De Land’s Automatic Playing Cards. [with] Mental Pictoria.
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De Land’s Automatic Playing Cards. [with] Mental Pictoria.
De Land's Automatic Playing Cards and Mental Pictoria; Rare Antique Magician's Card Decks
New Jersey/ Ohio: S.S. Adams Co./ S.W. Reilly, 1913/1914.
$1,600.00
In Stock
Item Number: 150366
Two rare early twentieth century antique magicians card decks. The first deck is De Land’s Automatic Playing Cards, a standard 52-card deck with a De Land’s Card Locator that has an affixed spinning wheel, “What the Deland Dollar Deck does for you” instruction pamphlet, and “Stripper Tricks” instruction pamphlet. Housed in a black and white tuck box with titles to the front panel and narrow sides, and a clock design on the rear panel that is also on each card. The second deck is Mental Pictoria, a thirty card deck of simple picture cards with “A mind reading miracle by Syl Reilly” instructions card. Housed in a yellow tuck box with titles and pictorial designs in blue. The cards are in very good to near fine condition with the tuck boxes in good condition. Rare.
Playing cards occupy a central position in the history of conjuring because they combine accessibility, standardization, and near-infinite combinatory possibility. Card tricks depend on a fusion of manual dexterity, mathematical structure, and theatrical misdirection, allowing performers to create effects of prediction, transformation, control, and apparent mind reading with minimal apparatus. Because audiences are familiar with cards and can often handle them themselves, card magic also carries a heightened claim to fairness, making deception both more challenging and more persuasive. As a result, card conjuring has functioned as a core discipline within modern magic, shaping pedagogical traditions, professional reputations, and the technical vocabulary of sleight-of-hand performance.
