The Anti-Mirror Glass
By Professor Spellbinder

“The magician thinks that it (a Mirror Glass) looks empty —nobody else thinks so.”
Louis Nikola as quoted in Hugard's Magic Monthly (Nov 1944)

The Mirror Glass was originally used merely to switch one object for another. The problem with the Mirror Glass arises when the magician, who has probably paid a good deal of money for the prop, begins to feature it as a trick in and of itself.

It was invented by 1872 by Viennese magician J. N. Hofzinser who revealed its secret only to carnival magician Carl von Pospischil and perhaps a few others. English magician Joseph Michael Hartz started making them for sale to other magicians around 1890. First described (and named) in print by Louis Hoffmann in his book Later Magic (1904), it quickly became a common prop in use by most, if not all magicians.

The Anti-Mirror Glass, by my definition, can perform the same effects as a standard Mirror Glass, but without using a mirror. In my point of view, and apparently in Louis Nikola’s view (see above quotation), the mirror glass is unbelievable. I recognize them the moment they are brought out from the unmistakable flash from within, which no one has successfully “cured” ... until now!

This also contains a TIPS jar based on the anti-mirror glass principles. Wiz Kid Qua-Fiki is currently using this as part of his Award Winning Wiz Kid Rope Act.

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