Rare Gilbert Mysto Magic Set No. 25 Large Store Display

Written by Ralph on 3rd September, 2010

Click here to see the auction. Currently $1080.00.

Be the last on your block — or just about ANY block — to get one of these. The famous A.C. Gilbert, better known as the inventor of the erector set, was a magician early on. He got his start in the toy business with magic kits. Set no. 25 — actually a store window display back then, and priced accordingly — is the largest, and arguably the rarest, of the Mysto Magic Sets. For the few who didn’t end up with one of the more affordable Mysto sets (after being drawn into the store by this one), it was a complete magic show. Everything was included to fulfill the budding magician’s heart’s desire: Magician’s stand (the case is equipped with legs and curtain), MANY tricks to practice, and five books to enjoy. Once the tricks were learned, the included Playbill helped the young magician advertise his show. There was even an over-the-top magician’s costume with top hat, tie, cape and handlebar mustache. Mostly untouched, this set is in surprisingly good condition for its age. There is even some original packaging material still in place in the lower deck. It looks to me like there is a prop or two missing from the upper deck. Or, if all the props are in there, then a couple of them are no longer in their original spot. I cannot find a decent photo of a set #25 to compare it to, but it seems nearly complete. Red material on outside of case is starting to come loose at the edges. Wear shows on corners. Some tears in the upper deck of the case, but it is still solid. Cellophane tape was peeled off in spots. Please see the pictures. The case is very sturdy. It stays open just the way it should. The latches work smoothly. The hinges are tight. It opens and closes fine, nothing is out of whack. I left the lower deck as undisturbed as I could. I think the tricks are probably all there. I didn’t touch very many of them, as the individual boxes seem in like-new condition. I checked two tricks and they were both in like-new condition. The names of the tricks are all stamped on the individual boxes, so if you want to ask about a particular trick let me know and I’ll open it and have a look for you. (The individual boxes can be opened and closed without consequence; no tape or anything to tear.) Other than that, the winning bidder gets the VERY first look at most of the lower deck, I believe. I unpacked three of the four legs, thinking I’d set it up for the pictures. But then I didn’t, because the fourth leg turned out to be firmly attached inside the case. So I am sure the legs were never even taken out of the box. The curtain is in there, along with what I believe is the magician’s cape. I will include the wand, even though I couldn’t get it to do anything. Free shipping to the 48 contiguous U.S. states. Careful packing is guaranteed. Any farther away than Canada, my apology but I can’t ship there. Best of luck to all bidders. This auction has a reserve to protect my investment, but for those in the ballpark, it’s not high enough to matter. Auction will run to its scheduled conclusion on Sunday, Sept. 5 at 9:45pm Eastern (6:45pm Pacific). On Aug-27-10 at 20:50:20 PDT, seller added the following information: I think I may have given the wrong impression that there’s a “real” top hat — there is not. It is only cutout instructions. My apology for that. If you’ve bid based on that, and wish to delete your bid, please let me know. (8/27) On Aug-28-10 at 20:00:04 PDT, seller added the following information: This set did not come from the Christian Fechner collection, just the same number. On Aug-30-10 at 19:51:56 PDT, seller added the following information: Per a collector much more knowledgable than myself, and kind enough to share that knowledge, the Set #25 is not known to have been a store window display. It looks very much like it could have been used for that purpose, evidenced by what is printed on the inside of the case (Photo 2). It reminds me of the sidewalk store window scene in the movie A Christmas Story. It is known to have been the largest of the Mysto Magic sets and may have looked good in a window…. But I should not have stated my opinion as if it were a proven fact… sorry! The same collector has been extremely kind to help me locate a photo of another Set #25, which was auctioned in 2005. The picture of that set (not in mint condition but probably complete or very nearly so) indicates that the top deck of the set I offer here is missing fewer than five small items, including a deck of cards and what appears to be a handkerchief. Another difference between this set and that one is the pair of red and blue satiny fabric-covered apparatus (lower center area of upper deck, in several of the pictures). Both sets used the same fabric coverings, but the 2005 set contained cylindrical tubes, while the ones in this set are less round (shaped more like a backgammon cup). Not sure which pair would have been produced earlier or if either would have been preferable to the other. On Sep-01-10 at 17:43:14 PDT, seller added the following information: I have learned more about this set. I went through my set carefully yesterday to see how complete it is (and isn’t). And I was given some expert “tutoring” to help me understand what I was looking at and looking for. (Thank you, Barry!) I know how the top deck of a mint #25 looks now. I know what I actually had, and also (mostly) what