Joe Porper Card Clip
Effect: None! It's an accessory!
Price: £20.00 from:
Top Secret Magic.
Review: I've been using a Card Guard for a while now. Not one bought from a shop but a home-made one by a friend of mine. It's proved to be much more useful than I ever expected! Usually the condition of the cards don't matter that much but recently I've been working on some Darwin Ortiz routines that demand perfect Faro shuffles and suddenly the flatness of the cards becomes critical. With the Card Guard, packs of Bicycles remain useable for much longer.
So then, why spend £20.00 on a clip which does the same job? I've got to admit, the main reason is that it looks so cool! The extruded aluminum with black anodized finish just screams class (much like a Black Tiger deck) along with the Joe Porper signature on the spine.
But there is more!
Because of the sprung spine, this clip exerts pressure flatly across the cards in a way that the Card Guard can't. The result is a pack which is perfectly flat - a better result than the cheap clips.
Is it worth spending three times as much as for a Card Guard? Probably not! In the same way that a Rolls Royce can't ever be justified on economic grounds it's probably not worth spending your money on this.
But, just as a Rolls is never bought for economic reasons, the Porper Clip is almost pure indulgence.
Purists might want to hide this clip from their audiences, who might think it's a gimmick, but I think it adds a little prestige to your working tools. If they ask, you just tell them the truth about what it's for - no need to hide anything!
Also, I've heard of magicians having their clip engraved, which adds a little more class.
Drawbacks: only one I know of - the Black Tiger decks don't fit this clip. The boxes are slightly bigger than Bicycles.
Tally-Ho's and Bee's fit fine.
Overall Rating: 10/10. Mostly for all the wrong, self-indulgent, reasons!