Paul Daniels left television viewers baffled as he transformed girls into tigers, identified playing cards while blindfolded or pulled a wooden broom through his wriggling body.
But now the secrets behind his elaborate illusions are finally being revealed.
Daniels, 72, has put dozens of his stage props up for sale on eBay, the online auction site. He describes the objects in detail and promises that aspiring magicians who buy them will be able to carry out the tricks themselves.
The entertainer, who presented The Paul Daniels Magic Show on the BBC from 1979 to 1994, said people could purchase "a part of magic history" and added that many of the props had been used before him by other famous magicians, including David Copperfield.
Daniels is passing on his techniques despite remaining a member of the Magic Circle, the magicians' society which has the motto "Indocilis Privata Loqui" - "not apt to disclose secrets".
Under its rules, members who disclose magic secrets to non-magicians can be expelled.
The Magic Circle holds annual members-only auctions at its London headquarters for magicians to sell their old props. Last night a spokesman for the society said it was "a bit of a grey area" whether Daniels was flouting the secrecy code by selling to the general public.
The items for sale, with starting bid prices of up to £600, include:
"Doll to girl" cage: A toy tiger is put into the cage and a cloth pulled over it, when the cloth is whipped away there is a girl dressed in a tiger leotard inside the cage. A "girl to tiger" cage performs a similar trick but the other way around, starting with a girl and ending with a real tiger.
"Through the eye of the needle" equipment: A girl gets into a box and the entrance is sealed with a large Chinese coin with a small hole in the middle. Another box is put on the other side of the coin. "After waving a flag through a window in one box, the girl emerges in the other, having seemingly passed through the tiny hole.
"Magic assistant's revenge": A magician's assistant is strapped to a wooden frame, the magician grabs a curtain and begins to walk around the frame, but it is the assistant who brings the curtain back, and once the curtain has been removed it is the magician who is strapped up.
"Absolutely impossible playing card locator": A blindfolded magician stands behind a box, which has a see through front and holes for his hands in the back. A pack of cards is put in the box and an audience member names any card. Apparently without being able to see, the magician finds that card.
"Spirit painting" prop: A blank canvas is shown and signed, then a famous painting or picture is shown. By using the prop, made of solid oak, the picture appears on the original white, signed canvas.
"Broom through the body": A magician appears to pull the broom through their body, with both ends visible at all times.
Daniels, who has just finished performing in pantomime in Redhill, Surrey - playing King Crumble in Jack and the Beanstalk alongside his wife, Debbie McGee - said his decision to sell the old equipment was because it is "cheaper to remake stuff for shows than to store it" at his £2 million home by the River Thames in Berkshire.
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