The Raven
Type: closeup, walk around
Skill Level: 
Retail Price: $35
Effect: Hold a coin in the palm of one hand. Pass your other hand over the coin. The coin is gone.
Performance Time: Very quick.
Reset Time: As long as it takes to reset a pull. (For some of us
that's an eternity.)
Angles: 
Quality: The Raven is durable and made to last. It should last a
lifetime.
Mike Maione: I had seen the video playing in my local Magic Shop and read the ads. Wow. It sure looked and sounded great. Then, I got one. It took me exactly one day to decide it wasn't for me and I ripped it apart because it was worth more to me in pieces.
Here's what makes Ravens fly. Magnets, shells coins, metal shims and pulls. Some really great stuff put together to create a really powerful illusion. It looks good and works great. So why did I rip it apart? Pulls and I don't get along. Dr. Mitch says that's because I don't set my pulls up properly. He says, "They're not supposed to end up in your armpit." And, yes, I do have a tendency to set mine a little too high. That's because I want the pull to clear my cuff and not get hung up on my sleeve. I don't have those huge Dr. Mitch sleeves, up which you could pull a Buick. Also, I almost never wear short sleeve shirts under a jacket which just adds to my problem. This means it's virtually impossible for me to set the Raven with even a modicum of discreetness. Instead, I have to shove my opposite hand up my sleeve and fiddle for what seems forever until I can grab the darn thing and set it in place. You can imagine how good that looks. So, rather then let this expensive prop sit in my drawer. I took the magnet out. It's a beauty ... very powerful and I do lots of other cool things with it.
I don't think I'm alone in my feelings about how limited the Raven is. I must know about a hundred magicians. (That doesn't make me a bad person.) But, I don't know one who uses the Raven. I bet that's because there are about a million other ways to vanish a coin. I say forget the Raven and buy Bobo's book, Modern Coin Magic. It's much more practical.
Dr. Mitch: OK Mike, again we go back to the same old debate...PULL-No PULL. I've said it before and I'll say it again, pulls are great. I am 100% Pro-Pull. I've gotten comfortable working with them throughout the years and they are a wonderful addition to my working "tools". I have used many different "pull" items including: a little brass letter opener, a pencil, a pen, a shot glass filled with whiskey, and even developed my own pull item "Binakka Begone" in which a tube of breath spray vanishes at your fingertips (ok, that was a blatant mini-plug for my own item).
I've noticed many people shy away from pulls, and true they are not for everyone. However, if you wear a jacket, why not. (It also helps to have wide sleeves). Also Anti-Pull people say "Lay people know it is going up your sleeve"...my answer...tell that to Carl Cloutier.
It's a nice little tool to add to your arsenal...I'd buy it. But please...folks...be original with it; one David Blaine is enough !!!!!!
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