Some subscribers have wanted clarity via less words in these descriptions of tricks. I saw this effect presented three times before it dawned that I was contaminating it with my ideas which should fool magicians. Then, and only then, did I realize why the audience was being fooled. The trick was quickly done, simply presented, and, none of those watching were ever bored. Ed.

Five cards are taken from the top of the pack which has been shuffled, and shown in a fan. A designated spectator names ANY one. This chosen card is openly covered with a handkerchief and held by the conjuror. The covering is shaken and the card has disappeared! Immediately, the sorcerer produces it from one of his pockets.

Duplicates? Certainly! Are you expecting miracles? A duplicate of each of the five cards shown are in various of the performer’s pockets, or in one pocket in a known order. The former procedure is best. The five cards representing these duplicates are on top of the pack at the start. A dovetail shuffle properly placed leaves these five cards on top as long as desired.

The handkerchief used to cover the card is prepared by having a thin narrow strip of wood, whose length is equal to the width of a card, stitched or stuck on the center of it.

In covering the card with the handkerchief, the card is held edgeways and allowed to catch just underneath the wood and then the wood is grasped through the handkerchief. At the same time the card is allowed to drop on the rest of the pack which must be scattered on the table below. Thus, it is only the strip of wood which is being held in the handkerchief. To make the card (which has already been got rid of, unknown to the audience) vanish, the free hand of the conjuror seizes the handkerchief by its edge and shakes it out, keeping the wood side at the back.

As soon as one of the five cards has been chosen the conjurer will know in which pocket the duplicate is concealed and at the end of the trick he produces it from that pocket. Of course the number of cards used need not be restricted to five, but will depend upon the number of different places the magus can find upon his person to stow away the duplicates.