The Davenport Collection
- a growing resource on magic and entertainment history

Marked DEMON

Bakelite cover for the Bluff Watch, with a Davenport demon logo

Bakelite cover for the Bluff Watch, with a Davenport demon logo

The magician asks a person to set the hand on a clock to an hour and then place the Bakelite cover on top so as to hide the face. The magician takes the watch back and mysteriously reveals the hour to which the watch was set. Unfortunately the collection only contains the Bakelite cover, but by kind permission of Malcolm Norton we also illustrate the trick from his own collection.

Davenport’s Great Scot! glass vanish

Davenport’s Great Scot! glass vanish

A glass is filled with water from a cocktail shaker. The glass is covered with a handkerchief and then it mysteriously vanishes. The cocktail shaker is stamped DEMON on the base. The Davenport advertisement illustrates the effect.

Vase for vase on cord trick

Vase for vase on cord trick

The trick in which the magician suspends a vase from a cord is well known. This is the vase sold by Davenports for the trick. Etched into the glass base of the vase are the words DEMON SERIES FOREIGN.

Davenports Red and Green Tube

Davenports Red and Green Tube

This is a colour changing trick. The magician shows a red handkerchief and pushes it into an empty green tube, which is next wrapped in newspaper. The magician then reaches into the covered tube and removes the handkerchief, which is now green. The tube is removed from the newspaper and now it has turned red. The red tube can again be shown to be empty. The inside of the metal tube is stamped with a Davenports demon head.

Demon Wonder Box – made of copper

Demon Wonder Box – made of copper

The box is shown empty and then a number of handkerchiefs are produced from it. This was a very popular trick first marketed by Davenports in 1934. The inside lid of the box is stamped with the Davenports demon head logo and the registered design number: 791997. Davenports purchased the UK rights from Janos Bartl in Germany, who invented the trick. Bartl sold the trick under the name ‘Silkwonder’. Davenports usually sold a nickel plated version (see Ref. no. N46) but as a result of shortages of metal following WW2 some were made out of copper.

Davenport’s glass evaporated milk bottle

Davenport’s glass evaporated milk bottle

The magician fashions a cone out of newspaper and pours some of the milk from the bottle into the cone. The newspaper can then be screwed up and thrown into the audience – the milk has vanished. The words moulded into the bottle are ‘UNIVERSAL MILK BOTTLE NEW OXFORD DAIRY IMPORTED’. The Davenport demon with the words ‘DEMON SERIES’ is also moulded into the glass. A close-up photograph of the moulded demon is illustrated. This trick is not for the magician that likes to travel light – the bottle weighs 1.5kg.

Demon Cups & Corks

Demon Cups & Corks

The magician challenges the audience to spot the cup under which the cork is hidden. At the finish the magician lifts a cup and produces from underneath it a large cork which fills the cup. The cups are stamped DEMON. Unfortunately the stand which was sold with the trick is missing.

Penny to sovereign

Penny to sovereign

The magician shows a copper coin – an old English penny – and covers it with a handkerchief, saying that it will change into a sovereign. The audience expects to see a gold sovereign coin, but on the removal of the handkerchief there is a statue of the Sovereign, King George VI. The statue is marked DEMON.

Wand through Card

Wand through Card

This trick was invented by Brian MacCarthy. The performer is able to mysteriously pass a playing card through this wand. The wand is stamped DEMON on one of the white ends.