Harper's Round Table, June 23, 1896

by Various

When only four or five coins were left in the hand, he actually threw the coin which he "caught" into the hat, turned the empty hand toward the audience—without speaking, however, for the whole trick was carried out in pantomime—and then placing it inside the hat, as if to hold it, took the remaining coins from the left hand. Withdrawing that hand, he turned it, palm outward, toward the audience, and then took the hat with it again, this time keeping the fingers outside. In the mean time he had palmed the four or five remaining coins, for it is as easy for the practised conjurer to palm six as one. These coins he proceeded to "catch," one at a time—which requires considerable practice—and threw each visibly into the hat. This last move set at rest any suspicions which might exist that he had been using one coin throughout the trick.

During the course of the trick, Herrmann at times pretended to pass the coin through the bottom or side of the hat. To do this he merely showed the coin, which he palmed as his hand approached the hat, and let the tips of his fingers touch the plush, as if pushing the coin through. At the same time he dropped a coin from the left hand, and the chink as it came in contact with the others heightened the illusion.

Herrmann played to very large audiences, and this trick proved so popular that Robert Heller decided to reproduce it; but he varied it as follows: Besides the lot of half-dollars in his left hand, he had six or eight in his right. Making a grab at the air, he thus "caught" a number of coins, which he appeared to throw into the hat. In fact, he merely closed his hand over the captured coins without any palming, and let six or eight drop from his left hand. Of course his stock was soon exhausted; but when that happened he threw the coins from his right hand bodily into the hat. Then for the next two or three times when he grabbed at the air he kept the right hand closed, and putting the empty hand over the hat, shook up the coins already in, thus giving the impression that he had thrown a number of coins in. Finally he went among his audience, and taking a heaping handful of coins out of the hat, poured them back, retaining six or seven in his hand. These latter he then shook from a lady's handkerchief or her muff, or pretended to take them from the long whiskers of some man.

FIG. 4.

Two or three years later Hartz did the trick, and as he could not palm a coin, he used a flat tin tube which held about six coins. This tube hung by a hook inside the right breast of his vest; the lower end just reached the bottom of the vest. By putting the tips of the fingers under the vest and pressing a lever, a coin dropped into the hand, and the performer was thus enabled, from time to time, to show a half-dollar and throw it into the hat. The other times he merely pretended to catch a coin, and put his closed empty hand over the mouth of the hat, and "made believe," as the children say, to drop the money in.

Another mechanical arrangement that is used by some performers is strapped just above the wrist, inside the sleeve, and is so constructed that by extending the arm suddenly a coin is shot out by means of a spring to about the tips of the fingers, and the performer really catches it. Still another coin-holder is used, but the pump-handle movement necessary to release the coins is inartistic. There is one little wrinkle, however, in connection with this trick which is worth describing and worth using. It is a coin with a tiny hole drilled through it near its edge. A human hair or a bit of fine sewing silk is run through this hole and formed into a loop. In this way the coin is hung from the thumb. When the performer wishes to "catch" it, a slight jerk brings it to the front of the hand, where he seizes it; and as he puts it into the hat he lets it swing to the back of the hand, which can then be shown empty.

FIG. 5.

A very good trick, somewhat akin to palming, is done with five half-dollars. In palming proper, a new coin with a sharp, milled edge is the best to use, as the milling helps to hold it in place, but for this trick well-worn pieces of money which have become quite smooth are necessary.