Turning to the audience the performer borrows a dozen or so rings, chains, and other trinkets. Walking back to the stage, he holds the borrowed trinkets above the mouth of one barrel, and clearly drops the mass of jewelry into it. The next moment, without a second’s pause, the illusionist seizes the barrel and turns it upside down.
Nothing falls out. It is perfectly empty!
Thereupon he darts to the other barrel, turns it over, and out shower the trinkets.
The performer replaces them, and immediately overturns that barrel as he did the first. But once again the jewelry is found to have disappeared. Nor can it be discovered in the other barrel.
Retreating to one side of the stage, however, the illusionist waves his hands. There is a slight flash, and a small Japanese table is seen standing in the center of the stage, with the trinkets heaped upon it.
This is a very effective illusion, but it can be even improved upon, as the reader will see when he has read the following simple explanation of the trick.
Its success lies almost entirely with the “black” assistant previously referred to. The “floating” barrels are simply carried in by this assistant, who must take care to hold them in such a manner that his black-gloved hands do not show up against the white wood.
Whilst the performer is collecting the articles of jewelry the assistant holds a small bag or sack in the mouth of the barrel. Consequently, when the performer drops the trinkets into the barrel, they in reality enter the sack, when it is a simple thing for the assistant to transfer them to the second barrel—the black bag rendering them invisible during transit.
Immediately the performer appears to deposit the trinkets in the barrel for the second time, the assistant again secures them in his small sack. This time, however, he carries them to the side of the stage, where a Japanese table has been placed in readiness out of sight of the audience. This table is draped with black cloth, which, as already explained, makes it invisible. The assistant merely lifts up this cloth and empties the trinkets from the sack on to the table. Then, replacing the cloth, he carries the table and its contents to the middle of the stage.
Next he simply whisks away the black cloth when the performer gives the signal, and the table, with its small heap of jewelry, stands revealed.