Those Playing Cards Found Their Way Home...

 Last month I posted about these amazing vintage playing cards I'd found in a magic shop years ago. - https://mygreenwhiskers.blogspot.com/2026/02/custom-playing-cards-far-from-home.html

I reached out to the historian of Maplewood, Missouri, Doug Houser, to see if he'd like me to send him these Jay B. Smith custom backed playing cards and I received an enthusiastic and joyful reply. 

I got the cards packed up and on their way, and they arrived shortly after (thank you USPS for getting them there safe and sound. I was fretting like a gigantic mother hen the whole time they were on the way. They're literally irreplaceable, and I felt, rather precious.)

Doug has done a blog entry about the cards arriving and about them taking their place in the Maplewood history collection. You can read all about it here - https://40southnews.com/maplewood-history-a-historic-deck-of-cards-magically-reappears/

These kinds of cards were quite popular with magicians back in the day (they were plastic coated, making them easy to clean. It was revolutionary at the time!)  I like to think that Magician Jay B. Smith was very  proud of these beautiful custom cards, in their little velvet box. They really are just gorgeous. :) I imagine he'd be pleased to have them back, too. 

I will never know how the cards came to be in Colorado, but I'm so happy to have been able to help get them back to their home in Missouri.  

The internet is such a funny thing sometimes. There can be such negativity here, but then you find someone like Doug who just loves his town, writes articles about its history, and wrote the blog entry that solved for me the mystery of who the magician on these custom cards was. From Doug's writings, Jay B. Smith sounds like he was quite a guy, and a much loved, magical fixture of Maplewood. I am so glad that these can return and be part of his memory and legacy. 

Thank you so much, Doug, for letting me know they got there safe and sound! I hope they bring your town as much joy as this magical adventure has brought to me. :)  

- Wendy

I have not been active on any social media sites, though I did just dust off my old magick FB page - MagickGoneWylde. I don't know what will become of that either. You can message me on FB, or send me an email. You can find my email address on my blog profile . 

Cards and Coins and Fortune Cookie Wisdom.

The restaurant where the magic club meeting was held offers mints and fortune cookies in a basket as you're leaving. I thought the fortune cookies were a but curious since it's an Italian restaurant (and a super yummy one at that!)  But I grabbed a fortune cookine on my way out, and this is what it said:

"Cherish the love that surrounds you; it's a testament to your heart's capacity to remember." 

Which is absolutely fortune cookie nonsense, but it made me smile anyway.

Continuing to work on making tiny things for this upcoming miniatures show, and today I'm trying out a new magic trick on my family.... does that count as animal testing? 

I hope your Wednesday is full of magical things and fortunate fortunes!

- Wendy

The pictures are of one of my favorite decks of cards: Bicycle Stargazer Observatory and my found-after-all-that-searching half dollars. :) 

I have not been active on any social media sites, though I did just dust off my old magick FB page - MagickGoneWylde. I don't know what will become of that either. You can message me on FB, or send me an email. You can find my email address on my blog profile . 

Miniatures and Magic! Pt 2

It was a super magical weekend, but now it's back to the miniature mines!  The Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys "Little Show" is coming up on March 28th, just 32 days, 21 hours, and 54 minutes away! (But who's counting?) I am sooooo not ready!!!

I'll be there behind the Wylde Kingdom Miniatures table (as usual) but with a bunch of weird, magic things this time.  Sure, they might not sell to the miniatures crowd, but even if they don't, they'll be eye catching AND I have a plan for them for a future project. You'll just have to wait and see what that might be. :) 

So, for a while, the only magic I'm going to be able to get up to is all in miniature. But that's okay too. Everything is cuter in miniature, even magic things. 

Hope your week is off to a great start and full of magic in whatever scale you like! 

- Wendy 

I have not been active on any social media sites, though I did just dust off my old magick FB page - MagickGoneWylde. I don't know what will become of that either. You can message me on FB, or send me an email. You can find my email address on my blog profile . 

Never Again is What You Swore the Time Before......

I never expected to go to another magic club meeting ever, ever again.

