Tenyo History and Mystery
The logo above is the first logo used by Tenyo. Along with the “T” and “Y” which represents Tianyang, there is a “?” which in my opinion makes this logo a fitting header for the Tenyo History and Mystery page. On this page I will explore some of the unsolved mysteries in the Tenyo collecting world. Some of the mysteries are deep and may never be solved, some I have answers to and others hopefully will be solved some day, maybe by you. If you have a Tenyo Mystery that you would like solved or better yet, if you have an answer to one of these mysteries, please contact me.
MYSTERY OF THE SCARCE TENYO
Why are some of the Tenyo T-numbers so scarce and almost impossible to find?
Certain Tenyo tricks are very difficult to find. Many Tenyo collectors need 8-10 Tenyo to complete their collection and the tricks they need are the ones in question. These tricks include T-42 Astro Tube, T-43 Invisible Man, T-47 Astro Coin, T-48 Coin Case, T-62 Fantastic, T-64 Melting Loop and T-79 Super Vase a la India. There are two tricks that are barely known to exist even in photographs. These tricks are T-44 Coin Coaster and T-45 Break Away Fan. These tricks exist in the 1972 Tenyo catalog but not a single Tenyo collector that I know has either of these tricks. So why are these tricks so scarce?
ANSWER
Unknown
MYSTERY OF THE SPANISH PACKAGED TENYO
Were the Spanish packaged Tenyo magic tricks shown in the 1983 and 1985 catalog ever made?
In the 1983 and 1985 English Tenyo catalogs there is a half page ad showing 21 Spanish Packaged Tenyo. The ad says “By popular demand Tenyo have released many products with SPANISH packaging and instructions.” The packages in the photo are in Spanish and have revised artwork that show Spanish Coins and Currency. Some of the names are exact translations of the English trick names but most are completely renamed (see below). For as long as I have been collecting Tenyo I have never see these items, not even in a picture and I have never even seen them discussed anywhere. Were the Spanish Tenyo ever released and if they were released where are they?
ANSWER
These items do exist. Kelle Botond of Hungary was able to find 19 of the 21 tricks shown in the 1985 catalog as well as a metal Spanish Tenyo sign. The metal sign has the typical Tenyo logos/trademarks and on the right there are Spanish words that translate to the secrets of magic at your fingertips. I was lucky to be able to buy this almost complete set from Botond and now they are in my collection. All of the items are NOS (New Old Stock) and just like with the English packages, the glue failed on the Vintage Blister on Card packages. Squeeze Play and Mr. Rabbit are shrink wrapped just like they were with the English and Japanese versions. Interestingly, the tricks have the English T-Number printed on them. Inside the Spanish package are printed Spanish instructions. For one of the tricks, The Greek Press (known in English as Midas Machine) the prop was actually retooled to accommodate the Spanish bank-note. My educated guess is that Spanish Tricks were sold to stores in cartons with so many of each trick. Maybe they did not sell that well and they were never reordered. That would explain them barely existing. The two that have not been found yet are T-73 Coins in Nest and T-108 Soft Coins. So the search goes on.
Tenyo Magic Tricks Released in Spanish Packaging.
–JUST FOR LAUGHS–
# YEAR* T-# NAME OF ENGLISH TRICK NAME OF SPANISH TRICK HUMAN TRANSLATION GOOGLE TRANSLATION
1 T-10 Silk from Hanky Panuelo Volatil Volatile Silk Volatile Panuelo
2 T-26 Glass Board La Ventana Indiscreta Rear Window Rear Window
3 T-40 Card Case Caja de Sorpresas Box of Surprises Grab Bag
4 1974 T-66 Occult Board La Pizarra Del Advino Fortune Teller Chalkboard The Chalkboard Advented
5 1975 T-69 Dynamic Coins Moneda Fantasma Ghost Coin Currency Ghost
6 1975 T-71 Rope to Silk La Cuerda India The Indian Rope The Indian Rope
7 1976 T-72 Flash Dice Dados Magicos Magic Dice Dice Magic
8 1976 T-73 Coin in Nest Supermodena Supercoin Supermodena
9 1976 T-74 Super Panto Block Bloque Fugaz Fugitive Block Shooting Block
10 1977 T-85 See Through Guillotine Cortadedos Finger Cutter Toecutter
11 1977 T-87 Squeeze Play El Exprimidor The Squeezer The Juicer
12 1978 T-95 Mr. Rabbit Senor Conejo Mr Rabbit Mr Rabbit
13 1980 T-102 Lucifers Lock El Caidado De Lucifer Lucifers Lock The Lucifer Caidado
14 1980 T-103 Frame of Destruction Dinero Indestructible Indestructible Money Indestructible Money
15 1981 T-108 Soft Coins Moneda Blanda Soft Coin Moneda Blanda
16 1981 T-109 Midas Machine La Imprenta Del Criego The Greek Press Printing from Criego
17 1981 T-110 Zig Zag Cig Zig Zag Cig Zig Zag Cig Zig Zag Cig
18 1982 T-112 Eclipse Espejismo Mirage Mirage
19 1982 T-113 Quick Silver La Fabrica De Moneda The Coin Factory The Fabrica of Currency
20 1982 T-114 Wonder Window El Enigma De La Ventana The Window Enigma The Enigma of Window
21 1982 T-115 Ultra Slice Corte Impossible Impossible Cut Court Impossible
*The YEAR represents the year the trick was released in English and Japanese packaging.
All the Spanish Tricks were released together sometime around 1985.
