Modern Coin Magic. J. B. Bobo

the performer exclaims, “One, two, three—go!” Quickly the handkerchief is jerked from the table, the right hand moving back toward the right coat pocket and dropping the back palmed coin therein, Fig. 2. Without hesitation pop the handkerchief between the two hands and toss it into the air. As it descends it is caught, opened and shown empty. The coin has disappeared.

      It should appear to the observers that you merely jerked the handkerchief from the table and threw it into the air. This is all you apparently do.

      At the beginning the spectators hear the coin strike the table underneath the handkerchief, and are expecting to see it lying on the table when the handkerchief is removed. They are so bewildered by the unexpected vanish of the coin that the action of the right hand goes unnoticed. The whole action should be done in a smooth continuous manner, without hesitation or fumbling.

      WITH A HANDKERCHIEF

      NUMBER THREE

      MILTON KORT

      Begin the trick by showing a half dollar in the right hand and a handkerchief in the left hand. Hold the right hand palm up with the coin clipped between the tips of the first and second fingers. The left hand drapes the handkerchief over the coin, making sure coin will be at its center, then the left hand grasps the coin through the cloth from above, with the fingers at the front and the thumb at the rear. That is what apparently happens, but actually the left hand grasps only the center of the cloth as the right hand moves downward and inward toward the left and tosses the coin into the left coat pocket. Without hesitation the right hand continues in an arc as it is brought up about chin height, the right forefinger gesturing toward the spectators, as you caution them to “watch!”

      After the left hand grasps the handkerchief by its center the right hand is immediately brought downward in a counterclockwise movement before it swings up to assume the position described. As it swings around in this circular movement it passes very close to the left coat pocket. As it passes it tosses the coin into that pocket, Fig. 1. To facilitate the coin going into the pocket, a handkerchief can be wadded up and placed in beforehand. The pocket then remains open and makes an easier target.

      The coin should not be aimed at the pocket itself but at a spot two or three inches above its opening, and should be in a vertical position as it strikes the coat at this point. It then falls easily into the pocket. The pocket opening presents a difficult target to hit but if the coin strikes the coat flatly somewhere not too far above the pocket it will find its mark automatically.

      The act of bringing the right hand up to a point in front of you as you direct the spectators to “watch” is a perfectly natural one. Even though you should actually take the coin in the left hand the right hand would still follow the same movement as described to dispose of the coin. Try it before a mirror, going through the action slowly until you are thoroughly familiar with the course the right hand must follow. Once you are familiar with it you will be able to remove the right hand from underneath the handkerchief, toss the coin into the coat pocket, and bring hand up for the gesture without hesitation. It should be all one motion and should appear that you merely grasped the coin through the handkerchief with the left hand and then gestured with the right forefinger as you commanded “watch.”

      When the right hand with the coin leaves the handkerchief, the left is holding the handkerchief not directly in front of the body but a bit to the left. Handkerchief must be held about eight inches in front of the left breast coat pocket to mask the flight of the coin. Although coin actually travels only two or three inches before it enters the pocket it is completely hidden in its flight by the handkerchief.

      After cautioning the spectators to “watch,” the right hand grasps one corner of the handkerchief and flicks it into the air. It is caught with both hands, opened and shown on both sides. The coin has vanished without a trace.

      The effect is worth the necessary time to master it.

      IN A SPECTATOR’S POCKET

      Who would suspect the magician of disposing of a vanished coin in a spectator’s pocket? Yet, this is exactly what is done. In each instance the coin is secretly deposited in a helper’s breast coat pocket. Here are three methods.

      (a) Display a coin lying in the right hand on the two middle fingers in position for back palming. The left hand turns palm down over the end of the right fingers and pretends to take the coin, but it is back palmed with the right hand. (See The Back Palm, page 28.) The left hand is closed while the palm of the right hand appears empty. This should be done right under the nose of the observer for the action that follows. “Would you mind standing back a little,” remarks the wizard, gesticulating with the right hand. In this movement the performer’s hand nears the spectator’s breast pocket, and the coin is tossed therein, from the back of the right hand, Fig. 1. The distance the coin is thrown depends on the skill of the operator. Even if the spectator’s coat is touched in this tossing motion he does not notice it, or pays little attention to it. The coin is disposed of in a natural movement, gesturing for the spectator to move back.

      Instead of actually tossing the coin into the spectator’s pocket you can deliberately drop it in from the back of the hand as you give him a gentle push backward. If the spectators should notice the move they would not see anything wrong because they would see an empty palm as the secret deposit was made.

      This may seem dangerously daring at first, but experience will bring confidence. Soon the subtlety can be executed with nonchalance. The move will pass unnoticed if done smoothly, without haste, but without delay.

      Finally, the left hand is opened and shown empty.

      The vanished coin should not be immediately reproduced from the spectator’s pocket, but recovered later, in a more subtle manner, after a few other effects have been performed. In due course you direct the spectator to hold his hands together in a cupped fashion over his heart while you display another coin. Explain that you will cause the coin to travel from your own hands to those of your helper so fast the eye will be unable to follow it. Vanish the coin in your best magical manner, but when the assistant opens his hands they are empty. Apparently you have failed, but then you remember, “Maybe the coin went so fast it missed your hands altogether. Perhaps it is in your breast coat pocket; would you please see.” The spectator extracts the coin from his pocket.

      The entire effect is greatly enhanced if the original coin is a borrowed half dollar. It is marked for future identification and vanished as explained. A duplicate coin is magically reproduced instead of the marked coin, and it in turn is vanished. It is this coin that you attempt to pass into the spectator’s hands, and fail. Then when the spectator extracts the missing half dollar from his pocket and identifies it, you have a superb magical problem indeed.

      (b) In this method the prestidigitator drops the coin into the assistant’s breast coat pocket from the right thumb palm.

      The coin is vanished in any manner that leaves it retained in the right thumb palm. It is from this concealment that it is dropped into a spectator’s pocket. The performer requests the spectator to move back a little so the others may get a better view. He gently pushes back the nearest observer under this pretext, and disposes of the thumb palmed coin in his pocket in the action.

      It will be found that a coin in the right thumb palm protrudes from the hand at the perfect angle for dropping it into an onlooker’s pocket. In this instance the coin is not tossed, but merely allowed to fall into the spectator’s pocket, as he is given a gentle nudge backward.

      The coin is later recovered using the ruse explained in