Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

by Professor Hoffmann

Fig. 79.

This effect is produced as follows: The coins being in your right hand, you introduce them with the second, third, and fourth fingers under the edge of the trouser; then, with the first finger and thumb which are left outside, you nip them through the cloth, and hold them an instant till you have withdrawn the remaining fingers, when with a slight shake you let them fall.

The metallic chink on tapping the pockets may be produced in two ways. One method is to use a hollow metal wand, japanned to match the one you ordinarily use, and containing throughout its length a loose piece of thick wire, which, striking against the sides of the tube, exactly imitates the chink of money. The other mode is to use merely the ordinary wand, allowing the end which you hold to chink against the money held in the same hand. With a little practice the effect is equally deceptive as with the special wand.

To pass a Marked Florin (or Half-crown) into the Centre of two Oranges in Succession.—For this excellent trick a little previous preparation is necessary. A slit, an inch and a half deep, and just large enough to admit a florin, is made in each of two oranges, and in one of them a florin (which for distinction we will call No. 1) is placed. These must be put in readiness behind the scenes, or so placed as to be out of sight of the audience.

The performer palms in either hand a second florin (No. 2), and advancing to his audience, borrows from one of them a florin, first marked by the owner. (This last we will call No. 3). He invites special attention to the fact that throughout the experiment he is about to perform, the coin is never removed from their sight, and he accordingly places it (really substituting, by one or other of the changes, florin No. 2) in full view on his table. He then goes out to fetch an orange, and takes the opportunity of slipping the marked florin (No. 3) into the vacant one. He brings forward this orange publicly, and places it on his table at his right hand. (The other orange he has meanwhile placed in his secret pocket on the right side, ready for palming at a moment’s notice.) He then says, “I think, by the way, it would be as well to have two oranges. Can any gentleman oblige me with one?” No one responding, he looks about him, and presently stepping up to one of his audience, pretends to take from his hair, hat, or handkerchief this second orange (which contains, it will be remembered, florin No. 1), and places it on the left hand side of the table. He now (standing behind his table) asks into which orange, the right or the left, he shall pass the florin. As the right of the audience is his left, he is at liberty to interpret the answer in whichever way he thinks proper, and he does so in such manner as to designate the orange containing the non-marked florin, No. 1. Thus, if the audience say “the left,” he answers, “On my left? Very good!” If they choose “the right,” he says, “On your right? Very good!” Not one person in a thousand will detect the equivoque.

Taking up florin No. 2 from the table, and holding it in his left hand, he pretends by the tourniquet to take it in his right, and thence to pass it into the orange, meanwhile dropping it from his left hand on to the servante, or into the profonde. Showing his hands empty, he cuts open the orange, and exhibits the florin (No. 1) therein contained. Before giving the audience time to examine it for the mark, he hears, or pretends to hear, a murmur among them to the effect that that was not the orange chosen. “Pardon me,” he says, “some of you seem to think that I had a special reason for preferring this particular orange. I gave you absolute liberty to choose which you liked, and I understood you to say that you chose this one. However, in order to satisfy everyone, I will repeat the trick with the other orange.” Taking up the second orange, he thrusts the knife through it, in the slit already made, and gives the knife thus loaded to some one to hold. Then, standing at some distance from it, he takes up florin No. 1, and, getting rid of it by one or other of the “passes” previously described, he makes a motion as of throwing it towards the orange. He now requests the person holding the orange himself to cut it open; when the genuine florin, No. 3, is found therein, and duly identified.

The finding of the second orange in the possession of the company may, if preferred, be omitted, and both oranges be brought forward openly in the first instance.

Occasionally a refractory spectator may insist upon the wrong orange (i.e., that containing the genuine coin) being cut open first. As you have offered the audience the choice, you cannot well resist this; but it makes very little difference. In accordance with the general desire, you cut open the orange, and show the coin (No. 3), drawing particular attention to the mark. Its identity being fully established, you offer, for the general satisfaction, to pass the same coin into the second orange. Being satisfied that it was the genuine coin in the first case, the audience will the more readily believe that it is so in the second; but in this case you should cut open the second orange yourself, as it will be necessary to again substitute the genuine florin before you hand the coin to be examined.

The Flying Money.—To make a Coin pass invisibly from the one hand to the other, and finally through the Table.—Have ready beforehand a florin or half-crown, with a little wax on one side of it, and take an opportunity of secretly sticking it, by means of the wax, against the under side of the table (any ordinary table) with which you intend to perform the trick. Have also a similar coin of your own palmed in your right hand. Borrow a marked florin from one of the company, and lay it carelessly upon the table, but in so doing exchange it for the one previously palmed. You now have the substitute on the table, and the marked coin palmed in its place. Turn up your sleeves, to show that they have nothing to do with the trick, and make a few introductory remarks about the extraordinary power of the mesmeric influence as applied to metallic substances; then, taking up the coin from the table between the fingers and thumb of the left hand, which you hold with the palm towards the company, so as to show incidentally that it is otherwise empty, continue to the following effect:—“Here, ladies and gentlemen, is an ordinary coin, a mere inert piece of silver. If you take it in your hand, there it will remain till you lay it down. But let a person possessing the mesmeric gift only breathe upon it” (you suit the action to the word), “and it is at once endowed with hearing, sense, and motion, and will fly from hand to hand at the mere word of command, and that so rapidly, that its flight is absolutely invisible. See, I take it so” (taking it in the right hand). “One, two, three! Pass! and it flies back into my left hand again. In order to show that there has been no substitution, perhaps the owner will kindly verify the mark.” The coin is examined, and found to be the same.