Buatier de Kolta's Expanding

Cube Illusion
Taken from Exclusive Magical Secrets
By Will Goldston

Few illusions have aroused so much controversy

among magicians as the one I am about to describe.

Few magicians, even among those who claim to know

something of the secret of the Expanding Cube, can
give an accurate description of the effect of the illusion.
I have heard, for instance, that Buatier de Kolta used to
put a small die on his stage, wave his hand over it, and cause it to expand slowly. I have heard also that
when the cube was in its enlarged condition the top would be pushed up, and the magician's wife would
make her appearance at that spot; in another version of the mystery it was stated that after the cube had
suddenly grown to an immense size, it would as suddenly collapse and disclose the magician's wife
standing on the stage.

All these stories of the illusion are incorrect. Although I never had the great pleasure of seeing De Kolta
perform this illusion, I understand, from those who had that privilege, that he presented it in the following
way. To begin with, he would bring on a small leather bag, and inform the audience that the bag
contained his wife. Then he would put the bag on a chair near the wings, and go on with another trick.
During the performance an assistant would pass near the chair once or twice, and each time De
Kolta.would say, "Be careful, please; that bag contains my wife."

In this way the audience would be impressed with the idea that in some mysterious way the magician had
contrived to hide his wife in the bag, and so a good deal of wonderment would be aroused when the
magician went to the bag and took from it a small cube. This would be placed by the magician in the
centre of a low platform, and before the audience could realise what was going to happen, the cube would
suddenly expand to one many times the size of the original. The expansion was brought about so quickly
that the eye could not follow the movement. De Kolta would go towards the wings and bow, as though
the illusion had ended. Then he would go back to the low platform, and, with the help of an assistant, lift
up the die and so disclose the presence of the lady who had been concealed inside it.

It will be seen, therefore, that there were two great effects, the expansion of the cube and the appearance
of the lady, and it is probably because there were two illusions in one that the Expanding Cube has never
been imitated by any illusionist. No man has succeeded in fathoming the secrets of this illusion, which
remains to-day to puzzle admiring magicians just as it puzzled those who saw it when it was first
presented by its brilliant inventor.

Here I must break off to correct a report that has been current in magical and other circles for many years
past. I refer to the story that when De Kolta died all his apparatus was destroyed in accordance with his
wish, expressed shortly before his death. I have seen that story repeated in many papers. It is quite untrue.
Buatier de Kolta's original Expanding Die--the actual apparatus that he used--has been for some years in
the possession of Mrs. Will Goldston, who presented it on the music-hall stage in 1910. All the
illustrations here reproduced are from drawings made specially from this original apparatus, and therefore
the reader may be assured that the drawings and explanations are correct in every detail.
 Here will be found a picture of the tools used by De Kolta in
making all his illusions and tricks. These tools are also in the
possession of Mrs. Will Goldston. It will be noted that the tools
are of the rough-and-ready kind, but the hands that worked with
them were directed by one of the finest brains that the magical
world has ever known. The actual workmanship of the original
Expanding Cube is probably not so highly finished as one
would get nowadays from a highly-skilled maker of illusions,
but the important part of the illusion--the apparatus that brings
about the effect--is as perfect now as it was when it left the
inventor's hands. On one occasion I tested the cube after it had
been put on one side for nearly two years. It worked perfectly,
and I cannot imagine in what way it could go wrong provided
that proper care is given to every detail of the trick. A careless
performer would soon find that the illusion was not suitable for
him, because, with improper handling, the cube will not
expand. But I must not keep my readers in suspense any longer;
they will be eager to read the first explanation of this illusion
that has ever appeared in print.

Roughly speaking, the principle of the illusion may be summed up in a very few words. The large die is
made of silk, stretched on a frame of telescopic rods fitted with strong spiral springs. The die is
compressed, held together by a strap of special make, and then covered with a piece of silk similar in
colour and markings to the one on the outside of the die in its enlarged state. This outer cover and the
cube are held in place by two large hat-pins, connected with cord, and with a long piece of cord attached.
An assistant pulls out this cord at a certain cue, and the die springs suddenly into being. The illusion is
worked so quickly that it is impossible for the cutest spectator to see how the effect is produced. The
experienced magician is as much in the dark as the rawest amateur when this illusion is being presented,
and I may say that I have shown the first part of it--the expanding cube--in a room to a very old student of
magic without his having the slightest idea of how the cube was made to grow so suddenly. He was
within a few feet of the apparatus at the time, but he knew
nothing of the secret.

The easiest way to understand the working of the cube is to

begin at the wrong end and work backwards. Fig. 1 shows
us the small die as it is when shown to the audience, and the
cube as it is when expanded. The drawing was made to
scale; as a matter of fact, the larger one is sixty-four times
the size of the cube in its collapsed condition.