NAME. The Deluxe Brema Bill Tube by Viking Manufacturing co.
AVAILABLE. You could buy it from abroad, but honestly looking at the price abroad, even with the strong pound LOL, hah Hah HAH!!!, adding postage and customs fee's, time to receive it and sometimes associated problems etc. I think you are genuinely better off buying from the UK.
Can be found here:
http://alakazam.co.uk/acatalog/Viking_M ... any_2.html
http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/Bill_Tube_VIKING.html
If you are already abroad (USA), then it can be purchased here:
http://www.vikingmagic.com/?nd=full&key=4
PRICE. UK £38 to £47 (the lower of the two, likely due to it being in stock, i.e. on the shelf, for a prolonged period) USA $49.50.
VALUE FOR MONEY. 7 out of 10. It costs money to produce something, manufacturing, and the raw material (Brass) isn't cheap. This will last a lifetime though. Although they are not very fashionable at this time, hence Alakazams price no doubt, but it would only take someone to have this in their lecture at Blackpool, with a slightly different slant, and everybody would have one
.
EXAMINABLE. Yes it is, but a keen eye might see something. I did as soon as I picked it up, but under performance, it's quite baffling.
ANGLES. All round, absolutely.
RESET. Not instant, but near as to it, as you have to screw the lid back on, and lock it up, for the next note to appear in it
. It could be done in front of them, if you were holding/using a pen and put away in your pocket for the next performance.
YOU GET. The bill tube which is 76 x 20 x 20 mm. A padlock, photocopied instruction sheet, A4, both sides, and the cardboard box it comes in. The instructions tell you what you need to know and have quite a few different ideas there.
Some nice pictures of it here:
http://www.martinsmagic.com/?nd=full&key=906&myaf=af_mm
EFFECT.
1. The performer places a key on the table, in full view of the audience. You ask a random spectator for a £20 note. This can be signed by another spectator, or the same one) and the serial number is written down seperately, and held by the spectator.
The bill is folded up really small, and an elatic band is then wrapped around it. Not ein some pictures it shows the note as if it's just been rolled up and put in the tube. You are not going to be able to do this, as it's not the way it works.
The note, after being secured by the rubberband is now placed in the folds of a handkerchief (it could be wrapped in the folds of a piece of paper, placed in an envelope and burnt, blown up, whatever suits your fancy). The handkerchief is then held by the spectator. You then take the locked tube out of your pocket and it can be also held by the spectator.
The performer snatches the hank from the spectator's hand and the dollar bill has vanished! The spectator himself picks up the key, unlocks the padlock, removes a locking bar and can then unscrew the lid to the brass tube which he has been holding throughout the routine. Inside they find the missing, signed bill, which matches the prior noted serial number and signature.
2. This could be used for mentalism, with a small prediction or piece of information appearing in the tube.
3. A small bead, marble or crayon could be placed in the tube, and you correctly divine the colour, shape.
4. A silk disappears from the tube.
DIFFICULTY. 2 out of 5.
BUILD QUALITY. 10 out of 10. It is well built.
RATING. 7 out of 10.
WOULD I BUY AGAIN. Err, no. Reason? Well I managed to buy a superior one at a Jumble sale. For a pound, and when I say superior, it really is. Even though it was made years and years ago, it is just awesome! The engineering of the tube is top notch and nothing is evident. Where as it is on the Viking version. I had to ask a few questions on here, but it turns out that it was put out by Unique Magic Supplies, years ago. It was made by a Mr George Hammerton.
The Unique tube doesn't have a screw thread, so the lid just comes off, but it's still padlocked securely. It's 65 x 19 x 19mm. It's old school made. That's to say that the method of production is not what you'd see today. Two of the component parts (the lid and the locking pin) are made up of seperate pieces that have been brazed together. Today this would be done on a CNC lathe and then a milling machine. It's a really "hands on" piece, and I can imagine him making parts of it by hand, as I can see where he's taken off a bit of excess solder, and also where he's hacksawed it. I used to work in a workshop, so even with my basic skills, I can appreceate the engineering skill involved.
The entry (for handling) is slightly smaller than the Viking one, but this doesn't make it any less useable. It's the perfect example of why not to write off anything that is old.
NOTES.
The spiel:
this is the Rolls Royce of Bill Tubes, guaranteed to exceed all others in quality, beauty and performance.
Well, they're selling it, and there are not many bill tubes on the market. I believe Davenports sell one and also Bazar De Magia have one out there.
but that said, they do say,.....
Guaranteed the finest on the market-money back guarantee!
That makes it pretty clear.
Good points?
This product is exceptionally polished, as in really shiny, and finished beautifully. It takes about ten seconds to unscrew the lid, and it's been purposely made with a small thread to achieve this, to hammer home the point, that the tube is impenetrable. Well thought out, and another feather in the cap of Viking.
Bad points?
Finicky as always, trying to pull things apart. The workings worked too easily. So I gently (very gently) increased the width of the bill entry (when open
but still together).
The join, it's staring at me, but I've performed it, and nobody noticed.
It looks hokey, and does not serve any real purpose? Then again it's how you dress it up. You could put it out as a World War I, locked carrier pidgeon message holder (big pidgeon
). "You may not have seen one as they fell out of fashion, nobody seemed to reply, what with people being hungry and all." A locked courier message safe? Perhaps, what with technology being smaller and smaller, then maybe a secure digital media holder?
Some other reviews here:
http://www.vikingmagic.com/?nd=reviews&search_realsku=4
A slightly different version here:
http://www.vikingmagic.com/?nd=full&key=3
I've a pretty good idea how that one works, just from the explanation.
There are various bill tubes out there, and people do say that this one is the best on the market, at this time. I believe that the others work from a different end of operation, and due to this, don't have a screw thread that the spectator (or you) can unscrew.
This is yet another piece of magic, a bill tube, that I saw performed on the Paul Daniels Magic Show, or believe I did. I seem to recall that the tube took absolutely ages to unscrew, and I'm sure I've seen one with a HUGE length of thread, 2 inches? Unless my memory is poor.
Some pictures show this with a really cheap plated padlock, but mine came with a solid brass one. So if you buy an older one, or second hand, then you might want to nip to B & Q. You don't want to stick that cheap key in, and it not work, with someone's cash stuck in there.
OVERALL. I like it, which is why I bought it, it does exactly what it states on the tin. It's solid, and will likely outlast me. But I think, personally, I'll be using Mr Hammertons, just to keep him alive.
A review on the Viking Manufacturing / Collector's Workshop can be found here:
http://www.magicbunny.co.uk/phpBB2/view ... ght=viking
