This is a glass casket with polished wood edges. The casket instantly fills with handkerchiefs or a ball. A small label on the apparatus says ‘Caroly, Paris’. Caroly was a well respected magic shop in Paris. Once the possession of Cambridge magician Claude Perry.
The style is 19th century, French manufacture. The box is black with a beautiful inlaid lid. This trick was in the catalogues of several 19th century French dealers. According to the book ‘The Magic of France’ by Jaques Voignier and Robert Albo, the presentation given in Caroly’s catalogue was: A casket is shown empty and a spectator from the audience is asked to lock the casket and retain both the casket and the key in his hands. A card is chosen by another spectator and torn into pieces and burned. The spectator who has been holding the casket, opens the casket with the key and to the utter amazement of all, a small bird with the chosen card tied around its neck flies from the casket.