I recently went through some old decks of cards that have been in the cupboard for 20 years and came across a set-up 'marked' deck that I'm struggling to identify. The deck is marked with large symbols denoting the value of the card directly facing the back that is marked. So, as I spread through the face down deck I would stop at the card marked 'Six of Diamonds' and the last card pushed over in my right hand is the Six of Diamonds, rather than the Six of Diamonds being the 'marked' card. I seem to recall the routine had an element of comedy, maybe a sucker trick of some kind, and for some reason I keep thinking of the name 'Cagliostro's Spectacles', but could possibly be getting confused with something else. Does anybody recognize this effect?

"Cagliostro's Spectacles" is a different trick. I think the deck you have may be Roy Johnson's "S.U.M.: The Set-Up Marked Deck."

Thanks for the reply, Cameron. No, it definitely wasn't the SUM deck, it was a one-trick 'joke' deck. The magician would put on some 'special' spectacles (Hence my confusion with Cagliostro) to supposedly identify the markings (which were blatantly obvious to the audience) ... as the routine developed, the sucker aspect was that the spectator assumed he knew what the next card was but was wrong, with the magician knowing the card all along ... or something like that? Btw, where would I find the "Cagliostro's Spectacles" routine you mention?

Cagliostro's Spectacles

Phoenix Issue #45, page 185.

https://www.conjuringarchive.com/list/bo......ht=32797


Dave

Are the marks hidden or in plain view?

There aren't any marks for Cagliostro's Spectacles.


Dave

Right, Cameron Roat already pointed this out.

Thanks, Dave. That's really jogged my memory seeing the name Bruce Elliot. I'm pretty sure that the routine I'm looking for was a comedy/sucker version of Cagliostro's Spectacles published in an edition of The Linking Ring sometime in the 1960/70's.

Nicolini, the marks in the routine I'm talking about are blatantly obvious big black markings, like the marks used in the John Cornelius packet trick 'Marked Cards'.