Learning a Coin Trick
By Coins and coin collecting | Wednesday, 17 May 2006
Magicians have always relied on coins and cards to thrill audiences and impress children. Most people can fondly remember the days when grandparents used to be able to magically make a coin appear from behind their ear and then be given the coin as a present. People's fascination with money and the handy size and shape of it mean that the coin makes for an ideal trick subject. A quick slight of hand and a little deflection of attention and the coin trick is virtually complete. Learning how to make a coin appear from someone's ear or other facial orifice is a relatively simple trick to learn and with a little practice you will appear to be an expert.
Magic, like many things, has progressed greatly over the years and there are more and more extravagant tricks being seen by magicians all over the world on a regular basis. One of the earliest coin tricks was, of course, the use of the incredibly realistic two-headed coin. Penn and Teller and similar magicians took magic tricks to a new level and the morbid coin trick is one you regularly find on the Internet when searching for coin tricks. The coin seems to appear under the skin at the magician's elbow and travel to his forearm where he or she then cuts the skin of the arm and removes the coin. Is it prosthetics or do they use another method? You'd have to ask them.
The disappearing coin trick
This is a simple trick that can be performed anywhere by anyone with only the assistance of a friend. Your audience sees you place a coin on your upturned hand; you then cover it with a handkerchief. To prove to your audience that the coin is still there you have people come and feel the coin while it's in your hand. Then you whisk the handkerchief away to reveal that the coin has gone.
You should have a second identical coin in your pocket. Your friend must also be in on the secret. Ensure that he or she is the last person to check that the coin is still there but instead of checking it is they should remove it from under the handkerchief. As your friend removes the coin you should animatedly whisk your free hand around to take their attention away from your friend's hand (this is the only real illusion in the whole trick). Mumble some magical words, if you feel that way inclined and then pull the handkerchief away revealing your empty palm. Now you can reach into your pocket and pull the magic coin out to show your audience.
A joke alternative to the disappearing coin trick
This is even less of a magic trick than the last but requires no assistance and can be used as a humorous introduction to the last trick. You'll see why shortly. Tell a friend or member of the audience that you will make the dollar you are holding disappear from under a coffee mug without touching the mug at all. Place the coin under the mug and replace the mug on top. Now animatedly wave your hands around and shout some magic words and then tell your assistant that you've done it, proudly holding forth another dollar you had in your pocket. They may argue a little saying 'no, you haven't' or they may simply reach out and lift the mug to look. The second they lift the mug you reach out and grab the coin. You took the coin without touching the mug.
This article is part of the Coins and coin collecting articles.
More articles
- Canadian coins
- Canadian banknotes
- Canadian tokens and medals
- International
You can submit your own articles by contacting us.
