I went on a search this week to acquire a duplicate of my very first magical prop from my youth(after TV magic cards that is), which was the Enardo CC knife. I have always had a fondness of this effect, and it has been a favorite of mine for the longest time. There are a lot of low cost knives that claim to be "exactly like", "identical to", "styled after", and "just like the original" that are offerred today that don't quite measure up to my memory I had of this simple little knife. I did however recently find a couple of fine specimens of the original set I had in the early 70's which were perfectly preserved in the original packaging, and made me feel 10 years old again as I opened it to see the glistening pearl handled magical weapon of awesomeness. I am attaching a picture, hopefully to impress the fact that there is nothing like the original. Pure quality right down to the individual brown wrapping with the "instructions for opening and closing the mystery knife". So much magic for such small hands. I guess I am just saying that there really is not a knife made today that is really "identical to Enardoe".

Here is the pic

Click here to view attached image.

These knives were also my first real magic trick, purchased at Tannen's almost 50 years ago. Still have one. It gives me a feeling that I imagine is similar to yours.

At the time, I was taught a vertical paddle move by the man behind the counter. I was pretty good with it.

More recently, I learned the horizontal move from Mr. Merrill's book, and it certainly is, as he says, far more deceptive, and also easier to perform.

Woland

Are the Enardo's the only ones with the "secret" to open and close them? I have a set but don't even know where I got them.

Jim

I have had a couple of sets of the modern identical version, which also were designed with the secret opening feature. Unfortunately, the secret move also happened magically in my pocket, and made for wonderful productions of a bloody finger, which also brought shock and amazement!

I don't think I've ever seen a blade-locking mechanism like that in any other pocketknife. Wouldn't seem to have very much practical use, and could pose problems, such as the one NurseRob notes.

Woland

The Enardoe set was my first pair of color changing knives, and it actually came with a decent routine, but I always had a hard time with the "move" as the knives are too wide for my taste. The Imperial Knife company was never known as a top-of-the-line knife maker (at least in comparison with companies such as Case), but compared to many of the modern knock-offs, the Imperial knife is certainly quite nice and better than most of the knives out of Pakistan and China. Note there is a set of knives out there from "Imperial, Ireland" that are okay, but not as nice as the old Enardoe's. I don't know the relationship of this Ireland company to the original Imperial Knife Company of Providence, Rhode Island (if any).

The locking feature was a part of this Imperial Knife Co. design, it was also offered on the "non-magic" versions as well. Search for the "Roy Rogers trick knife"; you'll find another white knife with a Roy Rogers emblem on one side. Could be an interesting "theme" addition to your Color Changing knife act!

Rob... you bring back great memories with those knives; like you they were also one of the first real tricks I purchased starting out in the early 70’s... I believe I paid less than $5.00 for the set. I too have lost several knives and have purchased replacements over the years... I am down to 2 complete sets and an odd white knife.

Good to see you posting again... thanks,
Bruce

Thanks, atkinsod, your comments inspired me to investigate a little further. From one of the knife collecting discussion boards, I learned that the Imperial company of Ireland was part of the Imperial company based in Providence, Rhode Island, and production was moved to Ireland in the 1980s when the American factories were closed. I think the company is now completely out of business.

The secret locking mechanism was apparently invented twice and is covered by US Patent 744,064 of 1903 (Goldin) and British patent 191,559 of 1921 (Fell). According to Bernard Levine, author of Levine's Guide to Knives, only 6 or 7 companies ever made knives with this type of locking mechanism mostly English, 1 or 2 German companies - and Imperial was the only one located in the USA, and all of the locking knives that he examined appeared to be based on the drawings in Fell's patent, none resembled Goldin's.

Woland