The self-spelling wand was a hypothetical wand with the power of casting spells of its own accord. There was research going on in the subject of self-spelling wands in the early 1990s, and the Daily Prophet went on to report "new advances" in the field in September of that year. Arthur Weasley, however, made an off-hand reference to them in a conversation with his wife Molly to explain the seriousness of the situation regarding Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban, making seem as though it would be unlikely they would ever be created.