Poster advertising Colonel Stodare's Sphinx trick, Egyptian Hall, London, 1866. The poster features an article from Punch magazine of 19 March 1866.

The Sphinx trick, invented and patented by Thomas William Tobin (1844-1883), was presented to the public by the ventriloquist and magician Joseph Stoddart (1831-1866) who used the stage name Colonel Stodare. The first performance took place at the Egyptian Hall on 16 October 1865. It was heralded by a carefully orchestrated publicity campaign, with mysterious announcements that 'The Sphinx has left Egypt' and 'The Sphinx has arrived and will soon appear' featuring in The Times. The tactic worked and the Egyptian Hall, a small venue in Piccadilly, was packed on the first night.

The three sides of the stage were concealed by curtains. Stodare entered, carrying a small box which he placed on a three legged table. The front of the box was hinged, and opened to reveal a human head wearing an Egyptian headdress, its eyes shut. Stodare waved his wand and the head opened its eyes, smiled, and, under instruction from the magician, answered questions. Eventually it went back to sleep and Stodare shut the box. When he re-opened it the head had vanished, to be replaced by a pile of ashes.

The Sphinx trick astonished London audiences and there was much debate as to how the effect was achieved. It was suggested that the head was an automaton and that Stodare was throwing his voice. The writer of the Punch article claims to know the secret, and relates the comical tale of his attempts to restage the trick with the aid of a truculent, and inebriated, assistant hiding beneath a table. In fact, the joke wasn't too far from the truth. In reality, mirrors were fixed between the slender table legs and were angled so that the reflections of the curtained side walls appeared to the audience as a view of the curtain behind the table. Stodare approached the table from the front so that his legs did not appear in the mirrors. An actor, concealed by the mirrors, was able to crouch beneath the table and put his head through a trapdoor and into the box to become the Sphinx.

Stodare performed the trick for Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, but had no time to enjoy his fame. He died in Paris in 1866 following a haemorrhage of the lungs.