I haven't tested yet but purchased a gross of individually wrapped TTs with red kerchief at .16 cents a piece. I don't get to pitch Svens often but I was doing a lengthy drawn out pitch to small tips as much as larger ones. I figure a short 45-60 second TT pitch that includes vanish and reappearance of; red kerchief, salt packet, torn & restored cig paper, with vanish of lit doobie. Each of these tricks are strong on their own and no need to build the tip first. Just run this routine as if on a loop. Sell the vanishing kit for $5.00 a pop. Heck you can still throw in the two card monte freebie but I think the idea of a portable vanishing device that anyone can perform anytime anywhere will be a must-buy item for adults and kids alike. Going out of country for a couple of weeks but gonna give it a shot when return. Any thoughts on it? Look forward to reading when return. Rick

IMHO the TT is not going to be a good item to pitch. After the first couple pf sales you are going to have every kid that purchased one exposing it to everyone else, even during your demos. Of course, its your pitch so go for it. I'll stick with the Svens. Good Luck!

$5 for TT, red kerchief and sheet of 30-50 tricks, not sure it takes anything away from the item to know the secret. If charging $20 I think people may avoid buying if aware of the simplicity of it. Will know soon enough.

I wish Don was still with us to give advice. Give it a go, you find the answer you seek on the pitch. Again, good luck!

I agree with LeoH... in that it's not a great pitch item.. but there are exceptions..

A simple hanky vanish will amaze your tip and you will have some sales... but the problem you will have is on skin color and size and it's not such a strong pitch..

My advice since you purchased so cheaply is to use them as kicker when pitching the Svengali deck..

Marks love free and will pull out their cash as fast as they can when they believe their getting a deal...

Also When it's for free they won't complain as much.. but LeoH is right.. the kiddos after buying will expose the secret..

Have a price tag on the TT to give it a high perceived value then tell'em you only have a few of them but you'll throw it in for free if they buy the deck. Remind them in your pitch that you only have a few and you'll do this as long as they last...

Hey Rick, you'll never know till ya try!

I used to pitch them many years back...

I used to buy them from D Robbins and I purchased a few extra of different sizes and shade colors which I kept in a box for when some of them would come back because it didn't fit or or.... then I would give'em the best fit...

It was a lot of hassle...

But you got nothing to loose..

They do sell good though..

Best to you Rick!

We have pitched magic all our lives to laymen and is a very important part of our income stream. This includes many years at The Magic Townehouse in NYC, our Houdini Museum in Scranton and our traveling shows. Between us it would come to many, many tens of thousands of shows. We always felt some are off limits. 3 come quickly to mind. 1. The mouse since it is a bit too much a scam, and people will not be able to do it. Not sure of the worm however, but never worked on it.

The other 2 for a different reason. The TT and the 3 ropes. Though potentially highly profitable, we have felt selling it to laymen was equal in a way to exposure to laymen of a very professional magic secret, both of which are used by working professionals worldwide. We do not even carry them in our magic shops which sell 99% to laymen. We are very firm on this belief, and do not want to be the cause of some working pro being outed by some kid or even a teenager or adult in the audience because of our greed to make a few bucks. There are other great items to profit from without doing damage to our art.

Just our personal opinion,
Dick Brookz and Dorothy Dietrich

Hey Dick, your a whole lot more ethical than I... but I gotta admire you and your integrity..!

I have always just taken the money and ran...

Though now you got me thinking...

The thumb tip is an invaluable tool for magi's and maybe should only be offered to those who already have a strong interest in magic...

Even though, the thumb tip is a hassle to pitch as they will keep coming back and give you headaches while in the middle of your pitch... Not worth it in my opinion....!

Think of it this is way, how many magicians in the business today say in podcast interviews their first trick that drew them into magic was the thumb tip? How is it any different? First to come to mind is Rob Zabrecky, he had a rock band before even thinking of magic. Happened to peek into a magic shop one day while touring and left with a thumb tip. During a technical difficulty during his musical performance he had to think fast to calm the audience during the delay. He remembered he had the thumb tip in his pocket he was practicing with just moments before. He did a vanishing condom routine using the TT. He had such a great reaction he made it a regular part of his intermission when playing. He got such satisfaction from it he expanded his repertoire and dropped out of the band altogether and has made a good career of magic. Several other magicians have similar TT origins. Heck, I'd love for some kid to say in 30 years he got his start from a pitchman selling thumb tips. We're not giving them away, they're paying for it the same way we did.

