Today I picked up a small used plastic mirror production box. Is very nicely made, purple and about 2 1/2 " square. Quite deceptive. It has a sticker on the side that say " Max Magic". Embossed on the side says mfg by b. little, made in China. Created by Tenyo with a U.S. Patent number. It is a neat little piece that I have not seen before, assume it might have been part of a magic set possibly. Anyone ever run across this?

Thanks,

John

Someone was selling a similar item a couple of months ago on Ebay. Don't know if it is the same one you are referring to but here is a link to the auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251361282008

If it's the same one perhaps you can ask the seller if he knows anything else about it.

Thanks! That is exacly the same. Will see if they know anything more about it.

John

The only thing that Tenyo has made in China are banks, clocks, and the new magic set, Magic World. All of their items are generally made in Japan. That mirror box is a curiosity.

The seller was Steve Vil. I'm pretty sure if he knew more, he would have put it in the product description.

Have reached out to Steve to see if he knows anything else. Due to the small size of the box you can very convincingly display it is empty by puting your thumb in the box from the top and your forefinger in the front. The reflection of the forefinger looks like the thumb and appears that both fingers are moving around the box, proving it is empty. From the graphics I would guess this is late 80's early 90's and likely part of some kid's magic line or a magic set. Googled "Max Magic" but came up empty.

The folks at Tenyo have told me that this was not made by them. It looks like a knockoff of a mirror box that has had Tenyo's name put on it.

Interesting, so did Tenyo ever make a mirror box? Am surprised that a knockoff would bother to emboss the manufacturer (b. little), a patent number and "Created by Tenyo". I would have guessed it was an item made with permission or special arrangement with Tenyo. Thanks for the info.

Looked up the patent number on the box and it is a Tenyo Patent with Shigeru Sugawara as inventor, filed July 18, 1989. Looks like the patent for the Art Banks, but lists other possible uses. As we know that bank is a variation of the this type of magic prop.

Patent number is 4967953.

"Tenyo" was put on there so the pirate could hoodwink folks into thinking it is a Tenyo item. You should be able to tell by the shabby quality of the plastic that it's not Tenyo.

That's the thing, the quality of the item is very good. With the english graphics I assume it was aimed at a N.A. toy audience who wouldn't care or know who Tenyo is. The item was given to me so don't really care just curious. Given the guality of manufacture and care given to properly apply credit/manufacturing info it would suggest that some permission was given. Hard to understand why a knockoff company would rip off a patent but print the patent number and credit the company (would be hard to argue in court if Tenyo had decided to go after them)... But stranger things have happened

Cheers

I have never seen any copies that had the Tenyo logo on it. Do you have another example of this? I would think it was more likely made by someone else but licensed from Tenyo. Sort of like those Star Wars mirror boxes that are always on Ebay. They appear to be made by Applause in China but still have the Tenyo patent on the back.

The Star Wars "Double World" bank is not licensed by the Chinese company--it is pirated. Putting Tenyo's information on it merely makes it look legitimate.

As for the mirror box, it is definitely not a Tenyo-made item. The Tenyo name is on it for the same reason: to create interest and misrepresent it as an item made by a famous company.

Applause was a legit toy company that officially licensed Star Wars and other properties. From what I understand, the boxes were given at Taco Bell as a promotion when the movies came out. Seems a little strange that they would go through the trouble of paying for the Star Wars license and then pirate the bank.
Of course I have don't have any real info as to whether they did or not.

I may be mistaken in how I interpreted what was explained to me. Either way, it was not made by Tenyo.

As I mentioned in my first post it clearly states it was manufactured by b.little in China (not Tenyo) and credit was given to Tenyo as the creator and thier patent number. As you stated they make thier banks including the art bank in China so possibly arrangements were made to allow this variation on the basic art bank idea to be produced. Thanks for the input xl18 and Richard, it is now in the cabinet as an interesting curiosity

Cheers,

John

But it's not a bank--it's a magic trick, and not a Tenyo item. Why would Tenyo contract a company in China to make tiny conventional mirror boxes? Makes no sense.

Who said Tenyo contracted the company, I would assume the manufacturer would have contacted Tenyo for permission to make something that is concept wise similar to the art bank. The U.S. Patent is pretty broad and they may have needed permission legaly or felt they did. It doesn't make sense to me why they would emboss the info unless they had made an arrangement. This is all assumptions and ultimately who cares I guess, I had never seen one before hence the curiosity....

The piece is the same quality level as Magic Works, not the typical lower quality as many plastic magic items from China.

Most Magic Works props that originated as Tenyo items were made in the USA by Milton Bradley. Some were made by Tenyo. It's easy to tell which because they are stamped on the bottom. It was the law now, and was then, that the item must have its country of origin identified on it. The Magic Works pieces by Milton Bradley made by their factory in the US are inferior to the ones which Tenyo had manufactured in Japan.

What's the point of that? The mirror box doesn't even look as nice as the Magic Works items made in the US. The reaction of an ex-member of Tenyo's Creative Division when I sent him a link to the auction and he saw the photos of the item was incredulity--he couldn't believe there was even a question that Tenyo would have produced something of such poor quality.

Anyway, I went to the source for my information and that's what I was told.

Thanks for the info Richard, but the statement above is a very bold one. I am no expert in MB's Tenyo remakes. I only own three.
- Money Morph (Metal Matrimony): while the secret is a bit harder to read the trick has the same feel and quality as Tenyo's version.
- Rope Of Calcutta (Suketina Trick): while not exactly the same as Sutekina (it's better because the secret is better hidden and it works almost automatically) I can say the quality is great compared to Sutekina.
- Mysterious Queen (Transpavision/Illusionarium): equal quality, works flawlesly. Secret is better hidden because of the deeper box. Some like that because it makes it easier to perform, some don't because it makes the prop look more suspicious.

Also, I do know some people who have a few MB effects and some even prefer the MB version over the Tenyo version.

I'm curious, was the plastic mixture used for MB's tricks different? Were the molds of lesser quality?