Dunbury Delusion

Dunbury Delusion is a classic card routine credited to Charlie Miller in Expert Card Technique where the audience is led to believe the magician has initially failed.

Plot: A card having been chosen and returned to the pack without the magician knowing what was selected. The magician removes three cards stating they will help him find the selected card, but the spectators notice that one of them IS the selected card thinking that the magician has already failed. However, after turning the 3 cards face down, the magician triumphantly produces the chosen card from the pack, the card which was down on the table changed to an indifferent one.

The first known version of this plot was published as "The Partagas Sell" in Farelli’s Card Magic Part Two, which was developed by Senor Partagas, a magic shop owner in Barcelona, Spain.

It's been said that Charlie Miller named it "Dunbury" after the Dumbarton Bridge that crosses San Francisco Bay.

Versions

• The Partagas “Sell” - Victor Farelli in Farelli’s Card Magic Part Two (1933)
• The Dunbury Delusion - Charlie Miller in Expert Card Technique (1940)
• Fours of a Kind - Jean Hugard in Royal Road To Card Magic (1948)
• Design for Laughter - Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue in Royal Road To Card Magic (1948) p. 54)
• The Dunbury Delusion - Bill Simon in Effective Card Magic (1952)
• And Counting - Karl Fulves in Packet Switches (Part Five) (1977)
• Dunbury Delight - Frank Garcia & Dai Vernon in Million Dollar Card Secrets (1972)
• Dave's Delight - Dave Lederman in Super Subtle Card Miracles (1973)
• Deep Dunbury - Ed Marlo in Marlo's Magazine Volume 1 (1976)
• Quick Deep Dunbury - David Solomon in Marlo's Magazine Volume 1 (1976)
• Did-Dan-Dunbury - Martin Nash in Sleight Unseen (1979)
• Make Mine Dunbury Well - Jon Racherbaumer in Cardmagic (1983)
• The Coué Test - Roberto Giobbi in Card College, Vol. 1 (1996)
• Dunbury Delusion Revisited - David Solomon in Solomon’s Mind (1998)
• The Dunbury Delusion in Genii, Vol. 63, N° 9, sept. 2000, page 61. Jim Swain had a great handling of it using something he called the Cool-Out Move.
• “Bob’s Delusion” by Bob King in Precursor (Number 83, July 2002)
• The Trick That NEVER Fails in Precursor by Paul Cummins
• Finger on the Card - Gary Ouellet in Masters of Magic series
• Dunbury Drop - David Ben, Tricks (2003)

•  ?? published in Genii" late 1964 in the first issue of "Magicana" ??

Videos

• Easy to Master Card Miracles, Vol. 4 by Michael Ammar.

References

• http://www.geniimagazine.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=167716
• http://www.questx.com/magic!/1-500.html