is very solid and looks perfect. Whilst the mechanism is easy to operate, if you really want to do justice to it you’ll need to put on your acting cap. But if you do a good job there won’t be a dry eye in the house 🙂
Even if you don’t want to perform this it will still look beautiful in your collection which is often all that counts.
One comment, although I purchased this directly from George Robinson this frame does not have the VH stamp on the bottom like he mentions in the instructions. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve see a prop that was meant to have a stamp and it is missing. But this is the genuine article and I know you will love it (trust me I’m a Dr.) 🙂
Effect: (by George Robinson Jr.) In 1988 Punx gave me his personal Himber Ring for my collection along with permission to build the The Heart of Glass plus permission to use the description and routine as published in his wonderful work, Magical Adventures and Fairy Tales.
I built some 20-30 units back in 1988, but due to a fire in the shop, many items were moved to a large storage facility. These frames have sat idle for over 30 years. While sorting through a truckload of unmarked boxes we came across this buried treasure, so far only a few have been found. All are in very good condition, but some of the brass hearts show small bits of tarnish. I am not going to polish the brass, but I will leave it as is as I believe it gives character to the prop. The beautifully aged Northern walnut has aged a dark ruddy brown which only adds to its beauty.
Punx has woven a wonderful story about a very rich man who’s heart had turned to glass. His heart is punctured by Cupid’s arrow but alas, the effect is fleeting and the man’s heart turns to glass once more. This is a visual penetration effect, an arrow through a pane of glass with the restoration of the glass, but in a magnificent setting.
Having performed this effect in my own show, I can tell you that the effect on the audience is amazing; the story Punx has written to go along with this penetration effect takes this into the class of real magic.
Each Glass of Heart is packed in its own protective case, lined in crushed velvet. You are supplied with everything you need to perform this incredible effect.
Actual frame size: 14″ x 12″ x 1 1/4″; our frame is slightly larger than Punx’ frame in the video.
Solid Northern walnut; glass pane (not plastic); brass heart; arrow and velvet lined mahogany finish case plus detailed instructions.
Patter: Once there was a very wealthy man. He was so rich that he could have purchased half the world, but he did not do that. Instead, he piled all his riches in a glittering heap in his cellar. Nothing in the world made him happier than his money.
Meanwhile, his heart grew colder and colder and harder and harder. This was evidenced one Christmas eve when an old woman knocked on his door and asked for a crusty bread and a warm place near the fire. The rich man sent her away, with his dogs snapping at her heels. In the twinkling of an eye, it happened that his heart was turned to glass. He felt an icy pain in his chest, and then-nothing.
Now nothing could make him happy, not even his money.
So, the rich man traveled all over the world, looking for help, and found a witch. “Yes,” she said, “You can be helped, because you are very rich. With enough money, you can buy anything, even a human heart.
One Million Dollars please! A Million dollars wsa much for the rich man to pay for simply a human heart, so he traveled farther looking for an answer.
Next, he encountered a sorcerer. The sorcerer could look inside him as if he was a glass vessel. He looked at the rich man for a long time and said, “Only one thing can help you, you must perform a good deed”. So, the rich man went out to do a good deed. But his glass heart did not show him the way. So, he traveled year in, year out, all over the world, until years later, tired and disappointed, he returned to the witch.
She smirked, “So you have finally returned, when it is almost too late! Now it will cost you ALL of your money”. And because the rich man had learned that a poor man with a human heart is a thousand times wealthier than a rich man with a heart of glass, he brought her his entire fortune and laid it before her.
Then the witch took the hearts of two lovers and placed the heart of the rich man between them so that the happiness and joy of the two lovers could flow through the glass heart of the rich man.
Then she said, “Whoa, unto you if you think any evil thought-for then all will have been in vain.” Then the witch took cupid’s arrow and pierced all three hearts with it.
The rich man felt a hot piercing pain in his chest, but it was good. And since he could feel once again, he thought about the money that meant so much to him.
Then the witch pulled the arrow out of the wound. She then removed the hearts of the lovers… “Look here! All three hearts were pierced but because you allowed yourself to think evil thoughts, you allowed greed to enter your heart, it has again become a heart of glass!
Thus, it is the fate of all the misers that they have a heart, cold and without joy … A HEART OF GLASS.”
(Notice: Includes: Printed Instructions.)
( Post Source: martinsmagic.com - click for details )