I use to sell a lot of thumb tips when magic makers had a kit that had two size thumbs in it and a video link with silk. Just told them to watch the video when they got home. Cost around 1 and sold for 10. Still sell them but not as much, mostly to repeat customers or to people who request them. It was one of the 1st tricks I learned and if you perform it correctly you will still fool laymen who know with it, even with them burning you looking for the gimmick. Sold lots to people who said they had the thumb trick but not that one. Lol.

Also as a bonus tip I sell a lot of light up thumbs. I don't expose them on my self but I explain how they work and they are packaged as magic thumbs, in a clear box. One of my best sellers!

Ok, I'm not a magician (can't even do a double lift) (And No I don't use a double lift when pitching Svengali decks!) but as a kid I purchased a magic set together with 2 books from Bill Tarr at a yard sale.. Inside the set was a thumb which I had no idea what it was for cuz I didn't read the instructions..

Later as a young adult I purchased Tarbell book 1... and as I read, then I knew the possibilities of a Tumb tip!

A few years later purchased my first TT (which was sold to the public) at a museum in Los Angeles which had a theme of science of magic.. I performed the hanky vanish to friends and family and blew them away with it!

Later as a parent I purchased a beginners magic set for one of my kids and low and behold, there was the thumb tip..!

Years later I started pitching the thumb tip and all I did was vanish a hanky and that alone sold plenty of them...! (A few even pointed out the use of a fake thumb even though they couldn't see it.. so many already knew the secret) YET the Svengali Deck still sold better and with less problems and less hassles so I dropped the TT..!

My point of the story is that many lay folks already know about the TT when used as a hanky vanisher.. It's over played...!
It's also in all the magic kits sold even for beginners.. and has even been exposed in movies and now youtube..

Here's the but..! Lay people only connect the thumb tip for vanishing a hanky and nothing else.. they have no idea many more effects can be done with it..! And when they see a different effect using a thumb tip it never crosses their mind the use of it..

What I'm trying to get here is that as long as you use it for vanishing a hanky, I don't think it'll do much harm as magi's use it for more than just the hanky vanish.. though I really don't know!

Just something to think about..!

I guess it wouldn't take much work to make a quick YouTube tutorial with private link and QR code.
I was thinking about the Sven pitch formula where you mention Throughout "I will show you how it's done." you're going to explain how it's done a few times throughout and then show the long-short secret which is really not much of a reveal but enough to keep them curious. Maybe similar with a TT pitch? Show a TT at the end but the tip of it cut off, more like a flesh colored tube. Then explain that what "you will be purchasing is similar to this but with a key piece added so you can perform the tricks you just saw. Carry wherever you go ready to dazzle." Two things happen, their curiosity is peaked even more than before, and second, they won't be disappointed by the gimmick when open the package. They understand before purchasing it's the secret they're purchasing, not the gimmick, no returns.
I hear what a couple of you have mentioned not the best item to pitch but I'll need to get this out of my system and give it a try. I enjoy brainstorming and the R&D of magic as much as anything. Any other thoughts?

Hey Rick, a youtube link tutorial is a great idea! But don't tip any part of the secret! Trust me on this.. If you do they won't buy!

When I pitched them I just told them the secret is so simple that once you open it you'll know right away exactly how to do it! And of course you remind them that instructions are also included... And that was enough to sell em!

I'm sure you're right on that.

Hey The Cardfather, did you ever do the TT pitch? If so, how did it go?

I’m afraid this forum seems to have dried up a little, Wx4usa. It’s only been Frosty and myself around here lately, although you’re welcome to join in the fun...

I don’t know about cardfather but I have heard generally bad things about pitching TT and silk to laypersons. Many frown on it for reasons of ‘revealing secrets to non-magicians’, others say they struggle to shift them.

I will tell you this though, when I was in my early teens we took a trip to London and went to the world famous Harrods store. Visited the magic section (of course) and found a Marvin’s Magic pitchman.

(I’d love to find out who it was, it could have been Marc Paul, Andy Nyman, who knows!)

I don’t remember what the magician looked like, but I remember being gobsmacked by Dynamic Coins, which I just had to buy. He also asked me if I owned a TT (I’d told him I’d been into magic for a few years) and at that time, I’d never bought one before. He showed me a few simple basic TT effects and I also bought one (the first of MANY over the years!)

So I can vouch for the fact that they can be successfully pitched... because I bought one after being pitched!

Phil;
Difference was, at the time you were NOT a newbe or first timer.
If I read this right.
Dick

MagicUSB:

You absolutely did read that right, yes I’d been interested in magic for quite some time at that point. I guess I was saying a good pitchman / grafter can still impress even a magic lover into buying something...