This card has two layers, joined in the centre by a rivet which allows the top card to be rotated on top of the bottom one. The top card is clear plastic with black lines printed on it and the bottom one is white with a heart and coloured lines on it. When the top card is rotated the changing moiré patterns create the effect that the heart is rotating. Miracle Cards, copyright BIZARR/m. schmölz. www.bizarrverlag.com. The company is based in München, Germany.
This card has two layers, joined in the centre by a rivet which allows the top card to be rotated on top of the bottom one. The top card is clear plastic with black lines printed on it and the bottom one is white with black lines on it. When the top card is rotated the changing moiré patterns create the effect of movement. Acid Card, copyright BIZARR/m. schmölz. www.bizarrverlag.com. The company is based in München, Germany.
This two-part greeting card has an inner sleeve and an outer sleeve. To bring the card to life, place your fingers and thumbs at the sides of the card and slide the inner sleeve relative to the outer sleeve. The effect will be that the people start dancing. Copyright Rufus Butler Seder. Product of Eye Think, Inc, Boston MA. U.S. Patent No. 5,901,484.
This two-part greeting card has an inner sleeve and an outer sleeve. To bring the card to life, place your fingers and thumbs at the sides of the card and slide the inner sleeve relative to the outer sleeve. The effect will be that fish swim across the card. Copyright Rufus Butler Seder. Product of Eye Think, Inc, Boston MA. U.S. Patent No. 5,901,484.
A finger ring appears to shrink and expand when slowly rotated. The illusion is strong. Copyright 2002 Rob Stiff. The instructions with the ring have on them www.magicmakersinc.com.
This is an excellent scientific novelty which causes amazement when people see it for the first time, irrespective of whether they are scientifically minded. (The version in the Davenport Collection was made for an American company, hence disk rather than disc.) The base is a slightly concave mirror on which you spin a heavy disk, much like you would spin a coin on its edge. However, unlike a coin, the heavy disk spins for a very long time and, as it slows, the sound it makes changes. There is a real surprise when it stops. There are a number of magnetic pieces with holographic surfaces which can be placed on the flat surface of the disk and which create intriguing light and colour patterns as the disk rotates. According to the box it was invented by Joseph Bendik in the 1980s. Made in Taiwan.
This was a gift given to all attendees of the FISM magic convention in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1991. The novelty is that when a coin is dropped through the slit in the top of the box, it immediately vanishes, although it can still be heard rattling around in the interior which apparently contains no more than a top hat floating in mid-air. This is a well made puzzling illusion. US Patent No. 4967953. Created by Tenyo. Made in Japan.
This plastic painted concave head of Vincent Van Gogh appears to follow you around as you view it from different angles. It is an excellent optical illusion.
This viewer made it easy to see the stereo effect from stereo pair photographs, such as those at Ref. no N1100. This was a gift to John and Anne Davenport from Harry Carson (real name Pat Swain) who lived in Norwich.
Viewing stereo photographs was hugely popular just before and just after the turn of the 20th century. These cards were made for an international market, judging from the use of six languages on the reverse of the cards. In total there are 66 photograph pairs relating to Italy. These stereo pairs can be viewed in the Underwood & Underwood stereo viewer, Ref. no. N1101. These were a gift to John and Anne Davenport from Harry Carson (real name Pat Swain) who lived in Norwich.
