As a seller I am often asked whether an item 'can be examined'. For some reason there is a misconception amongst some magicians that a trick is not complete without the examination of the magical item by one or more spectators after the trick has been performed. My personal advice, and based on my own experience, is NO. Having your props examined does not enhance the trick or you as a magician, it just adds to the spectator’s intrigue as to how it was performed. Clearly there are props that seem to lend themselves to examination and those that do not. You know the secret, you don’t want your audience to as well.


There are several reasons for offering this advice. Firstly, once you have performed the magic the spectator knows what has happened, they now want to know how it was done. Secondly by handing your costly apparatus out for examination you are giving them the opportunity to discover the secret. No matter how clever, discreet or cleverly engineered an item is it is now in the hands of someone who could spoil not only your trick but your reputation too. There are some people out there who are so determined to discover the secret that they will do so, or worse, they may end up damaging your prop. Thirdly there are some who want nothing more than to make YOU look like a fool. I know, it’s happened to me and I have learned from experience.


There are plenty of tricks on the market that could be examined with little chance of the secret being discovered. However, think of this. Once you have handed a prop out for inspection and your next trick uses a prop that can’t be examined you have immediately brought suspicion on yourself when you don’t hand it out. Your audience should be entertained, baffled and wanting to see more.


There are of course some exceptions. For example, a regular deck of cards can pass the minutest examination as there is nothing to discover, again though subsequent tricks that may use a trick deck immediately come under suspicion.


There is one tip though regarding the examination of props. To let a spectator view or handle an item briefly BEFORE you perform the magic; after all at this point they have no idea what you are going to do and therefore do not know what to look for. Just allow a cursory inspection of the prop(s) and, unless the trick requires it, don’t bring attention to anything specific. Besides you also run the risk of boring the rest of the audience while they wait for someone to tear apart your tricks.


As a magician I am sure that you too want to keep our methods and apparatus secret, to keep the art of magic alive. Let’s keep it that way.