Fig. 11.—Trick Coin
An excellent coin trick, to be used in conjunction with the preceding illusion, is the following: The performer shows a coin and forthwith proceeds to pass it into the hat by way of the crown. That there may be no doubt as to the actual passing of the coin it is left sticking half way through the hat; a final push and it is heard to fall inside. The coin used is a trick one constructed as follows: A groove is first turned round its extreme edge deep enough to conceal a small india-rubber band. It is next cut in half across its diameter. A hole is drilled in the centre of one half in which is inserted a needle point. In the other half a slot is cut to admit the needle. The two halves are now placed together and kept in position by passing the band round the groove afore mentioned. (See Fig. 11.) This coin has a distinct advantage over the older form in which the one half only was used, in so far that it may at the outset be shown as an ordinary coin. When giving the final push it is, of course, withdrawn and palmed.
Coin in the Bottle.—With a coin grooved and prepared as above and cut into three pieces, but minus the needle point, the amateur can perform the deceptive trick of the half-dollar in the bottle. You first borrow a half dollar from a spectator, and secretly exchange it for your "folding-coin." Exhibit the bottle, which should be of clear glass, preferably, and demonstrate the impossibility of passing a coin into its neck. Then grasp the mouth of the bottle in the manner depicted in Fig. 12, the coin being concealed from the spectators by your fingers. Bend the coin and insert it in the neck of the bottle, after which give the mouth of the bottle a violent blow with the palm of the hand. The coin will enter the bottle, and expand as soon as it passes the neck. You may now pass the bottle for inspection, without any one being able to discover the secret of the trick. A clever amateur with the aid of a very fine metal saw and a file can manufacture the folding coin for himself.
Fig. 12.—Coin in Bottle
CHAPTER IV
TRICKS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS
Peregrinations of a handkerchief.—For the following series of experiments you will require three fifteen inch silk handkerchiefs (the best material for making these is fine quality sarcenet), an ordinary small sliding match-box, a candle in a candlestick, and a conjuring wand; also a false finger and a conjuring pistol, hereafter described.