But wow.... the magic club meeting yesterday was AMAZING!! What a friendly and magical group of people. I got to help with a super cool pendulum trick. Ordered a salad that ended up being larger than my head (it was super delicious, though, and the leftovers will be dinner for probably the next two nights.) Got to hang out with my friend Gary and talk magic, which was ALSO amazing.

(Gary let me run a piece of tarot card magic that I've been working on past him, and it was really valuable, getting another set of eyes on it. I forgot how much magic grows and blooms when not kept in a vacuum. Maybe talking to other people isn't ALL bad.)

Anyway, it was all just super amazing. I might have signed back up for a magic club, which was NOT on my 2026 bingo card, but here we are.

The people hangover is starting to kick in today, but it's worth it. So much fun. Very magical. Super looking foward to the next one. 

For a couple years, I thought I had lost my love for magic. But it turns out... it was never the magic I didn't love: it was just a handful of magicians who proved to me that THEY weren't worth loving. 

And now I know. :) 

Happy Sunday! I hope it's magical! 

- Wendy 

I have not been active on any social media sites, though I did just dust off my old magick FB page - MagickGoneWylde. I don't know what will become of that either. You can message me on FB, or send me an email. You can find my email address on my blog profile . 

First I Drink Coffee.....

 

This is an unnaturally early hour for a Wendy. So, either I have hit my head really hard and forgotten about it, OR.... I might actually love magic enough to get up early for it. 

I guess we'll see. 

- Wendy

P.S. Found my half dollars! YAAY!!! Very happy about that. Ghosts give bad gifts, but sometimes it's okay. They try. IYKYK

I have not been active on any social media sites, though I did just dust off my old magick FB page - MagickGoneWylde. I don't know what will become of that either. You can message me on FB, or send me an email. You can find my email address on my blog profile . 

Coins! Coins! Coins!

What a frickin' mess. It all started with being unable to find my half dollars and it ended up with me sorting through ALL the coins I have (that I could find.)

Guess I really have no excuse not to work on coin magic! |

Also, I am leaving my house again (with minimal protest) and actually going to a magic club meeting tomorrow! 

I am as shocked as you are. 

Now..... where ARE those other coins? They're here somewhere, and clearly I don't have enough...

I hope your Friday is awesome with or without crazy coin sorting. 

- Wendy

I have not been active on any social media sites, though I did just dust off my old magick FB page - MagickGoneWylde. I don't know what will become of that either. You can message me on FB, or send me an email. You can find my email address on my blog profile . 

Miniatures and Magic! Pt 1

 

It is rare that my two loves intersect, but tonight I am working on magic in miniature! These tiny magic posters are just making me smile. They need tiny frames and then they'll be ready for the "magic" section of the Wylde Kingdom Miniatures table at the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys' "Little Show" on March 28th! 

(And if they don't sell... well, I have another project in mind for these... you'll see.) 

Hope your Monday was wonderful too! In whatever scale you may have had it. 

- Wendy

I have not been active on any social media sites, though I did just dust off my old magick FB page - MagickGoneWylde. I don't know what will become of that either. You can message me on FB, or send me an email. You can find my email address on my blog profile . 

Got Myself a Valentine's Day Present

I may have gotten myself a Valentine's Day present (though, being completely honest, I would've gotten them even if it hadn't been Valentine's Day. They're just too cool!!!)

I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but these gorgeous dinosaur coins are shiny copper, have a really nice weight and they feel great in my hand. Guess I'm messing around with coin magic again.

It's been a while.

Many thanks to the Kirkachu for getting me out of my house and taking me to All C's Collectables and out and about. I am so tickled with these and I would never have seen them otherwise! 

I hope your Valentine's weekend was equally nice, even if it didn't involve Kirkachus, collectables or shiny dinosaurs. 

- Wendy 

I have not been active on any social media sites, though I did just dust off my old magick FB page - MagickGoneWylde. I don't know what will become of that either. You can message me on FB, or send me an email. You can find my email address on my blog profile . 

Custom Playing Cards, Far From Home

 I love playing cards and I have a  hoard bunch of them. I'm not a connoisseur or anything, I just think they're pretty or fun,  and most of them aren't particularly special.

