Fusing Coins

Trying to come up with a routine that fools magicians is a futile task. Yet for some reasons magicians dabble into that sort of Sisyphean task. Me too. This little coin routine came out if it. Even though I think that most magicians are not fooled by this, it turned out to be a routine that is fun to do. The idea of not making coins appear, but splitting them is not new by any means. But fusing them back together... I hardly see that. (same goes for sponge balls)

In terms of method this takes from a variety of sources. There is sleight of hand involved. (palms, shuttle passes and a good old false transfer) but also gimmickery. Expended Shell and Super Coin. It's the combination of it that makes the routine very practical. The angles are indeed an issue, as that one coin, could appear as pretty thick. Even though briefly. Adding a super expanded shell would allow for a fifth coin to be there. Think about it. I guess I could put the gimmicks together and streamline the routine a little bit. Then do a video of me doing this on the street and sell the shit for 60 bucks. Of course I would go for quarter, as you can borrow them. Instantly the whole gimmick price would drop and the "flaws" would become less of an issue. Making me money. Hell I'm sure either one of those big magic companies would lick their fingers in the prospect of expected profit. Fuck those!

Ineffective Effect

Right now I am spending all my time busking, so I have little to add. But might enjoy this, as it plays around with the premise of the usual bill switch. Admitting not being able to do that is not only a terrific joke (I've done it many, many times and it really gets a good laugh) it also nicely explains why you don't just produce money and live a good life.

Technically speaking there is nothing to explain I think. Although... may be the ditch of the bill. I rarely see magicians using the collar as a hold out. As you can see the attention is on the other hand, so the dirty hand going up is much less suspicious than the hand going down into the lap or something.

Ending the supposed bill switch with a transformation to pennies is pretty unexpected and actually feels a little more impossible. To a layperson the thought of maybe hiding a second bill seems like a plausible thing to do. But hiding a whole bunch of coins. That must at least be difficult.

In my official sets I usually borrow a 10 Euro bill. And I got ten 1 Euro coins hidden. So basically the effect is changing the bill for coins. Combine that with the initial joke and you will see that the joke actually serves as a hide out for the method. People won't think that any magic will occur right after the joke. Therefore the hands must be empty.

In my official sets I also reach of a glass right after the false transfer ditching the bill in my case while emerging with the glass. That creates time misdirection and let's me end clean. But I also like the collar method.

So there you have the trick. Nothing is gained, nothing is lost (if you change ten for ten) and people will remember you fondly...

Let me add a bonus: Assuming you do change the 10 Euro bill into ten 1 Euro coins... don't do that... actually change the 10 Euro bill into NINE 1 Euro coins. And hand those back in the glass. Ask the guy you borrowed the bill from to count the coins making sure they add up to 10 Euros. When he finds out that those are just nine coins you have great comedy potential. "Well duh.... tax?" And you can promise to make up for that in the rest of the show. Somehow making the missing Euro come back. That is a nice hook that could tie together a show.


The missing Euro could actually appear very early on during the rest of the show. But suddenly vanish as you want to give it back. Lot's of possibilities. And it feels less intrusive than the usual approach of promising to give back the vanished bill. 

Steamy Ring

There is a certain loveliness about dry ice. When it evaporates it goes into the realm that people think of when they think of magic. There is a problem handling it though. I found a freaking solution. A thermos bottle. Half full of that. Right before the show you take out a big piece with a pair of tweezers. And just put it on a piece of wood in your close up case. You can touch it. Briefly. The same way you can touch a hot cup of coffee. Of course people know about dry ice, so don't expect them to be all mystified. But it sure gets a great reaction. And if you use the smoke as an effect enhancer instead of an effect by itself, you will still get credit for the actual effect. Garret Thomas ' Ring Thing was the first thing I thought of. And it is alright.

Coins Across

Alright Coins Across. Aside from just vanishing a coin and producing it, there is hardly a coin trick that has more clarity of what is going on. Interestingly I still seen the effect butchered many many times. This version you see above is my try to create an in the hands version of the classic using a shell. I tried to get rid of the shell and had to substitute the stack of coins that is usually shown in the hand to a fan of coins. Naturally most Three Fly moves work nicely.

While technically the effect is not in the hands of the spectator, it sure feels like it. And the angles are pretty good. I tried to emulate the advantage of ending clean with the shell method by vanishing the last coin sooner than most routines would do it. I do this in a variety of ways. The above version is a simple ditch and the version below is the good old servante. Topit work also seems like a good way to go. However, most often I use my pouch. I wear that thing in real paid situations, and it allows for lapping while standing. Something that most pouch workers seem to miss.