THE MASCOT COIN BOX
This is a little device on the same principle as the well-known flat card-box, but adapted for use with coins, and with an addition which largely increases its utility inasmuch as it will not only enable the performer to “change” or “vanish,” but to get instant and secret possession of a coin placed in it.
The box (see Fig. 14) is of ebonized wood, unpolished, and in size about three inches square. It consists of two parts (a and b), which are alike in size and appearance, so that either half may be regarded as “box” and either as “lid,” at pleasure, according as the one or the other is made uppermost, no difference being perceptible between them. In the centre of each half is a circular well, not quite two inches in diameter.
Used with the box is a thin disc of wood corresponding to that of which the box is made. This is of such diameter as to fall easily from the one well into the other, according to the way in which the box is turned, but on the other hand fits so closely within that its presence or absence is not perceptible to sight. If a coin be laid in the box upon the disc and the box is then closed and turned over, the disc settles down over the coin in the opposite half, either leaving the box apparently empty or exhibiting in place of the original coin a substitute with which the opposite side of the box has been previously loaded.
Fig. 14
Thus far, as the reader will doubtless have perceived, the effect produced (save that a coin instead of a card is dealt with) is precisely the same as in the case of the card-box. But the “mascot” has a speciality of its own, in the fact that in that half of the box marked a (see Fig. 14) a horizontal slot is cut on the side opposite to the hinge, just long enough and wide enough to allow the passage of a half-crown. The wood being dead black, this small opening is invisible save to close inspection, which the box is never called upon to undergo.
When it is desired to gain secret possession of a coin lent by one of the company, the lender is invited to place it himself in the box, held open bookwise as in Fig. 14, the side b of the box having been previously loaded with a duplicate coin.
The lender of the coin may place it in whichever side of the box he pleases, but the manner of closing the box will vary accordingly. If he places it in the side a, the opposite (or loaded) side is treated as the lid and turned down over a. In this case, the coin being already in the slotted half, no turn-over of the box is necessary, the performer having merely to allow the coin to slip out into his hand. In the opposite case, viz., that of the coin being placed in b, a is treated as the lid, and the coin being in this case above the disc the box must be turned over before it can be extracted. If preferred the performer can hold the box so that the coin will naturally be placed in b, but in this case the turn-over is unavoidable.
When the box is again opened, the duplicate coin is revealed in place of the original, which is meanwhile dealt with as may be necessary for the purpose of the trick. After the borrowed coin has been extracted, the further fall of the disc closes the slot, and bars any possibility of the substitute coin escaping in the same way.
The following will be found an easy way of working the exchange.
“For the purpose of my next experiment,” says the performer, “I shall have to ask the loan of a half-crown; marked in such a way that you can be sure of knowing it again. I should like one, if possible, that has seen some service, for a coin in the course of circulation imbibes a certain amount of magnetic fluid from each person who handles it; and this renders a well-worn coin more susceptible to magical influences than a new one.”
The reason alleged for asking the loan of an old coin is of course “spoof,” but there is a reason; and it is two-fold. In the first place it ensures your getting a coin tolerably like your own; which you have chosen in accordance with that description, and which you have marked after some commonplace fashion, say with a cross scratched upon one of its faces. Secondly, a well-worn coin, having lost the sharp edge which is caused by the milling in a new one, passes the more easily through the slot, which for obvious reasons is kept as narrow as possible.
Performer, advancing toward the person offering the coin, continues:
“I don’t want even to touch the coin myself till the very last moment, so I will ask you meanwhile to put it in this little box. I believe it was built for a watch-case, but as I don’t happen to need one, I use it to hold my money, when I have any, or when I can get somebody to lend me some.”
The box is held open bookwise, as above mentioned, and closed according to circumstances, in one or the other of the two ways described.
“I will now ask some gentleman to take charge of the coin in the box. Who will do so? You will, Sir? Thank you. But stay! I think I heard somebody say (it was only said in a whisper but I heard it) ‘I don’t believe the half crown is in the box.’ It is very sad to find people so suspicious, especially when I take such pains to prove that there is ‘no deception.’ But the gentleman was wrong, you see.” (He opens box, and shows the substitute coin.) “Here it is. Take it out, sir, and keep it in your own hands till I ask you for it again.”
During the delivery of the patter the borrowed coin has been extracted, and the coin exhibited in the box and handed for safe-keeping is, of course, the substitute. The box, as being no longer needed, is laid without remark upon the table, and the trick proceeds, after whatever may have been its intended fashion.