Massey’s Strange Cabinet of Deodar and the Refrigerator

BRAND NEW with Instructions

Limited Edition Magic recently produced one of Massey’s best effects – The Strange Cabinet of Deodar along with the matching cabinet he called The Refrigerator, which is nearly impossible to find.

Often the Cabinet of Deodar is presented alone but together these two effects make a wonderful routine.

The Routine –

Two cabinets are displayed. One is beautifully decorated, the other a simple white cabinet which resembles an old ice-box style refrigerator.

The performer states that this next effect requires a glass of milk, so he opens the front door of the fridge and removes one.

The inside of the refrigerator is now completely empty and the front door is shut again.

The glass of milk is placed into The Cabinet of Deodar and that classic effect is performed – as the cabinet is penetrated by a dozen wooden spears – at all angles – leaving no room for the glass.

The performer now states that since it’s obviously impossible for the glass of milk to still be in the cabinet, it must have vanished.

He reopens the door of the fridge, and visible again inside, is the glass of milk!

He then tells the audience to watch closely as he closes the fridge again – removes all twelve spears – and amazingly the full glass is back inside the decorative cabinet and removed unharmed.

He places the glass of milk back in the now empty fridge where it will be kept chilled until his next performance.

If you love mechanical apparatus, these are must haves for the collection. Both cabinets feature major improvements.

The Refrigerator

While it appears to be a simple white box, the work involved to make the glass of milk appear and vanish was involved. The original Massey design was ingenious, but the improved working is even better.

I’m told that if you could see the mechanism hidden in the base of the cabinet, you’d appreciate the prop even more!

The Strange Cabinet of Deodar

There are many great improvements…..

The top hole for the spear that runs through the cabinet from top to bottom was always offset on the Massey cabinets.

They wanted the Ltd Ed Cabinet to have a top hole which was dead center. In fact, the original routine begins by showing the glass of milk inside the cabinet and the performer attempting to push the top spear through – but it lands squarely in the center of the glass. The door is then closed and the magic happens.

They also wanted to improve the “mechanics” of the cabinet. So the action required to do the work is now accessible with a finger while the cabinet remains on the table. No need to pick it up as with some models.

Best of all – the new cabinet is penetrated by one dozen solid wooden spears! Some of the original cabinets used as few as five or six. When you revolve this cabinet filled with spears it truly seems impossible that it could still hold a real glass of milk.

Not to mention that brass hardware is used throughout. No more cheap hinges held by tiny nails that always came loose.

And both cabinets feature front door knobs which secure and release the door – so no more door swinging open when it shouldn’t.

And the finish of the cabinets is great. The Refrigerator looks like an old ice box and the Deodar Cabinet looks truly mysterious – as it should.
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The original Cabinet of Deodar usually sells in the $400-$500 range depending on condition (many were very poorly made).

The original Refrigerator, if it could be located, would easily sell for upwards of $700-$900 for the die hard Massey collectors.

This is one of ten sets created by Ltd Edition Magic

Steven Warburton

Previously practicing magician and escape artist, transitioned to Magic Collector for the last 40+ years. In applying an extended hobby of web design and online marketing, Steven Warburton has developed many business related sites and eCommerce sites. Core profession for the last 40 years has been in the Telecommunications / Broadband arena actively working as an executive for a well known Internet/Broadband providers for the United States.