Volatile Silk
Rear Window
Box of Surprises
Fortune Teller Chalkboard
Ghost Coin
The Indian Rope
Magic Dice
Fugitive Block
Finger Cutter
The Squeezer
Mr Rabbit
Lucifers Lock
Indestructible Money
The Greek press
Zig Zag Cig
Mirage
The Coin Factory
The Window Enigma
Impossible Cut
Spanish Tenyo Facts
• The word for Eclipse is the same in both English and Spanish but Tenyo choose to change the name of the Spanish version to Mirage which is actually the English name of a different very popular Tenyo magic trick.
• The Spanish Flash Dice is the older version with the black cover and case with the marbled design.
• The back of the Spanish packages have the same artwork as the English packages except the wording is translated, however the artwork for the back of the Spanish Occult Board was translated and changed.
• The Spanish Card Case comes with some cards including a gorilla card.
• The silver vinyl carry case for the Spanish Ultra Slice was not translated and is exactly the same as English version.
• The design on the clear part of the Spanish Frame of Destruction is slightly different but it is the Spanish Midas Machine that was significantly modified. The inner working had to be changed to work with a Spanish bank note.
MYSTERY OF THE MISSING T-NUMBERS
Why were the T-Numbers from T-49 to T-60 never allocated?
The T-Numbers start at T-1 Thimble and currently end at T-259 Money Shock. The T-Numbers were only used for English packaged tricks. For this website, I follow the naming, numbering and year as displayed on the official English Tenyo website on the Complete List of Products page. If you look at the list, there are no tricks listed for numbers T-49 to T-60. Why is that so?
ANSWER
Unknown
MYSTERY OF THE DOUBLE T-NUMBERS
Why did some tricks get two different T-Numbers?
For this website, I follow the naming, numbering and year as displayed on the official English Tenyo website on the Complete List of Products page. On that page you will see T-62 Fantastic and T-64 Melting Loop. I know that these two tricks were also released with alternate T-numbers because I have them and the alternate T-number is printed on he box. T-62 Fantastic was also released in a box marked T-53. T-64 Melting Loop was also released in a box marked T-54. In fact all three of the Melting Loops I have had were marked T-54. I have never personally seen a T-64 Melting Loop. An interesting note is that the instructions for both T-53 Fantastic and T-62 Fantastic have T-62 printed on the instructions. So that is a major clue. It looks like the T-53 was released after the T-62. How else would T-53 have instructions marked T-62. Of course the T-62 instructions could have been placed in the T-53 by the previous owner, but I tend to believe that was not the case with the one I have as it is brand new. So why did two tricks get multiple T-numbers and were there other tricks that got assigned multiple T-numbers from the missing T-numbers range?
ANSWER
Unknown
MYSTERY OF NO T-NUMBERS FROM 1983
Why were no T-Numbers released in 1983?
For this website, I follow the naming, numbering and year as displayed on the official English Tenyo website on the Complete List of Products page. If you look at the list, there are tricks listed for every year starting in 1974 but in 1983, no T-numbered tricks were released and there was not a catalog printed for that year. Why were no new T-number tricks were released in 1983?
ANSWER
Unknown
MYSTERY OF THE WALT DISNEY WORLD TRICK
Is Walt Disney World by Hiroshi Sawa actually a T-Number Trick?
For this website, I follow the naming, numbering and year as displayed on the official English Tenyo website on the Complete List of Products page. On that list you will see T-63 Walt Disney World. This is one of the really scarce Tenyo tricks and I have my doubts as to whether it is an actual T-Number.
ANSWER
My educated guess is that Walt Disney World is not an actual T-Numbered trick. Here is why I think this. My main argument comes from the facts that Tenyo only used T-Numbers for English packaged tricks and Tenyo has never sold a Disney licensed product in English packaging because they do not have a license to do so. So Walt Disney World being an English T-Number trick goes completely against what we know. Tenyo has had problems with their numbering before (e.g. T-49 to T-60 not being used and some tricks have two different T-Numbers) so listing the trick with a T-Number on their website does not mean it is correct.
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- Trick and instructions
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- Close-up of prop
MYSTERY OF THE FAILED GLUE PACKAGES
Why did the glue fail on many of the Vintage Blister on Card packages?
For a large portion of the Vintage Blister on Card package the glue failed and the package opens like a book. It is not known why Tenyo had this problem with their packages. What is most interesting is that this happened over many years (1976-1982). Many of these packages were stapled closed at the distributor or dealer which was the least destructive. Sometime the packages were re-glued using a popular thick brown glue of the time called mucilage. Why this happened is one mystery but even more mystifying is why did it happen over so many years?
Glue Failure with Vintage Blister on Card Packages
1976 T-72 Flash Dice* 1979 T-97 Superstick 1981 T-108 Soft Coins* 1976 T-73 Coin in Nest* 1979 T-99 Mystery of High Hat 1981 T-109 The Midas Machine 1976 T-74 Super Phanto Block 1980 T-102 Lucifer's Lock 1981 T-110 Zig Zag Cig* 1977 T-84 Card Frame* 1980 T-103 Frame of Destruction 1981 T-111 Supercubio 1977 T-85 Guillotine See Through 1980 T-104 Black Hole 1982 T-112 Eclipse 1977 T-86 Ultra Tube 1980 T-105 Tunnel of Darkness 1982 T-113 Quick Silver 1978 T-91 Floating Lady 1980 T-106 Ribbon Forever 1982 T-114 Wonder Window 1978 T-92 Pendant 1981 T-107 Crossroad 1982 T-115 Ultra Slice *These tricks are usually not un-glued even though they were released between 1976-1982. This is because there were batches of these tricks re-made after the glue problem was solved.
ANSWER
Unknown