Fig. 220.
There is another speciality about the Domino-box, which renders it available to cause the disappearance of a coin placed in it; though, as in the case of the “Rattle-box,” described in the chapter devoted to coin tricks, the coin is heard to rattle within it till the very moment of its disappearance. This is effected as follows:—Between the bottom of the drawer and that of the box proper is a very small space, just large enough to allow a shilling to lie between the true and false bottom. On the under side of the drawer, however (see [Fig. 220], showing the under side of the drawer portion), are glued two thin slips of wood, gradually approaching each other, and thereby narrowing this space to a width of about half an inch. If when the lid is withdrawn with the drawer, as already explained, a shilling or sovereign is dropped into the box, and the box again closed, the coin will have plenty of room to rattle about as long as it remains at the end a, but if shaken down with a sharp jerk in the direction of the end b, it will become caught in the narrower portion of the opening, and will thenceforth be silent, unless it may suit the purpose of the performer to release it again, which he can do by a sharp downward jerk in the direction of a. Of course, as the coin is below the false bottom, it will appear to have vanished when the box is opened in the ordinary way.
The Domino-box is sometimes used to change a sovereign to its equivalent in silver, the “change” being beforehand wrapped in paper, and concealed in the drawer. It is sometimes also caused to fill itself with bonbons, in place of a coin deposited in it.
These boxes are usually made in pairs, alike in appearance, but the one is a simple box without any speciality, and may therefore be handed round for examination, the mechanical box being adroitly substituted at the right moment. The fact that two boxes are used is, of course, carefully concealed.
Fig. 221.
The Coffee Trick. (Coffee Berries changed to Hot Coffee, White Beans to Sugar, and Bran to Hot Milk).—The pieces of apparatus used in this trick are of brass or japanned tin, and are three in number, two being tall cylindrical vases, standing eighteen to twenty inches in height, the third a goblet-shaped vase, of about half that height. The latter is made upon the principle of the “bran glass,” above described, consisting of three portions (see [Fig. 221]), the goblet a, the cover c, and a shallow tray b, which fits into the goblet, and which, if the cover is pressed down smartly, and again removed, is lifted off with it. It differs, however, from the “bran shape” in the fact that b is open at top instead of at bottom, and is only about one-fifth the depth of the goblet, leaving therefore considerable space below it. This portion of the apparatus is prepared for use by placing in the goblet a quantity of hot milk, putting b in position above it, and finally filling b with loose bran.
Fig. 222.
The construction of the other two vases will be quickly understood upon an inspection of [Figs. 222], [223]. a is the vase, and c the cover fitting loosely over it, but between these two is a well, b, made double, so as to fit at once into and outside of a, after a mode of construction which we have more than once had occasion to notice. There is a bayonet-catch at the lower edge of c, corresponding with a pin or stud at the lower edge of b, so that c may be lifted off either with or without b. There is a similar catch at the lower edge of b, corresponding with a stud at the bottom of a, but cut in the opposite direction to the other catch, so that the action of unlocking a from b locks b to c, and vice versâ.