Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun

by Various

This is a trick fit only for lads with plenty of pocket-money, but it is both simple and neat. Take two halfpennies and two shillings, and grind part of each coin on one side only, so that they may be but of half the usual thickness, then rivet together a shilling and a halfpenny, and file round the edges of the halfpenny to make it the same size as the shilling. Place one of these double pieces, with the shilling upwards, on the palm of the hand, at the bottom of the three first fingers; place the other piece, with the halfpenny uppermost, in like manner, on the other hand. Let the spectators notice in which hand is the halfpenny, and in which the shilling. Then shut both hands, when the pieces will naturally turn over; open the hands again, and the coins will apparently have become transposed.

THE PENETRATIVE COIN.

Provide a small box that will shut with a spring, but that can only be opened with a key, and place this box open in a pocket or some equally convenient receptacle. Ask some person present to mark a coin, so that it may be known again, say a shilling, and lend it for the purpose of the trick. Take this piece in one hand, and being provided with another coin of the same appearance to place in the other hand, slip the marked coin dexterously into the small box and close it, change the remaining coin from one hand to the other, keeping it in view of the company, in order that it may be supposed to be the marked coin. Place the box containing the marked coin upon the table, convey away the coin left in the hand, and pretend to make it pass into the box. Present the box to the person who lent the coin, and inform him that the marked coin is therein. Let the key be then given him, and when the box is unlocked, bid him thoroughly examine the coin, and satisfy himself and the audience that it is the genuine marked coin handed up by him.

At the best shops at which conjuring apparatus is supplied, boxes fitting one into the other are provided for this trick, all of which may be quickly closed at one movement, but which require considerable manipulation to open one by one.

THE PHANTOM COIN.

Take a sixpence or other small coin, the impression of which is new and sharply cut, and fasten it unnoticed by means of a bit of common wax to the end of the thumb. Then, when speaking to some one of the company, show him the coin, ask him to hold out his hand, in order that the coin may be placed therein. Keep his eyes turned from his hand by engaging them in some other direction, press the coin firmly on the palm of his hand, and bid him close his fingers over the coin, holding it tightly. The imprint of the coin on the hand will produce a sensation as if the coin were actually there, but it being stuck to the thumb of the performer, will, of course, be taken away when the victim closes his hand. Let the performer then dexterously palm the coin or make away with it in some other manner, make some cabalistic flourish of the magic wand, utter some charm, and declare the coin to have vanished. The person to whom the coin was supposed to be given will, upon opening and looking at his hand, be astonished to find nothing there.

THE COIN MELTED AND RESTORED.

Borrow from some one of the audience a half-crown piece, for preference ask for a new coin, and let it be marked before it is handed in. (N.B.—In conjuring tricks with coins and other articles of common every-day use, it is always advisable to borrow from the spectators, as the impression is then conveyed that the articles used are not specially prepared.) See that there is a good clear space between the table behind which the conjurer stands and talks, and the audience, so that without inconveniencing the spectators, or coming too near to them, he can readily pass round, and stand in front of the table when the exigencies of the trick require such a position to be taken up. Provide a lighted candle, and let it be placed upon the table. Having received the half-crown, look intently at it, rub it smartly on both sides, place it on the table beside the candlestick, and rub the hands briskly together—all this by the way of by-play-keeping up in the meantime some suitable discourse on the nature of metals, the heat required to melt them, the necessity of developing mesmeric power, and so on. Take up the coin in the right hand, moving it towards the left, as though to place it therein, but instead, during its passage, palm it in the right hand, according to the instructions given for palming a card.[2] Having pretended to place the coin in the left hand, close that hand accordingly, as though it really held the coin. Work about the fingers of that hand, as if to further mesmerise the coin, and at the same time take the candlestick in the right hand; this action, while helping the performer the more easily to keep the coin palmed in a natural manner, will make it appear to the audience that it is impossible for the coin to have been kept in that hand. The next appropriate motion is to hold the left hand, still closed, over the flame of the candle, and to work the fingers as if allowing the slowly-melting coin to ooze out by degrees, at the same time flicking the wick of the candle, and if possible damping it slightly, so as to make it "sputter." In the continuation of the talk, or "patter," at this point, call attention to the coin as in the process of being passed into the candle, open the left hand, and show that the coin is now no longer therein. After a short lapse of time, and to allow of the molten silver becoming thoroughly absorbed in the wax or tallow of the candle, put down the candlestick on the table, and with the fingers of the right hand (in which, remember, the coin remains palmed) make believe to draw the now thoroughly melted and absorbed coin out of the candle through the wick, transferring it bit by bit into the palm of the left hand. This action should be rapidly performed, and it is well if, during its progress, the sputtering of the candle can be again arranged. During the execution of this movement, bring the palmed coin immediately above the hollow of the left hand, and secretly let it fall therein. Take the fingers of the right hand from the wick of the candle, pretend to drop from them the remainder of the recovered metal into the palm of the left hand, make believe to manipulate it into its original shape by rubbing it gently with the fingers, as if still hot and difficult to hold, toss it from hand to hand in order the more rapidly to cool it, and finally return it to the spectator from whom it was borrowed.

This is one of the easiest to perform of sleight-of-hand tricks with coins, but as an introduction to a series of such tricks in a performance of parlour magic it will be found to be very effective, and will, if shown in a lively manner, with an accompaniment of appropriate "patter," never fail to elicit for the encouragement of the performer considerable applause and admiration.