By David Cain
In July of 2025, the Museum of Juggling History was given a box of props and memorabilia that belonged to The Great Knetzger, a juggler who was active from the 1890s until at least the 192os. You can click here to learn more about Knetzger. Among the items in the box were six old playing card props that we instantly recognized from old juggling catalogs and books. Each prop consisted of three or four cards glued together with a thin, pointed spike going through diagonally, sandwiched between cards. You can see these six in the following two photos.
These were used for a variety of tricks around the turn of the century.
The earliest known photo of someone using them shows Zarmo (read about him here and here) using one in the most common way, in a balance trick where a plate holding a candle is spun on a stick, under which is wedged the playing card. The other end of the card (with the pointed end of the spike) rests on a wooden cigar held in the juggler’s mouth. The card and the stick spin due to friction from the spinning plate.
Zarmo
This trick was featured in early juggling prop catalogs, such as Stanyon’s 1905 and 1908 catalogs and Edward Van Wyck’s catalog from 1912, which you can see below.
Stanyon’s Catalog, 1905
Edward Van Wyck Catalog illustration, 1912
The same Edward Van Wyck catalog also contained the following spinning card balances.
Edward Van Wyck catalog illustration, 1912
Edward Van Wyck catalog illustration, 1912
A 1908 Stanyon catalog also had the standard spinning card balance and one of the other versions already shown above. You can see these below.
1908 Stanyon catalog illustration
The card spinning balance with the ring and sword uses a prop that is also in the Museum of Juggling History. It is the gimmicked ring, which has a pin at the bottom to go into a card and a tip at the top for a sword to go into. This particular one was made by Otto Maurer and was sold in the Otto Maurer catalog in the 1890s. You can see this below.
Otto Maurer ring prop
Otto Maurer catalog illustration, 1890s
Various tricks using the spinning card prop appeared in the instructional book, The Art of Modern Juggling by Anglo, which was published in 1907. You can see these tricks described in portions of the book, shown below.
One of these tricks was also included in the 1910 book, The Modern Manipulator, by Louis Knetzger (The Great Knetzger) under the pseudonym Carl Martell. Below is what he wrote:
THE SPINNING PLATE, CANE AND CARD.—In this most effective feat the performer first places a short stick or mouthpiece in his mouth, then he spins a plate on the end of a cane and picking up a card, he places one corner of it under the lower end of the cane and the opposite diagonal corner of the card he places on the end of the mouthpiece, when the plate, cane and card will spin rapidly while balancing on the mouthpiece.
The principal secret of this feat lies in the card, which consists of five or six cards glued together. In one corner of the card is inserted a small, fine black pin, the sharp point of which projects out of the card one-sixteenth of an inch. The opposite diagonal corner of the card also contains a pin, but this one is heavier and its blunt end projects out of the card about one-half of an inch. The cane is pointed at one end, and in the center of the other end a hole is bored of such a size that the large pin in the card will just fit into it snugly. The mouthpiece is made of metal and should have a slight hole bored in the end. The small pin is set in this hole which serves to keep the card from spinning off from the mouthpiece. To perform the feat, first place the mouthpiece in your mouth and hold it tightly with your teeth. Spin the plate on the pointed end of the cane.
To facilitate this, the plate, which can be one of the ordinary china or metal kind, has a slight dent in the center deep enough to engage the point of the cane. Hold the cane in the left hand and start the plate spinning with the right. When it is spinning rapidly, the right hand holds the cane for an instant, while the left grasps the cane at the extreme lower end. The right hand now takes the card, which should be placed in your coat pocket beforehand, hiding the large pin between the thumb and index finger, and inserts this pin, under cover of the left hand, into the hole in the cane. The whole apparatus is then placed on the mouthpiece, into the hole of which the small pin is inserted to keep the card in place. Now remove your hands and the apparatus will spin while you balance same.
At the finish the left hand grasps the lower end of the cane, while the right takes the Card, hiding the pin as before, and returns it to the pocket. The plate is tossed upward from off the end of the cane and is caught in either hand. A drop of oil, placed in the mouthpiece hole, will reduce the friction and cause the card to spin longer and more rapidly. This applies to all feats of a like character. You should, for obvious reasons, while putting together and taking apart the apparatus, always keep your eyes on the spinning plate and refrain from looking at your hands.
The Modern Manipulator, 1910
There are a few modern jugglers who have recreated card spinning tricks. These include Gaston (Robert Dahlström) and Ted Baumhauer. Here are some videos of Gaston doing spinning card balances.
And here is Ted Baumhauer doing the standard trick.
As you can see, the turning of the card makes these balance tricks very visually appealing. Maybe some readers will try their hand at recreating one or more of these old school tricks as well.
David Cain
David Cain is a professional juggler, juggling historian, and the owner of the world's only juggling museum, the Museum of Juggling History. He is a Guinness world record holder and 16 time IJA gold medalist. In addition to his juggling pursuits, David is a successful composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and singer as well as the author of twenty-six books. He and his children live in Middletown, OH (USA).