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I have recently brought a Stripper Deck or Wizard Deck, and I have some problem with it. I have trouble separated the deck with red and black and even locate the person's card. Matter of facts, I have no idea what to do in the first step.

Plus, do I take the jokers card out or not?

Thank Jason

Our own Tomo has published an excellent book (and starred in a DVD) on this very subject.

There's a useful chapter in Encyclopedia of Card Tricks.

Barry

If you're having problems with the first steps, something like this might be more helpful to get a basic idea of how the deck works and what kind of thing can be done with it...[/url]

Heya,

Definitely want to make sure you got a good quality stripper deck. Some of the lesser ones like those that are not factory-cut tend to be lackluster and harder to work with (or more evident in its secret).

I recommend the Encyclopedia of Card Tricks by Hugard as mentioned previously. Oz Pearlman also has a pretty good DVD which can be seen here.

Years ago (actually decades ago) Ron Macmillan had hundreds of cheap stripper decks that were cut very badly. Someone botched the job and you could see the taper from halfway across the room.

He asked me if I wanted to buy them and sell them in the same way I sold svengali decks. I told him no because they looked unsaleable to me. He badly wanted to get rid of them so he offered me the bargain price of a shilling a deck. (That will tell you how long ago it was). He said, "I know you have no qualms about selling rubbish so you would probably get away with it" Anyway he talked me into it and I had grosses of the bloody things. There was no boxes for them. Just an elastic band.

I was working in a department store in Birmingham at the time. Coincidentally it was called Lewis's. In those days I had the nerve to sell absolute rubbish in department stores. If the management had known what sub standard merchandise I was selling they would have had kittens.

I had a very good stripper dem at the time and I tried to sell them at the same price I sold svengali decks (7 shillings and sixpence) but to no avail. Not surprising because you could see the badly cut taper a mile away.

Then I tried 5 shillings but that didn't work either.

Finally I went down to half a crown and they flew out like crazy. I sold hundreds of them and in two or three days I sold out completely. I used to say "You get a free elastic band with every pack we sell" and it did get a laugh.

Famous magic pitchman/grafter David Cronin who worked for years in Harrods as "Mr Magic" always said he preferred the stripper deck to the svengali deck and of course he sold thousands of them over the years.

The same store was highly disapproving of the Spooky Pencil trick that I sold. It works with a thread and nobody could possibly do it. After all I am a great believer in protecting the secrets of magic and I always made sure that any trick I sold was quite incomprehensible. I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night if I thought anyone was getting value for money.

SEE ALSO Miscellaneous

Allen Tipton