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Dave V Inner circle Las Vegas, NV 4824 Posts 
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On 2004-05-08 10:16, General Practicioner I am assuming that you use 48 cards in the deck. This has evolved into a traditional thing. Virtually every Svengali deck has this number. I guess that was my question. Where did this tradition come from? Why 48 and not 52? It really doesn't matter much, nobody's counting anyway and about half the cards are missing anyway... I was just wondering, that's all.
No trees were killed in the making of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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General Practicioner New user 35 Posts
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I suspect that the tradition came from the profit motive. If the deck only has 48 cards that means that the dealer or pitchman gets another 6 decks free if he makes them himself.
In an old manuscript I have on the Svengali deck it states that 48 cards are easier to handle than 52. I think that is just an excuse. |
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24316 Posts
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I think it was also because when you buy decks in bulk, they are shipped in multiples of a dozen.
One magic shop I worked for used to buy used poker decks from one of the local private clubs. They only had a couple of hours of play on them, so they were still in good shape. They would make Svengalis out of these cards. I still have a couple of these around the house.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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kihei kid Inner circle Dog House 1039 Posts
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StreetWalker it appears that there is credence to inquire as to whether your deck should have come with more than 41 cards.
General opinion is it should have come with 48 you have been taken! I know a good attorney if you need one…
In loving memory of Hughie Thomasson 1952-2007.
You brought something beautiful to this world, you touched my heart, my soul and my life. You will be greatly missed. Until we meet again “my old friend”. |
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General Practicioner New user 35 Posts
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41 is an odd number anyway. The deck has to have an even number of cards.
In your instruction leaflet it will usually say how many cards are supposed to be in the deck. You should probably take the deck back and explain the situation. 41 cards is definitely not the correct number. Don't blame the dealer too much. It is obviously an honest mistake. These things happen |
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G. LaBarre Regular user Vancouver, B.C. Canada 121 Posts
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At first, I was going to suggest, that it might just make it easier to take the cards out of the case. Eliminating the possibility of any cards getting stuck in the case and displacing their order.
Upon reading these other comments, I think it is most likely because the cards come in specific numbers when ordered in quantity. This makes the most sense, even though we have come to expect poor quality from the manufacturers and producers of Magic Supplies. It's called Profiteering: To make exorbitant profits by taking advantage of "SHORTAGES" and/or strained economic conditions to charge excessive prices.
Glen Alan - "The HOW in your Magic should be Secondary to the WOW in your Magic."
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drwilson Inner circle Bar Harbor, ME 2191 Posts
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Barry Govan has a great little book out (from Lee Jacobs) on making and pitching Svengali decks. The decks have 48 cards. You use the jokers and the extra cards to make six-card packet tricks that you sell for what each deck sells wholesale. This way, your decks are free if you pitch the packet tricks hard.
The packet trick is good, people buy them. Yours, Paul |
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Vick Inner circle It's taken me 10+ years to make 1120 Posts
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Quote:
On 2004-05-08 10:16, General Practicioner wrote: Interesting Hmmm .... 52 cards in a deck (removing Jokers)x 24 decks = 1248 cards total 48(cards in a traditional Svengali deck) /1248 = 26 So I guess that means you're including Jokers in the decks? Also it helps to buy good quality decks, dollar store decks won't hold up drwilson - nice switch
Unique, Thought Provoking & Amazing Magical Entertainment Experiences
Illusions By Vick Blog of a real world working magician Magic would be great, if not for magicians |
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General Practicioner New user 35 Posts
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You do indeed include the two jokers when you make up the decks using this system. No point wasting them. You wouldn't necessarily have to use them as key cards though if you didn't want to. I think I would, mind you. It all depends on the order that the deck comes in.
I understand that Svengali pitchmen would indeed use the dollar store quality. However they would not buy them from dollar stores. They would go to a wholesaler. Nowadays of course there are plenty of cheap imports from Hong Kong so there is no point making them up in the first place anyway. If the magician wants a good quality deck for personal use then he may as well buy one from a magic shop. Why make up 27 decks? |
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Vick Inner circle It's taken me 10+ years to make 1120 Posts
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Quote:
On 2004-05-08 10:16, General Practicioner wrote: Hmmmm that's interesting that you find using the Jokers to be very complicated 
Unique, Thought Provoking & Amazing Magical Entertainment Experiences
Illusions By Vick Blog of a real world working magician Magic would be great, if not for magicians |
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General Practicioner New user 35 Posts
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Why do you find it interesting?
