Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

by Professor Hoffmann

The Magic Cover and Vanishing Halfpence.—This is a very old trick, but is still very popular with a juvenile audience. The principal apparatus consists of half-a-dozen halfpence, of which the centre portion has been cut out, leaving each a mere rim of metal. Upon these is placed a complete halfpenny, and the whole are connected together by a rivet running through the whole thickness of the pile. When placed upon the table, with the complete coin upwards, they have all the appearance of a pile of ordinary halfpence, the slight lateral play allowed by the rivet aiding the illusion. A little leather cap (shaped something like a fez, with a little button on the top, and of such a size as to fit loosely over the pile of halfpence), with an ordinary die, such as backgammon is played with, complete the necessary requirements.

You begin by drawing attention to your magic cap and die, late the property of the king of the fairies. In order to exhibit their mystic powers, you request the loan of half-a-dozen halfpence (the number must, of course, correspond with that of your own pile), and, while they are being collected, you take the opportunity to slip the little cap over your prepared pile, which should be placed ready to hand behind some small object on the table, so as to be unseen by the spectators. Pressing the side of the cap, you lift the pile with it, and place the whole together in full view, in close proximity to the die. The required halfpence having been now collected, you beg all to observe that you place the leather cap (which the spectators suppose to be empty) fairly over the die. Taking the genuine coins in either hand, you pretend, by one or other of the passes, to transfer them to the other. Holding the hand which is now supposed to contain the coins immediately above the cap, you announce that they will at your command pass under the cap, from which the die will disappear to make room for them. Saying, “One, two, three! Pass!” you open your hand, and show that the coins have vanished. If you use a regular table, you may place them on the servante, and show both hands empty; and then, lifting up the cap by the button, you show the hollow pile, covering the die, and appearing to be the genuine coins. Once more covering the pile with the cap, you announce that you will again extract the coins, and replace the die; and to make the trick still more extraordinary, you will this time pass the coins right through the table. Placing the hand which holds the genuine coins beneath the table, and once more saying, “One, two, three! Pass!” you chink the coins, and, bringing them up, place them on the table. Again picking up the cap, but this time pressing its sides, you lift up the hollow pile with it, and disclose the die. Quickly transfer the cap, without the pile, to the other hand, and place it on the table, to bear the brunt of examination, while you get rid of the prepared coins.

The trick may be varied in many ways, according to the ingenuity of the performer, but it belongs at best to the “juvenile” school of conjuring, and we have not thought it worth while to waste space in elaborating it.

The Animated Coin, which answers Questions, etc.—This trick is performed in a variety of different ways, some with apparatus, some without. The effect produced is as follows:—The performer borrows a coin, and, after making a few mesmeric passes over it, drops it into a glass upon the table, where it immediately begins to jump about as if alive. The performer then announces that the coin thus mesmerized has the power of fortune-telling, naming chosen cards, predicting the number that will be thrown by a pair of dice, etc. The coin answers “Yes” by jumping three times, “No” by jumping once—according to the approved spiritualistic code of signals. We shall not stay to discuss the questions asked, which are of the same class as those which are generally put to the Magic Bell or Drum, but proceed at once to explain the various modes of producing the movement of the coin.

One plan is for the performer to have a coin of his own, to which is attached a long black silk thread, the other end of which is in the hand of an assistant behind the scenes, or elsewhere out of sight of the audience. This coin is placed on the table in readiness, but concealed from the spectators by some larger object in front of it. When the performer advances to the table with the borrowed coin, he secretly picks up the prepared one, and drops the latter into the glass as being that which he has borrowed. A short, quick jerk of the thread by the assistant will make the coin spring up and fall back again, producing the required chink. It is only necessary to be careful not to jerk the thread so violently as to make the coin fly out of the glass. It is desirable, where practicable, to make the thread pass either through a hole in the top of the table, or a ring fixed to its surface and placed immediately behind the glass. This will keep that portion of the thread nearest to the glass perpendicular behind it, in which position it will be completely hidden by the glass, and so be invisible.

Some performers prefer to use the actual coin borrowed. The arrangements in this case are the same as above described, save that the silk thread, instead of having a substitute coin attached to it, has merely a pellet of wax at its end. The performer having handed round the glass for inspection, and standing in front of the table with his left side turned towards the audience, picks up a pellet of wax with his right hand at the same moment that, holding the borrowed coin in his left hand, he begs the spectators to take especial notice that he really uses the borrowed coin, and no other. Having said this, he transfers the coin, by a perfectly natural movement, to his right hand, and pressing against it the waxen pellet, drops it into the glass.

Fig. 82.

The third and last mode of performing the trick is by means of a special glass, with a hole drilled through its foot. This is placed on a suitable pedestal (see [Fig. 82]), in which works up and down a steel needle, forming the upper portion of a kind of loose piston, a. The top of the pedestal is covered with green baize, allowing free passage to the needle, which when pushed upward strikes the coin from below, with much the same effect as the thread pulling it from above. This pedestal is only available with one of the mechanical tables which will be described in connection with “stage tricks.” Such tables contain, among other contrivances, what are called “pistons,” being small metal rods, which, by pulling a string, are made to rise vertically an inch or so above the surface of the table, sinking down again as soon as the cord is released. The pedestal is placed immediately above one of these, whose movement is in turn communicated to the loose piston in the pedestal, and thence to the coin.

It only remains to be stated how the necessary knowledge for the answers is communicated to the person who controls the movements of the piece. With respect to chosen cards, the cards are either indicated by the wording of the questions, or are agreed on beforehand, the performer taking care to “force” the right ones. The assistant is enabled to predict the throw of the dice by the simple expedient of using a small boxwood vase, in which there are two compartments, in one of which a pair of dice (apparently the same which have just been dropped in haphazard from the top) have been arranged beforehand for the purpose of the trick. The ordinary fortune-telling questions, as to “Which young lady will be married first?” “Which spends most time at her looking-glass?” “Which has most sweethearts?” and so on, are either answered in accordance with previous arrangement, or according to the fancy of the moment. Of course, where a question of this kind is asked, the performer takes care to follow up the question by designating a number of persons in succession, so that a mere “Yes” or “No” may be a sufficient answer.