Hello, my name is Brian and I’m addicted to Pawn Stars.
So the other day they had an episode where some guy was trying to pawn some antique and very rare handcuffs. The episode got me thinking about my own handcuff incident in the magic shop. My mother posted once such incident here. Mine was slightly different.
One fine day I was sitting behind the counter in the magic shop all alone when some guy I’ve never met walks into the store.
“Howdy, May I help you?”
“No thanks, I’m just looking.”
“Just looking? I don’t think so, you walked up all those stairs and just looking? For walking up those stairs you get a reward. I’m going to show you a card trick just for coming into the shop.”
“Okay” says the stranger, and I showed him something called ‘Mental Photo’
After he told me how wonderful and talented I am he points to the handcuffs in the display cabinet. “Those real police issue?” he asks.
“Those are real double lock handcuffs, and at one point they were police issue, but the police now use Smith and Wesson handcuffs.
“So, those are real? You can’t escape from them?”
“Well that is two very different questions, yes they are real double lock handcuffs. They are not gimmicked in any way. They do however come with instruction on how to escape from them, but it is probably not what you think.”
“Can you escape from them?”
“On a good day, yes I can.”
“Can you show me?”
“No, we do not give away secrets, you can buy them and read the instructions and learn to do it on your own. “
“Oh I am not asking for the secret I’m asking for a demonstration. Can you put them on and escape?’
“Uhm no, sorry I’m not comfortable with that.”
“Why, I’m not going to buy something unless I know it works.”
“Well I understand that, and I would be happy to show you the handcuffs themselves that they are real, and they come with instructions that just about guarantees they work. But am I going to handcuff myself with real double lock handcuffs? No.”
“Why not?”
“No offence but I have no idea who you are and I really think I am going to have a hard time explaining to the police, the insurance company, my family and friends that I was robbed because I voluntarily handcuffed myself because a ‘customer’ asked me too.”
In the end I figured he really was interested in the escapes because he did buy something called a shackle escape because I was able to demonstrate that one without the fear of actually being locked in.
The video that follows is me performing Mental Photo. First time recording myself, well my wife recorded me doing a magic trick. We shot it in one take with no editing at all, so beware it is raw footage. Oh that scratching noise you hear in the background? Thats a cat using the litter box.
I should add, if you are interested in learning this effect it is available at www.perfectmagic.com. Tell them you saw it here first and you will still get charged full price.
PanningForGold 