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fccfp Special user NJ 563 Posts
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On 2002-12-06 10:49, DonDriver wrote: How do you round them off? I have been buying Sven decks for approx .75 -.80cents per deck. At those prices, does it pay for me to make my own? I am pitching them at a local flea market. I sell the deck and book "101 trks w/ Sven deck" for $7.50. Regards, Bruce
A.K.A. Jay The Magician
www.jaythemagician.com |
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ed rhodes Inner circle Rhode Island 2889 Posts
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Quote:
On 2002-12-07 13:17, cardboy18 wrote: Since I use "Hoyles" (because they're the cheaper cards at Wal-Mart) it would be better for me to build the deck rather than to be changing brands back and forth.
"...and if you're too afraid of goin' astray, you won't go anywhere." - Granny Weatherwax
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JoeJoe Inner circle Myrtle Beach 1915 Posts
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> I have been buying Sven decks for approx .75 -.80cents
> per deck. At those prices, does it pay for me to make > my own? I am pitching them at a local flea market. I > sell the deck and book "101 trks w/ Sven deck" for > $7.50. No, it's not gonna pay for you to make them yourself - buying them is fine. But are you making enuff money? I'd charge more - even at a flea market, assuming it is a halfway decent deck that is.
Amazing JoeJoe on YouTube[url=https://www.youtube.com/user/AmazingJoeJoe]
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sethb Inner circle The Jersey Shore 2747 Posts
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I agree with JoeJoe on the price. I started out by selling the decks at $5 and the 101 Tricks booklet for another $3. After paying table fees, sales taxes, income taxes, shipping, etc., I found it just wasn't enough.
So I raised the price to $7 for the deck, but kept it at $3 for the booklet. The increase doesn't seem to have dampened sales at all, and in fact may even have helped. People don't want to think they are buying some cheap piece of junk, and I do sell a good quality deck. The only difference now is that I need to carry more 1's to make change, but that's OK! SETHB
"Watch the Professor!!" -- Al Flosso (1895-1976)
"The better you are, the closer they watch" -- Darwin Ortiz, STRONG MAGIC |
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AntonDreaming Special user Gloucester by the sea 622 Posts
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Does anyone have a good meathod of self cutting the short cards in a sven deck...just curious.
Anton James |
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Jim Mullen Veteran user Lake Tahoe, California 351 Posts
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I find it really hard to get interested in Svengali decks. These are for non-magicians who come into those magic stores attached to the Vegas casinos. Just about EVERYBODY knows how they work. It is hard to repeat tricks because the same card must be forced. Better tricks are available using standard trick. It goes on and on.
This forum is a great place for people new to magic to get a better feel for the art. Thus, I feel compelled, having been a magician for the last 60+ years, to tell our new friends in magic to forget the Svengali and move up to more challenging and interesting props. Does anyone agree? Jim Mullen
Jim Mullen
Lake Tahoe |
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AntonDreaming Special user Gloucester by the sea 622 Posts
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Jim Mullen I think you may have missed the poin of this thread. The thread is about selling decks to layfolk in the form of the pitch. You might want to take the time and re read some of the posts on thins section.
Anton James P.s. I once took out a sven deck to a small group of "pros" and used a simple handeling with a complex move that fried 4 out of the 5 of them! pps does anyone have an answer to my question above? |
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DonDriver Inner circle 1790 Posts
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Anton,
Sorry but I'm old and slow...I don't quite get your question.Could you try to explan it a bit better. Later,Don |
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sethb Inner circle The Jersey Shore 2747 Posts
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On 2006-02-01 20:34, Jim Mullen 2 wrote: Jim, I do agree there are much better ways to perform card tricks than to use a Svengali deck. But as others have noted, that is beside the point. This section is devoted to the Svengali pitch, a very specialized and effective way of selling a Svengali deck. I have less than 1% of the experience than a guy like Don Driver has, but I can tell you that I routinely have kids (and adults) two and three deep around my pitch table. They have no clue what's happening, they are almost always intrigued by the deck, and I sell bunches of them at a clip. I still say it is a good introduction to the world of magic (and I speak from personal experience, having bought a Svengali Deck from a pitchman some 40 years ago). As other Svengali gurus have noted, the key is a natural handling of the deck -- clean overhand and riffle shuffles, fans and spreads -- so that no one suspects a gaffed deck in the first place. And if that first Svengali deck purchase leads to a curiosity about other areas of magic, so much the better, because I sell other tricks, too! SETHB
"Watch the Professor!!" -- Al Flosso (1895-1976)
"The better you are, the closer they watch" -- Darwin Ortiz, STRONG MAGIC |
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Posted: May 8, 2004 08:11 pm 