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A Coin Trick

 

Go and get a coin. Go on. Place it on the table, about four inches or so from the edge nearest you. Now, using your right hand if you are right-handed, pick it up; but rather than trying to lift it straight from the surface of the table, slide it naturally back towards you with your fingertips, and let your thumb contact the underside as it reaches the table edge. As you pick it up, make your hand into a fist around the coin, bring your arm up to eye level and hold it there.

 

Got it? Do it a few times and note the feeling of the movement. Be relaxed and natural. Good. Now, this time, as the coin reaches the edge of the table, pretend to pick it up using exactly the same series of movements but let it fall into your lap instead. Your thumb doesn't really contact it, and the continuing movement of the fingers just push it off the table. Then, as before, make a fist as if the coin was still there, and bring your hand up. Blow on your hand, and open it. The imaginary fool sitting opposite you is delighted: the coin has vanished. He believes you have special powers: you can rest. Now, be good enough to do this a few times until that moment of letting the coin drop is as relaxed and natural as picking it up normally. Alternate between really picking it up and only pretending to until the two sequences look and feel the same. If you can try it in front of a mirror, you will be amply rewarded.

This is an elementary coin sleight, but it is barely magic. Let us take this now comfortable sequence and make it more effective. In doing so, there is much to be learned about what makes magic magical.

 

Firstly, why put a coin down in order to pick it straight back up again? Who other than a seriously retarded individual would enact such an absurdity? Such odd behaviour does rather detract from a convincing moment of magic. If you remove a coin from your pocket, place it on the table near you, then immediately pick it up to show it's gone, then clearly the action of putting it down and picking it up was somehow special and necessary, and its’ very unnaturalness suggests to the spectator that some derring-do must have occurred. Compare this, say, with the situation where the coin was there already. If you are just picking up a coin that happened to be in place on the table, that becomes immediately much better. So perhaps you might hunt for something in your pocket a little earlier, removing a coin or two to facilitate the search. They get left on the table, forgotten and unimportant, one of them in the correct position for the trick. Now you have to pick it up to do anything with it, so we start off with a much more natural set of circumstances. Good. Now, there is another issue to be solved. The coin is there on the table; you apparently pick it up and make a fist; you open the fist and it's gone. Because the chain of events is so short and easy to reconstruct, it is more than possible that an astute observer (and many magicians underestimate how astute people are) could work out the trick. If it has gone from your fist then perhaps it was never in your fist, so you can't have picked it up. It must have gone somewhere else. Aha! It somehow slid off the table. And if they dive over the table to search your lap area for concealed currency, you're in a tight spot, and must resort to violence to keep them from lifting the dark veil of your art. So, we have to upset their chain of events so they can't reconstruct so easily. This time, instead of making a fist around the imaginary coin, fake putting it in your other hand after you've supposedly picked it up (i.e. your left, but feel free to reverse all of this if you're left-handed), and then closing that fist around it. Do it with the real coin a few times to see how you perform this motion normally then do exactly the same thing without the coin.

 

By the silly act of pretending to put a coin that isn't there into your left hand, and curling your fist around it, you have now made it much more difficult for the observer to reconstruct events. Blow on the empty left fist and show that the coin has vanished. If they think that the coin was never really in the left fist, then the only explanation is that you must have retained it in the right fist. But they can see that the right fist is empty too. They will be too busy pondering this conundrum to work their way back to whether or not you even picked it up. Good, but still not great. How great would it be if they were convinced they saw the coin in your right hand before you put it in the left? Then there really would be no solution for them. So, this time, before you pass the 'coin' across to your left hand, mime showing it at your fingertips. Hold it up for half a moment, as if you're fairly displaying it between your thumb and first two fingers. Now, anyone studying your fingers will see that there's nothing there. But if you make it a quick and casual gesture - a swing of the hand up in the air as you say, ‘Watch. . .', and then back down again to pass the coin to your left, hand - then they will, once you are relaxed and you time it just right, swear that you showed them the coin in that hand. That is an extraordinary thing. And imagine the delight that comes from knowing you got away with it.

 

Now, when the right hand retreats after apparently passing its coin to the left hand, move your attention to the left hand but don't show your right to be empty. Keep it well over the table, and hold it in a loose fist, as if you could still be secretly retaining the imaginary coin in it. Now you are toying with them. You are going to create a false solution: that you palmed the coin away in that right hand. Blow on your left and show it empty. Hold your position for a second to register the climax of the trick, then innocently open both hands as you say, 'It's bizarre, isn't it? You have given them a moment to hang their only explanation on the surmise that you must still have the coin in your right hand then removed that one possibility from them.

