You thank him for his assistance, hand him the penny, and dismiss him to his seat. Naturally enough, he objects to accept the penny in place of his florin. You pretend at first not to understand him, but, as if suddenly enlightened, you exclaim, “Oh, the florin, you want the florin? My dear sir,” indicating the penny, “that is the florin. At present it is under an electric influence, but you have only to wait till that goes off (it won’t take more than three weeks or so), when it will resume its former appearance. You don’t believe me, I see; but I can easily convince you by discharging the electric fluid, when the change will take place at once. Observe!” You take the penny between the thumb and second finger of the left hand (after the manner indicated in [Fig. 66]), and make Change 4, making a gentle rubbing movement with the fingers and thumb of the right hand before you open that hand and disclose the restored florin, at the same time carelessly dropping your left hand to your side, and letting fall the penny into your pochette on that side. Bring up the left hand again, showing, but without apparent design, that it is empty; and still holding the coin in the right hand, make Pass 1, as if you transferred it to the left hand. Make a motion with the left hand, as if handing the coin, and say to the owner, “Will you be good enough to examine the florin, and see that it is the same you marked.” He naturally holds out his hand for the coin, which he believes to be in your left hand, and which you pretend to give him; but it has vanished. “Well,” you say, “is it the same florin?” Looking, probably, rather foolish, he replies that he has not got it. “Not got it!” you say; “why I have just given it to you. I passed it into your pocket. Look for yourself.” He forthwith begins to search his pockets. “You are trying the wrong one,” you say; “this is the pocket.” As if desiring merely to assist his search, you plunge into any pocket which he has not yet tried your right hand (in the palm of which the coin was left after the pass), and letting the coin drop to the finger ends, take it out as if it were already in the pocket, as nine-tenths of the audience will believe it to have been.
To make a marked Florin and Penny, wrapped in separate Handkerchiefs, change places at command.—Borrow a florin (or half-crown) and a penny, requesting the owners to mark them, that they may be sure of knowing them again. Also borrow two pocket handkerchiefs.
It may be well to mention, once for all, that it is generally desirable to borrow from the audience, when you can, any indifferent article used in a trick (e.g., a hat, a watch, or a handkerchief), as you thereby seem to give a guarantee for the absence of preparation. Articles so borrowed are taken upon trust, so to speak, and by making a secret exchange you may still use a prepared substitute, which will escape the close scrutiny to which any article confessedly provided by yourself would be subjected.
While the articles above mentioned are being collected from the audience, you secretly palm in your left hand a penny of your own. Receiving the borrowed coins in your right hand, apparently transfer them to the left, but really only transfer the florin, the marked penny remaining in your right hand. This may be effected by making Pass 2 with the marked penny, at the same time allowing the marked florin to drop from the palm as directed in Change 3. Take the earliest opportunity of transferring the marked penny to the palm of the right hand, and showing the marked florin and the substitute penny (which the spectators take to be the genuine one) on the open left hand, place them on your table, begging the audience to observe that they do not for one moment leave their sight. Then picking up with the right hand the florin, on which you may casually show the mark, and throwing one of the borrowed handkerchiefs over the hand, take hold (through the handkerchief) of apparently the florin which you have just shown, but really of the marked penny, and transfer the marked florin to the palm. The shape of the coin, which the audience take to be the florin, will be distinctly seen through the handkerchief, whose folds will fall down around it. Give the handkerchief containing the coin to some person, requesting him to hold it tightly just below the coin, and well above his head, that all may see it.[J] Now take up the substitute penny, and apparently wrap it, in like manner, in the second handkerchief, really substituting as before the coin concealed in your palm. The substitute penny, which remains in your right hand, you must drop into your pochette or profonde at the first available opportunity. Give the second handkerchief to another person to hold. The first handkerchief now, to all appearance, contains the florin, and the second the penny. Invite the two persons to stand face to face, the hands holding the handkerchiefs just touching, and after gravely cautioning them to hold very tight, etc., etc., give their hands a gentle rap with your wand, saying, “Change!” Upon examination, the coins are found to have obeyed your commands.
[J] This takes it out of the range of his eyes, and prevents his indulging any desire for a premature examination of the contents.
Managed with neatness and address, this is an admirable drawing-room trick; the previous marking of the coins apparently precluding any possibility of using substitutes, and allowing the spectator no alternative but to admit that by some mysterious means the identical coins have changed places.
A similar trick may be performed without the use of the handkerchief. As before, you borrow a marked florin and penny, exchanging the latter for one of your own, and palm the genuine one. Taking up the marked florin from the table, you hand it to some one to hold, substituting for it as you do so the genuine penny by Change 3, as indicated in the trick last described. The florin is thus left in your right hand. Palm it, and take up the substitute penny between the second finger and thumb of the left hand, and pretend by Pass 4 to transfer it to the right, which you immediately close. Drop the penny into your pochette on the left side, and announce that by your magic power you will compel the penny which you hold to change places with the florin held by the spectator. When the hands are opened, the supposed change is found to be accomplished.
To make two marked Coins, wrapped in separate Handkerchiefs, come together in one of them.—The coins and handkerchiefs borrowed for the purpose of the last trick will again serve in this one. Palm in your right hand a penny of your own, and throw over the same hand one of the borrowed handkerchiefs. This will effectually conceal the substitute penny, which you may now take between the finger and thumb. Holding the handkerchief spread out upon the open hand, you take up with the left hand the marked penny and place it on the handkerchief, as if to wrap it therein, but at the same time with the third finger push a fold of the handkerchief under the substitute penny in your right hand. You now invert the handkerchief over your left hand for a minute, allowing the marked penny to drop back into that hand, and at the same time twist the fold already mentioned around the substitute. The audience see the shape of a coin wrapped up in the handkerchief, and naturally believe that it is that of the marked penny which you have apparently placed inside it. In reality, it is that of your own penny, wrapped merely in an outside fold. You now hand the handkerchief to some one to hold, requesting him to grasp the coin, and hold tightly.
Fig. 76.