is missing. I know where the original items belong and how they are supposed to look. When I took my 12 pictures for this auction, I should have left room — if anyone knows how I can replace a picture, or better yet, add one or two more, please advise. If I could add one picture, I would show the top deck properly arranged and with what I found added to the right spots, to the best of my ability. I was able to get the top deck much more complete by searching underneath the yellow layer of the top deck. But I also found flaws I didn’t understand before. FOUND and correctly placed in top section: Magician’s Goatee (mint condition) Tickets (small group of serial numbered tickets, nothing fancy, put back in the very center position, mint condition) Another coin cover Rearrangements: The Svengali Mindreading trick was out of its box and had been photographed with the top deck; put that back where it belongs, still mint (green cardboard tube, two different color wooden pegs, and two corks for the tube). I learned the CORRECT places for the following. All are in the upper deck, all found and/or placed: The painted metal Thumb Two silver-colored metal cylinder caps Three pink-colored painted metal globular-shapes Six blue disks with numbers Two false bottles (both with their trick neck extensions, which I unfortunately failed to photograph) Two glass shot glasses Eight large metal rings Two smaller metal rings 2 red, plus 2 white, thin silky handkerchiefs Heavy clear glass pedestal vase False coins, some inside coin-shaped covers 4 IMPORTANT ITEMS ARE KNOWN TO BE NEEDED TO COMPLETE THIS SET. These are not in the auction. The ones I know about are: 1) A pack of Deland’s Automatic Playing Cards by S S Adams & Co. (the only thing missing from the upper deck, I believe, would have been in the empty place at upper left) 2) Large black cardboard cutouts for ancillary costuming (Magician’s Hat) 3) A small magic trick in a manila envelope that would have been under the wand in the lower tier 4) In that same location, a real packing slip. I do have a note, hand written on what looks like accounting paper: For Tom and Tim (”needs a Magician” and “needs a Locksmith” are written, one arrow was drawn from each name) Some Items I found that were not pictured but ARE INCLUDED: Two (3 foot by 5 foot) black heavy plastic sheets (the curtain, with instructions for a suggested furring-strip wood frame which was not included, I guess A.C. Gilbert thought we could use a little project) A large accordion-style paper streamer. Bags of confetti. A trick located in the lower deck area which contains a solid egg made of an unusual plastic material, a yellowing but undented Dixie Cup (actual paper Dixie brand waxed cup) and a tube just the right size concealing the cup and egg. The following describes the paperwork: Five pamphlets: Knots and Splices (left); Handkerchief Tricks (right), and in the center three pamphlets, “by A.C. Gilbert, M.D. Yale 1905,” all titled “Book Of Instructions” (but two are exactly the same one, M2928 while the third is M2554). Several of the trick pages are rubber stamped with “Not included in Set.” There are also some stapled single or double page extra instructions: M2927, M2916, M2938, M2913, M2911, M2908, and M2937. The boxed tricks at the bottom are mostly NOT in quite as nice condition as I originally thought. Some are mint, but almost all have been opened. I opened all but the really mint boxes, everything I looked at inside the boxes does look mint. There are no empty boxes at all. But I do not know if everything is in them or not. I thought I’d find more individual instructions inside the boxes, some have them, some don’t. Many if not all of these same tricks’ instructions are printed elsewhere among the included paperwork. The boxed tricks are: Jumping Peg Trick, Great Paper Ribbon Enigma, Cigarette Vanisher, Drum Head Tube Trick, Gravity Defied, Ming Toy Laundry, Vanishing Coin, Topsy-turvy Match, Svengali Mindreader, Card Vanisher, Ball Trick, Phantom Card Trick, Mysto Card trick, another Mysto Card trick with a different card inside, Handkerchief Pull, Multiplying Rabbit, Hiding Chessman, Casette [sic] Mystery, Galloping Dime, Cups and Ball trick, Four Ace Card Trick, Magician’s Rhapsody (this one apparently had a strip of tape peeled off, no tape or sign of it on any other boxes), Vanishing Whiskey Glass, Ball and Vase trick, and Chinese Ring On String. I found a red ball and a small red pom-pom in the upper deck that I don’t know where to put. There is also a sturdy yellow plastic cap with advertising for Chevrolet (”Chevy II” actually, whatever that was) on it. It is the only thing I found inside the case that looks like maybe it came from elsewhere. A negative: The large cardboard cloth-covered tubes have been pressed into a more or less oval shape. I say pressed instead of squashed because it’s subtle enough that at first I really thought they were meant to be flatter on one side; the red-blue pair still matches. And they display fine. But it’s still a negative, which I finally noticed when I inspected the third tube, the one in the bottom tier, which is less subtly squashed. The case is still solid; it just was too a tight fit for those 3 cylinders, and it probably had something sitting on top of it for many, many years. Whew!

Rare Gilbert Mysto Magic Set No. 25 Large Store Display

Rare Gilbert Mysto Magic Set No. 25 Large Store Display

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