magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

A signed selected card is placed face down into the middle of the face-up deck,
protuding for half its length. The performer looks for the four kings and removes
them from the pack. The kings are shown clearly on both sides and then placed
into the empty card box (this is done by the spectator himself). Now the chosen
signed card vanishes from the pack completely. When the card box is opened, the
signed selected card is found face-up in the middle of the four kings! For
the killer finale, a king is cut into four pieces and yet the signed card transposes,
ending up with the signed card being cut and the king restored!

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

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Berlin 2005
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© copyright 2005: Alexander de Cova. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

BOXED TRANSPOSITION
A card routine
by Alexander de Cova

INTRODUCTION
Quite a few years ago the American magician and noted card expert
Bruce Cervon published a very interesting booklet with various of his
own card effects. One of them, which I liked very much, was the
transposition of a signed card into the card case, in between the four
kings that had been placed there previously.
The handling and the construction of the routine were very well
thought out, but required a certain gaff to accomplish the desired
effect. Nevertheless, I liked the effect very much, because of its
directness and impact.
In 1986 I had a conversation with Tommy Wonder and amongst
others things we hit upon the topic of using gimmicked cards. In the
course of the conversation he suggested to sometimes give the
gimmicked card into the hand of the spectator, in order to make the
effect stronger (remember his fantastic Wild Card Routine «The Tamed
Card»).
With this in mind and the Bruce Cervon routine as a basis, the
following routine was born, which is an absolute fooler. I have used it on
television on a couple of occasions, because even when the spectators or
the camera «burns» your hands and the cards, there is absolutely not-
hing to be seen (of the method, of course). This routine has fooled more
than one knowledgeable card magician.
After a few years I decided to add an additional kicker to the
routine, which also cleans up everything. This is based on an idea of
England’s Roy Johnson and described in the «Bonus Section». You can
either end the routine as described, or perform the second climax, which
enables you to end «clean». Your choice.

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

EFFECT:
The spectator selects a card and signs it on the face. The card is
placed face down into the middle of the face-up deck, protuding for
about half of its length. Now the performer looks for the four kings (for
example) and removes them from the pack. The kings are shown clearly
on both sides and then placed into the empty card box. Now the chosen
card vanishes from the pack. When the card box is opened, the signed
selected card is found face-up in the middle of the four kings!

METHOD:
A double-faced card as well as a very intriguing handling are the
secrets to the effect. You will need a double-facer, a matching pack of
cards and the card box, which must have an intact cellophane wrapper.
The printing on the back side of the box should match the backs of the
cards. I use the popular Bicycle brand of cards most of the time, which
fulfill all these requirements. But also Tally-Ho cards and many other
brands will work.

PREPARATION:
I assume in this description that the double-facer shows an king on
one side and an indifferent card (in our example the eight of hearts) on
the other. Once you understand the principle, you can use other cards, of
course. I prefer the above mentioned combination, because the
spectator’s signature shows up very well on the red point card and is a
good contrast to the picture cards. Search for the four kings and take
them out of the pack. Discard the
regular card from the pack, which
matches the other side of the
double-facer. Take the regular king
that matches the double-facer and
slide it face-down under the
cellophane wrapper on the side of
the card case where the moon cut-
out is (see fig. 1). Now the box
looks normal. The other kings are

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

distributed randomly throughout the deck and the double-facer is

second from the face of the deck, the side with the indifferent card
showing up (king side is hidden). This setup is shown in figure 2.

PERFORMANCE:
Remove the deck from the case and put the latter to the side for the
moment. Take care to place it down in such a way, that the side with
the hidden card lies on the table.

You are now going to force the double-facer to the spectator. This is
very easy, because you are going to perform the well known «Dribble
Force», but with the deck held face-up.
Simply spread through the cards, in order to show them all different,
and get a break above your double-facer under the face card of the
deck. Undercut about half of the deck from the bopttom to the top
maintaining the break. This puts the double facer into the middle of the
deck, you hold a standard thumb break above it in readiness to dribble-

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

force this card. Square the deck and dribble the cards into the other
hand until the spectator stops you. At his «stop» simply drop all the
cards under the break and the indifferent side of the double facer is
showing. This is the card the spectator selected (?) The whole procedure
is shown in figures 3-9.
Hand a pen to the spectator and let him sign the indifferent side of
the double-facer. Reach out with the hand holding the cards and hold it
in front of the spectator (as a sort of support for the signing, figure 10).
If you want to save the double-faced cards, you could also let him place

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

a signed sticker onto the face of the card (but in that case you can’t per-
form the Bonus kicker).
Assemble the deck, so that the double-facer is on the face. Now
double lift the top two cards and stick them face down into the middle
of the face-up deck (fig. 11-13). Leave the double card sticking out of
the front edge of the pack halfway and under cover of the face down
card, secretly push the double-facer flush with the deck (fig. 14 and 15—
seen from underneath). This is a well known move and not very difficult
to execute.

The spectators think the protuding card is the signed card, but in
reality it is an indifferent card. Now comes the «steal» of the signed
double-facer, which is very bold, because it is done in full view! Hold the
deck face-up in dealing position in the right hand. Spread through the
cards (leaving the face down card outjogged) and whenever you come
to an king, remove it from the spread and lay it onto the table (fig. 16-
21 show this whole procedure). The king directly under the face down
card is the double-facer, so be careful not to flash the other side with the
signed selection whilst removing this card from the spread!