 

Much of the experience of magic happens after the trick is over, when the spectator tries to reconstruct what happened. This is why we've already made it difficult for him. But there's more we can do: we can plant the seeds of false memories, and at the same time cover any worries you may have about not performing the sleight correctly. Earlier I suggested that you take out a couple of coins and place them on the table. Let's say Coin A is a little further towards the centre of the table, too far to do the sleight. Coin B, however, is nearer you and in position for the trick. Look at both coins, and hover your hand a little over both, as if you are deciding which one to use. This secures in the spectator's mind the image of two coins fairly on the table. Decide on Coin A, and pick it straight up off the table. Don't slide it back, just pick it up. All attention will be on you and the coin. Place it fairly into your left hand and make a fist around it. Squeeze it and toy with it a little. Open your left hand for a moment, look at the coin and close it again. You're having trouble, though your spectators have no idea what you're trying to achieve. Give up and drop the coin out of your hand onto the table, away from Coin B. Make a self-deprecating remark - 'Right, that didn't work, sorry.' The spectators' attention will dissipate, and you should relax too. As you relax (allow your body to slump back a little which will cue them to relax with you), go into the trick by apparently picking up Coin B. You are now performing the sleight when the spectators are paying the least attention. Their eyes may still be directed at you, but for the vital moment they are off-guard. As long as you can make them relax in this way, you'll get away with anything during this vital 'off-beat'. Once Coin B is apparently in the left hand, sit forward again and build up the tension. The trick is now so much more convincing. Moreover, you have, by unsuccessfully going through the trick once with Coin A, given them some snapshots that will

confuse them later in their reconstruction. They have seen a coin being picked directly up from the table. They have seen a coin clearly in your left fist. Later, they will confuse what they saw the first time with what they saw the second time. No-one should remember that you picked up the second coin in a slightly different manner. There is still more. How are you apparently making the coin vanish?

 

For all these precautions and convincers we have woven into your little performance, is there not something rather cheap and amateurish about blowing on your hand and then immediately showing it empty? It's here that you actually create the magic. The magic happens not from what you do, but from what the spectator perceives. And it has its home not in the fact that the coin vanishes, but how it vanished (that would be the magic part). So how about this: when the coin is apparently in your left hand, toy with it a bit. Move it around. That's not something any sane person would do unless there really were a coin there, so it really cements the illusion. Act as if you have to get it into some special place in your hand in order to make it disappear.

Needless to say, you don't verbalize this, you just act as if. Concentrate. Making a coin disappear isn't easy. Perhaps it even hurts a bit (this small touch is a dramatic and rather powerful idea). A great modern magician, Tommy Wonder, emphasizes the importance of this sort of 'silent script' for magic. Your hand isn't quite warm enough and that's making it more difficult. Maybe the fact that you've just eaten makes it very hard to make it fully disappear. There's probably no need to blow on your hand now, or if there is it’s just for show. But not yet . . . wait . . . hang on . . . there it goes ... I can feel it ... And when it goes, does it pop? Get very hot? Does it disappear or somehow melt into the hand?

Would it be interesting to vanish the coin and then ask the spectators if they can still see it, as if they might have only hallucinated its disappearance? How many different ways could you play with this to see what gets the best reaction? Any tension you feel the few times you do it will be relieved by two things: firstly, your muscles will learn how to perform the series of moves as fluidly as possible, with the minimum of effort; and secondly, the reactions you will get, so out of proportion to the act of slipping a coin off a table, will delight you so much that in no time you’ll be showing everyone. And to tell them how it was done ('Pathetically, I just slipped the coin off the table') would be to take away their amazement and replace it with disappointment. Try that once: You’ll see that they switch from thinking it was a great piece of magic to, at best, an average trick.

 

A Card Trick

 

While out getting hopelessly drunk during one of your regular Saturday nights, bring out your packet of pasteboards and offer the following piece of card chicanery to your well-loved companions. The trick is perhaps not really 'magic'. Indeed, it falls into a slightly unpleasant area of conjuring known as the 'sucker trick', which delights in exposing the spectator as a fool. Still, it should earn you a few free drinks.

Pick upon someone you wish to victimize, and have him shuffle the cards. It is worth making sure that you do not pick a skilled card-shuffler or closet croupier: if he performs anything other than a basic shuffle (avoid anyone who riffles the two halves of the deck together), have him pass the deck to someone else for 'further shuffling'. Unless you happen to have caught either Dame Fortune or her unusual sister Mistress Providence during moody lady-time, you should find that this one move brings forward a suitably unimpressive shuffler.

 

Take the deck back from this unsuspecting person and turn it face up in your hand. This means that, you make sure you are looking down at an actual card face on the top, rather than the back of a card. However, the very second that you have seen this card, turn away and spread them a little in your hands to show your audience the faces of the deck. 'They are all different, obviously, and well mixed now,' you say, to justify this sequence which has afforded you a glimpse of that first card. Turn the deck face-down before turning back around, and place it neatly and squared-up on the table. You have given the impression that you have not seen any of the cards, and while this is not terribly important at this point, it will help to create the surprise later. Do remember the bottom card you glimpsed: this is your 'key-card', and your ability to recall that card later will make all the difference between you seeming as much like a twerp or looking literally as clever as Jesus. Now, tell the person sat in front of you to cut the deck into two while you look away. Mime the action of removing a pile of cards from the top of the deck and placing it to your right of the remainder. You do want him to place his cut-off top-half to your right, but in case he places it to the left, make a note of the position of the deck on the table, so that when you turn back in a few moments you will be able to tell which half is which, in case of any confusion.

