Hugard's
Monthl
V
D E V O T E D SOLELY TO THE I N T E R E S T S
OF M A G I C
JUNE, 1958
Vol. XVI, No. 1
AND
MAGICIANS 50 Cents
COLUMN FOR COIN MEN By JOHN V. HOPE and ROBERT OLSON
Being this is the first in a series of articles, some introduction is necessary. Each month you will find in this column coin effects and routines based on new sleights and unusual principles. The sleights used will not always be easy. But it is our guarantee that the effects found in this column will be effective and practical coin magic. EFFECT: An English penny and half dollar are dropped into a handkerchief and handed to a spectator. The spectator drops one of the coins from the handkerchief into your hand. You vanish the coin with a wave of your hand, tap the spectator's hand and reproduce the coin he is supposed to be holding in the handkerchief. Examination of the handkerchief reveals that he is now holding in his hand the coin you just vanished. perform this effect you will have to master two forms of a sleight called "Flick." Hold your left hand in a comfortable palm-up position in front of your body and place a half dollar on the tips of the first two fingers. Holding your right hand palm down, the first finger extended and the others closed, pass your right hand over the left and stop at the point where the closed fingers of your right hand touch your left wrist. (See Fig. 1). Swing your right hand away from your body over the left hand. As your right index finger passes the base of your left thumb, the left wrist gives a short flick toward the body and at the same time the left fingers give a push to the coin by closing a little. This closing motion is done quickly and for a short distance. The flick of the wrist starts the coin traveling in an arc toSLEIGHTS: TO
/ . SLEEVE MOVEMENT AS RIGHT HAND MAKES AN ARC. 2. DIRECTION OF WRISTJERK. 3. DIRECTION OF COIN TRAVEL TO SLEEVE.
ward the right sleeve, the closing motion of the left fingers gives the coin height to free it of the friction of the left hand and to bring it up to the right sleeve. Keep the motion of your left hand at a minimum and use a sweeping gesture for the swing of your right hand. The other form of this same sleight is to flick a coin up your right sleeve while the right hand is moving toward the body and drops two coins into the left hand. Place a copper English penny on your left fingers in readiness for a normal flick vanish, finger palm a half dollar in your right hand and hold another half dollar between the thumb and first finger of your right hand. Extend the right hand in front of you as if you were taking the half from a spectator or picking it up from a table and swing it toward your left hand. As the right hand approaches the left, flick the penny up your right sleeve and drop both halves from the right hand. As soon as these coins arrive in the left hand close your hand over them.
This leaves you with two half dollars in your hand when the spectators think you have a half dollar and an English penny. PROCEDURE: In your right pocket you have two half dollars and in your left pocket an English penny. Reach into both pockets and bring out the coins they hold but finger palm the extra half as you do so. Drop the copper penny and the unpalmed half on the table and ask to borrow a gentleman's handkerchief. Take this with your right hand and drape it over your left. Pick the penny up in your right hand and drop it on the left hand in position for the flick. Pick up the half dollar in your right hand and toss it into the left hand. As you do this, flick the penny up your right sleeve drop both halves into the left hand and turn the left hand over. Through the handkerchief grasp a coin in each hand and have your spectator hold them the same way. Ask him to drop either coin into your left hand which you hold underneath. He drops one of the halves and you have him close his hand over the other which he thinks is the penny. While he is dropping the coin into your left hand lower your right hand to your side and retreive the penny from your right sleeve and finger palm it. Flick vanish the coin in your left hand up your right sleeve and tap with your right hand the spectator's hand which is holding the coin. Pass your right hand back over the left and drop the penny palmed in the right hand onto your left. That completes the sleight. All that is left to do is to have the spectator open the handkerchief and find the half dollar inside.