An elite group of magicians dubbed "The Academy of the Art of Magic" was formed in New York City in 1936. Membership was exclusive, and by invitation only.
The formation of the Academy was announced in The Frederick Post in George Ross's column, "In New York":
So last week, a small clique of magic men split the ranks and formed their own fraternity. Cardini, Nate Leipzig and Dai Vernon are some of the members in the new secret order called The Academy of the Art of Magic. They are pledged to keep their gali-gali to themselves.
Al Baker, G.W. Hunter, J. Warren Keane, Arthur Finley, S. Leo Horowitz, Max Malini, Charlie Miller, Garrick Spencer and Paul Fox comprised the initial, exclusive membership. David Bamberg (Fu Manchu) was later added to the group.
Upon election to the Academy, each member was given a medallion bearing its logo, and with the member's initials and date of election engraved on the reverse. Only a limited number of these medallions were struck; today, only three examples are known: Paul Fox's, J. Warren Keane's, and Dai Vernon's. The August, 2009 issue of Magicol, the journal of the Magic Collectors' Association, cited the AMA medallion as one token collectors will "never see." That's not the case - at least this month.