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

All four kings are now face-up on the table. Square the deck, still
leaving the face down card outjogged and place it to the side for the
moment. Arrange the kings so that the double-facer comes to the
second position from the face of the packet. You will now show
appearantly all the faces and backs of the kings, using the well known
«Olram Count», thereby hiding the side with the signed selection.
Hold the packet in dealing position in the right hand (face-up).
Thumb off the top card into the waiting left hand (fig. 22 and 23). Turn
both hands to show the backs (fig. 24), then turn the hands again and

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

lay the left hand card onto the table. Onto this, thumb the top card of
the right hand packet (fig. 25). Repeat the same procedure with the
remaining two cards (fig. 26 and 27).
The card in the right hand goes on top the two kings on the table,
with the card in the left hand you scoop up all the three cards from the
table, which places the double-facer again to the second position from
the top (fig. 28 and 29).
Now follows a very convincing sequence. Hand this packet of kings
(?) face-up to a spectator and let him reverse count the cards singly onto

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

the table to proof that there are only four cards. He does this and
thereby reverses the order of the cards (the double-facer is now third
from the face of the packet).

Get the card case and hold as shown in fig. 30. The left forefinger
opens the box by pulling up the side with the halfmoon cutout. Place (or
let the spectator do this) the king packet squared and face-down into
the empty box (fig. 31 and 32).
Close the box and put it onto the table, the side with the hidden card
under the cellophane wrapping
down. Have the spectator put his
finger onto it.
Now it is time for «vanishing»
the signed selection. Most of the
time I use Larry Jenning´s «Rub-A-
Dub Vanish» (see his book «The
Classical Magic of Larry Jennings»
for a detailed description). So I take

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

the deck, remove the protuding card and with the deck and the card
perform this move. Fig. 33-38 show this excellent move in action.
For those of you not being able the execute this sleight, simply put
the protuding card into the face down deck and then—after the magical
gesture—spread the deck in a face-up ribbon spread onto the table, to
show that the signed card has vanished.

Show your hands empty and reach for the card case. Everything at
this point is now «clean» and you will see many worried faces of the

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

magicians in the audience at this point. All the handling had been
exceptionally clean, they can’t imagine how you propose to get the
signed card into the card case. Hold the card case in such a way that the
side with the hidden card faces you.

Open the box (fig. 39-44) and pull out the kings. In this action, the
thumb goes onto the hidden card and pulls this one also out of the
cellophane, thereby adding the card secretly to the back of the king
packet (fig. 42, as seen from behind). Properly done, this looks very
convincing and cannot be seen from the front.

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

The card case can now be tossed onto the table, it is unprepared.
Spread the face down king packet and the signed selection will appear
face-up in the middle of the spread.
Usually I split the 5-card-fan and let the signed selection slide face-up
onto the table, being careful not to expose the other side of the double
facer whilst doing this. I arrange the four kings in a square formation
around the selection with the faces up—so the spectators get a nice final
picture.

The effect is finished here and you could just gather up the cards,
replace them in the card case and continue with something else (of
course you have to be careful not to flash the other side of the double-
facer whilst doing this). OR—you continue with the second (new) phase
of this routine.

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

BONUS
—The «Killer» Cut Finish—

This ending is an additional effect I stumbled upon reading a brilliant

routine of England’s Roy Johnson. It is a part of his routine «Versa Plus»
and fits perfectly in here. At the finish, you end clean with an
unprepared deck of cards. All you need in addition to the cards on the
table is a little pair of scissors and you are ready to go. First of all, you
put away the three kings not corresponding with the double-facer, so
that the king and the double-facer remain on the table.
Put away also the deck. The signed card lies in the center of the
table. This last phase is worked with two cards only! Take the king face-

up into the left hand and use it to scoop up the signed card (double-
facer). In one continuous action, you scoop up the card from the table
and turn both cards face-down. In this action, the cards are switched and

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

the king is put down face-down onto the table, the other side of the
double-facer showing. The figures 48-51 show this well-known switch in
detail.
Appareantly you have just turned the selection casually face-down.
Take the scissors and proceed to cut the king (?) into four parts (fig. 52-
55). Be extremely careful to not flash the back of the card during this
process!

When finished, take the four pieces and insert them into the empty
cardbox. Please study the pictures 56-58. Note that the process of
inserting the pieces into the box, the closing and putting down of the
latter onto the table automatically reverses the pieces!
At this stage I perform a little flourish, known as the «through-the-
fist-flourish» to enhace the effect of the transfomation. This is shown in
the figures 58-61. Appareantly the signed selection has changed into the
king! A very strong effect on the spectators.

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

After a little pause pick up the card case and open it (62-64). Here it
is important to keep the halfmoon side down when opening the case.
Let the pieces in the case slide onto the table—the sight of the cut
selection is a real shock for the spectators!
Usually for the finish I hand the spectator the king and put the cut
pieces into my briefcase «because the card is now spoiled anyway...» The
process of cutting the card provides a logical reason for dumping the

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magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

card at the finish, because it is «destroyed». The built-in time-

misdirection assures the turning of the card case isn’t noticed, the
spectator’s minds are too occupied with the change of the card in the
hand. In my case— never did any spectator ask or grab for the pieces
with the signed selection. Thus the routine comes to a very strong
ending. Have fun!

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