Background

You may have noticed some beautiful new products on the Hocus Pocus site as part of “The Trafalgar Collection” and “The Victorian Collection,” both of which come from the Five of Hearts Magic Company of England. Both Colin and Sharron Rose have asked Hocus Pocus to be the only authorized dealer in the United States to offer you this incomparable collection, and we cannot thank them enough. How exciting and unique is this line? We'll let Colin explain:

"As the Magic Circle Centenary Celebrations move ever closer, the excitement and anticipation of this auspicious occasion creates a sense of urgency here at Five of Hearts Magic, as we continue to work on “The Victorian Collection” and the many other products we hope to showcase at this very special event. New for this month are two very special creations “The Black Pearl” & “The Royal Oak” Cups & Balls Sets. These sets are quite unique and feature ‘Ornamental & Rose Engine ‘ work in the design, and we have used exotic ‘African Black Wood’ with ‘Mother of Pearl inlay and ‘Burr Oak for these very special additions to the collection. For the historians among you, in October this year Celebrations will be held for the 200th Anniversary of The Battle of Trafalgar and we have managed to source some very special wood taken from H.M.S. Victory, the Flag Ship of Admiral Nelson! These oak beams were removed from the world’s oldest commissioned Warship when she was moved to Dry Dock in Portsmouth Royal Naval Dockyard, and it is this wood that will be used to create “The Trafalgar Collection” this will feature Limited Editions of Cups & Balls Sets, Chop Cups and a variety of other Magical Creations, all with certificates of authenticity confirming the source of the Oak Beams used in this very special collection! We also hope to have some miniature boxed sets of magic using ‘Seasoned Box Wood’ these will include, cups & balls, chop cups, egg vases and some signature effects from the Five of Hearts Range which will feature the traditional turning styles of the Victorian Period.
 

On June 16, 2005 the very special consignment of H.M.S. Victory Oak arrived at Five of Hearts Magic Productions in preparation for “The Trafalgar Collection.” We are now ready to begin making the Limited Edition Cups & Balls Sets promised for The Magic Circle Centenary Celebrations in July.

This is a section taken from the inside of the bow of the ship and still has one of it’s original steel nails inserted in the wood…there is a piece of copper tube, also a sheet of copper plate used originally to line the hull of the ship. The Copper Sheet has the original ‘King’s Mark’ (an arrow head) which has been punched onto the metal…we plan to use sections of this copper sheet as engraved tablets for the Presentation Boxes.

From this piece of “Victory Oak” we hope to bring a selection of Cups & Balls (various sizes ) and some Chop Cups & Wands…..we estimate a Limited Edition of approx 10 sets, each with a copy of the original Certificate of Authenticity & Bill of Ownership to Colin Rose MIMC/Five of Hearts Magic Productions…. The wood is mature Royal Oak and was quite possibly a couple of hundred years old before it was felled and used to build war ships…it was also quite usual at that time for older ships to be scrapped and the wood used again to build new ships, therefore some of the wood that was finally used to build H.M.S. Victory could go back to Henry V11 or before…
 

The Ceremonial Cutting
“The Victory Oak”

(June 24, 2005)

Having always tried to bring unique & original concepts to our Magic; we were very excited to discover that during 2005 there would be two ‘landmark’ celebrations, one being The Magic Circle Centenary Celebrations in July and the other being in October when The Battle of Trafalgar will celebrate 200 years and H.M.S. Victory the flagship of Admiral Nelson, will once more be celebrated as The World’s oldest commissioned war ship and her role in that great Sea Battle will be remembered…

So when we finally managed to secure some of the oak beams from this ‘iconic’ ship, it was in keeping with this ethos to make some very special magic to celebrate both events…We now share with you the process of dissecting this piece of maritime history as it makes it’s journey towards a new ‘life’ as Cups & Balls, Chop Cups & Wands…for Our Magic Customers around The World.

Above, a section of the top of the bow end…a real job for the band saw, but with skill & patience it is achieved…A view of the end grain, the dark outer colorization testifies to the age, but once cut through we are happy to report that the wood is stable and should turn well on the lathe…Finally a clear shot of the Worm Holes that run through the outer edge of the piece of wood, some of the sets will have these worm traces, rather than turn them away we have decided to keep them, as they are ‘Georgian Worms’ after all!

Finally, all the ‘blanks’ have been cut and are now ready to be ‘turned’…we have 10 Sets of Cups & Balls (Various sizes), 5 Chop Cups, 5 Small Wands & 5 Large Wands all cut from this one piece of ‘Victory Oak’…The First Set of Cups (Limited Edition One of Ten) has already been sold, but photographs of some of the various items will be posted onto the Website early next week…As the ‘Collection’ emerges from the Workshop we will share them with you.