This isn't even close to all of them....

But there are a few..... 

While trying to sort and organize them, I stumbled across this lovely deck of  vintage cards. Velvet box, custom backs. These seem like they're maybe just a bit special. 

The backs of the cards feature a very classy looking gentleman pulling a bunny out of a hat, and also the Best Wishes and signature of Jay B. Smith. After a little poking around on the internet, I think I may have found out who he was.

(Article from the pages of Doug Houser's Maplewood History book, Volume One)

https://40southnews.com/maplewood-history-being-made-or-at-least-re-lived/

Seems J.B. Smith was an undertaker for the town of Maplewood, Missouri (just a bit outside of St. Louis) in the 1930s, and he was also a magician! 

How a deck of his custom playing cards made it all the way to Colorado I can't say. They're in terrific shape for their age,  and don't feel like they've ever even been shuffled! 

I'm not entirely sure where I found these, but my guess is at Mago's Magic Shop (way back in the day when Colorado still had a magic shop. -sigh- I miss that shop so much.) 

I was unable to find a picture of J.B. Smith to compare the card backs to, so I'm going to reach out to Doug Houser, Maplewood historian, and see if this is his J.B. Smith and if he would like these. I'd be happy to mail them back to their home in Missouri so they can be a part of J.B. Smith's magical history. 

Though, knowing magicians, it's also possible that his family has a box of 500 of these (well, 499 since I have one) in an attic somewhere.

If so, or if I never hear from Mr. Houser, they're welcome to stay right here, in my weird little playing card hoard. :) Another green whisker for my collection. 

- Wendy 

I have not been active on any social media sites, though I did just dust off my old magick FB page - MagickGoneWylde. I don't know what will become of that either. You can message me on FB, or send me an email. You can find my email address on my blog profile . 

Your Green What?

Green whiskers? What? 

Well, here.... 

"But I was thinking of a plan
    To dye one's whiskers green,
And always use so large a fan
    That they could not be seen. "

        Lewis Carroll - Through the Looking Glass

I love magic. Tricks with cards and coins, silks and sponge balls, keys and pendulums, sleight of hand and mentalism and all of those things. Most magic, I love, love, LOVE.

For years, I was very involved with my local magic club. I found myself called "the magic den mother" because I went to all the shows and applauded and encouraged and took lots and lots of pictures of everyone doing their magic. I absolutely loved it. And I was a performer too: house parties, ghost shows, a magic festival & more. I enjoyed every bit of it.  

But things happened. I moved to the middle-of-nowhere (Aurora, Colorado), there was a pandemic, and eventually I just never left my house, even after it was all over. I have become the "her" in hermit, and I rather like just staying in my quiet little hermitage. It's very cozy, and all my stuff is here. 

But I still do magic. I still practice and learn. I read lots of books, and watch performances and lectures all the time. I still LOVE magic, and I think I always will. But I don't know if I'll go to see a live show, or perform ever again.

So my green whiskers are my magic.... 

A secret that makes me smile, hidden away, where no one will see.

"What's the point of practicing a performing art if you're never going to perform it?"
- John Lovick's roommate sometime in the 90s (7:49 in the video. It's a good interview, though. You should probably watch the whole thing. )

That is a good point. And I dunno. I just love it. Maybe someday I will wander out into the world again, who knows? 'Til then though, I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing. 

And now, there's this blog. I'll post stuff here about magic that I'm in love with, or new things I've seen or learned. Maybe I'll post some of my thoughts or memories with the old photos that I used to post on social media. I guess we'll see.

Honestly, this little blog is mostly just for me, and I don't really know what it'll become or what I want it to be (much like my magic, now that I think about it).

But if you're reading this...well, I guess you've peeked behind the fan.

Hello. 

What color are YOUR whiskers?

Wendy Wylde
Aurora, Colorado
January 2026

I have not been active on any social media sites, though I did just dust off my old magick FB page - MagickGoneWylde. I don't know what will become of that either. You can message me on FB, or send me an email. You can find my email address on my blog profile .