I recently acquired an estate of various magic items, all made prior to 1960. I have in mint condition a pair of spectacles that are in fact ghost glasses. What makes these even more unique is that there is a message on the front and back of each eye piece. So in other words there are four different messages and/or predictions.

By the style of glasses they appear to be made around the 1940's to the 1950's.

Any idea on who made these and any other tidbits of knowledge on them?

Cheers,
Brian Ward
IBM Ring 284 president

What makes the message appear? I am aware of "ghost" glasses that if you blow on them, the steam on the glass causes the message to appear.
Rennie

I had the same type set, I believe. Called "Grandpa's Spectacles". There was a set for sale here on the Café not too long ago. Lenses should show 2 different cards, a set of wavy lines and the word "IDIOT." Is that it?

Steve

Yes Steve that is exactly it ... I found the typed instructions that came with them and saw a number of magicians who contributed to this affect.

I have seen a lot of magic but never anything like this before so it intrigued me. I'm sure I will sell my pair as well as they are not for me.

Thank you for your reply but the names in the instructions gave me the info I needed to properly list them for sale.

Kind Regards,
Brian Ward

In fact here is a pic of one just like mine -

http://www.magicalwizard.com/images/Esta......cles.jpg

Wish I could see the inside of that case in the pic to see if that's the EXACT one I sold a couple years ago! The case I had mine also had an OLD cleaning cloth inside. I do have a sheet of instructions that include a line drawing of "grandpa" with his spectacles.

Steve

In the 1970's they were sold at Ken Brookes magic shop.

Yes and the typed instructions were by Ken Brooks and other well known magicians. It seems to be a great item in the right hands!

I have a set of these glasses which I want to sell. Anybody can give me any clue on what kind of value they carry? I'm not selling to make money but I don't like to sell something dirt cheap if it happens to be a rare or collectible item either.

I have a lot of the crystals but they have be mounted into a glasses frame. I think Venture III sold them years ago.