What’s This?

The simple answer is that it’s a curio I found sitting on the counter at my local comic book dealer’s.

But it’s much more than that.

You’ll notice that at the top center of the lid it has a little silver circle with a gold ring sitting on it.

(Look up and notice this before reading further. I’ll wait.)
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Okay, so everythig is fine and good.

UNTIL YOU TRY TO TOUCH THE RING!

In fact, when people ask what the curio is, the counterman will simply tell them "Touch the ring."

They (or you) do, and suddenly you find out

THE RING AIN’T THERE!!!

Yes! There is NO GOLD RING sitting atop the curio. You swish your finger around an empty HOLE IN THE LID.

The illusion is not caused by holography or magic or anything like that. It’s far simpler–and far more insidious–than that.

Turns out that there is a gold (well, gold-colored) ring at the  bottom of the inside of the curio, surrounded by a curved mirrored surface that makes the image of the ring reflect in such a way that, for any person of normal height, when you look into the hole from a normal eye-angle, it appears that there is a little silver disk there with a gold ring sitting on it.

BUT THERE’S NOT!!!

It’s all deception and trickery, y’see.

Now, if you look at the curio dead-on from the side (i.e., not from a normal eye-angle), you’ll see that there’s nothing there. Similarly, if you look straight down into the hold (again, not from a normal eye-angle), you’ll see through the illusion. In fact, you’ll see the ring sitting at the bottom of the curio. You can also stick your finger down and feel the ring and the curved mirrored surface around it. (I did.)

I asked if you could open the curio and the counterman said no. When they first got it, he wanted to open it and put something else besides a ring in it. (I’d like to see him put a quarter in it. Imagin customers trying to pick up that!) He also said he thought this was a design flaw as it made would hard to clean if it got dirty.

Still . . . kewl illusion, huh!

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live." View all posts by Jimmy Akin