The Genii Forum

Hey guys,

I was just wondering, does anyone know who the first person was to use a two cards stuck together with adhesive solely for the purpose of a torn and restored?

I learned it from John Mendoza, but I am unsure if he was the first.

Does anyone have any knowledge on this subject? Thanks!

Jeff

He was not the first. It goes back a long time.

Richard, are there any specific credits you can lead me to?

Jeff.Prace wrote:Richard, are there any specific credits you can lead me to?

Shoot...I was just looking at an earlier reference for that the a few days ago. I'll have to see if I can relocate that. I'll let you know.

-Jim

Some references are available on magicpedia http://geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Tor ... tored_Card

Was it Ralph Hull that did it, maybe?

-Jim

Jim, is Hull's trick published anywhere?

I remember when the Karrell Fox "Signa-Tear" came out in the New Stars of Magic there was a lot of grumbling because it was an old method to which I don't think he added anything.

Are you asking about a deck of doubled cards where they name one as you spread the pack face up in your hands and proceed from there?

I am asking about a two of the same cards stuck together with adhesive used for a torn and restored card. This card can be forced on the spectator. Alternatively, you can have 26 of these cards made (assuming the pairs vary numerically and by suits) and have them select one freely, but that's beside the point.

Hofzinser has an item where two cards stuck together are used as the gaff to effect a restoration of a torn card in his routine The Three Powers. It's the last item detailed in the Fischer book.

The two cards are glued together. They see you tear "the card". The second card of the two permits you to later display a "restored" card. The restoration is very modern in approach and probably looked like the sort of visible reattachment that's gotten typical in routines where you bring over a piece of a card and it sticks to/attaches to the other(s) already assembled.

I couldn't find a physical copy of that book for sale in my price range, but I downloaded the PDF from Lybrary. Indeed, it seems as if the double card with adhesive was used for a torn and restored card.

I am judging this not totally by the description, as I found it very difficult to understand. But the pictures do make it pretty clear what is being used.

I'll keep researching to see if anything predates this. I'd still love to hear what you guys know!

All the torn and restored cards I've seen in older books, going right back to Decremps in 1784, involve burning a card and restoring all but one missing corner, then showing a matching corner from a duplicate that fits. The idea of doing this with an extra flap to restore the corner seems to have started with Hofzinser's "Lappenkarte" or "Eck-Karte" (= flap card or corner card). It's not very clear in "Hofzinser's Card Conjuring" but is nicely explained with photos in Magic Christian's big book on Hofzinser. Other versions were described in Conradi's "Der moderne Kartenknstler" and Roterberg's "New Era Card Tricks", and also sold by magic dealers from at least the 1890s onwards.

For full restorations using two cards held together (not glued), there is the Ralph Hull routine mentioned earlier, which was in "More Eye Openers" (1933) and later in "The Testament of Ralph W. Hull" (1945). More recently there was Father Cyprian's Nostalgia Torn and Restored Card, which was based on the Hull trick.