 

Turn away and let the person do as you so patiently told him. Tell him to remove the card he cut to (the top card of the bottom half) and have a good look at it. As he does so, turn back around and casually pick up the original bottom half of the deck (from which he would have just taken his card). This should be the pack of cards to your left. Normally, if you don't turn away completely, you can tell peripherally that he has placed it down correctly. Either way, do make sure that you are picking up the bottom half. The card on the underside, or 'face', of this half is of course the card you have remembered, but you'd be a fool to have to double-check. Hold this half above the other half (the original top half that he cut off), and tell him to replace the card. Without telling him to do so, you can make it clear that he is to place the card back between the two halves. It will seem a very natural thing to do, as he has just removed it from the middle of the deck and now appears to be putting it back in the same place. In fact, rather excitingly, his card is now next to the key-card. It is this secret fact that is soon to win you victory over the audience at large and secure you the intimate favours of any creature on this earth. Now, although it is vital that these two cards stay together, you are now very bravely going to ask the person to shuffle the cards. What's that? Won't that undo all our clever machinations? Have I separated myself from my senses? How could such a thing work? Am I simply mad? Perhaps at this point you are incontinent with rage at the wasted effort you have put into learning this so far; I merely say: bear with me and let me explain. It is for this reason alone, if you will just simmer down for a second, that you have chosen a poor shuffler. As long as he gives the deck a simple overhand shuffle, you can be rest assured that the two important cards – your glimpsed key card and his selection - will remain as a pair. You can subtly hurry him along and stop him from shuffling too thoroughly by extending your hand after a few moments and casually saying, 'Great - just so we don't know where the card is.' Also, asking him to 'mix them a bit' rather than 'shuffle' very often helps too. Take the deck back when he is done, and say that you are going to deal the cards face-up onto the table, and he is to try not to react if he sees his card. Hold the deck facedown, and start to deal cards from the top, turning them over one at a time. Make a rough pile on the table as you do so. You are - and I'm sure I don't need to tell you - watching out for your key card. The moment you deal that key card, the next card will be the very card selected. However, bat not an eyelid, and keep dealing past the chosen card, making sure that you continue to make such a rough pile on the table that the index of the actual chosen card remains visible to you. The person will of course be gloating with that quite specific smugness of one who believes his card has been mistakenly dealt past. Stop whenever you feel the moment is right, and proudly state the following: 'I bet you a pint/glass of wine/warm water with a slice of lemon/million bucks that the next card I turn over will be your card.' Look like you are poised to turn over the next card from the deck. Have the person agree to the deal, then reach forward, remove the chosen card from the pile, and turn it over. Climb onto the table and roar for applause before triumphantly urinating on the group.

 

There are a couple of afterthoughts regarding this trick which might be of use to you - crumbs from the table of a showbiz pro. Firstly, when you take the deck back after shuffling, just before you start dealing, take a look at the bottom (face) card of the deck. This can be easily done by tapping the deck on the table to square it, and just glimpsing the bottom card. It is conceivable, though very unlikely, that this card is your key-card. If indeed you do recognize it to be so, it means that the actual chosen card is on the top of the deck - the very first card you would deal. If this happens, you can remedy the situation by having someone cut the deck before dealing.

This will allow you to proceed with the trick as explained above, as it will bring the two cards back together in the middle of the deck. Alternatively, it does allow you to segue into a much more impressive trick instead. If you see that key-card on the bottom, I would suggest placing the deck face-down on the table and talking some nonsense about how when we choose a card we develop a kind of relationship with it, and that in something as random as a shuffle it is possible for us to express that affinity by unconsciously controlling it. If you feel like really lying, you could tell them that in a series of tests it’s been shown that particularly intuitive people will actually shuffle a card they're thinking of to the top of the deck without realizing it. Have them accept the seeming unlikelihood of such a statement, then sit back and let them take as long as they want to reach forward and turn over the top card for themselves. Secondly, dealing the cards to random positions on the table rather than into a pile offers you other opportunities to make this even more dangerously impressive. Let's imagine that you deal past the key-card and you see that the selection is a four of hearts. Unless you are unfortunate enough for the selection to reveal itself near the end of the deck, you can now join up the scattered cards into a '4H' as you deal, and continue dealing. If you don't feel you have enough cards left to do this convincingly, it doesn't matter; the scattered dealing will just seem a mysterious part of the secret. But if you do manage to casually deal the cards into a giant representation of the selection, then you have what we like to call a 'kicker ending': after turning over the correct card, you can point out the arrangement on the table, which gives the impression that you knew the card from the very start.