Go Team USA!

Best of luck to all the USA athletes in Sochi!

Astounding Pencil Through Coin in Michael Ammar's new lecture

Last night I sat in on the $1 Michael Ammar Lecture at VanishingIncMagic.

It was a brand new lecture, full of great material including a broken & restored phone, a jam session on his Crazy Man’s Handcuffs, and a “Hardcore Card Jam”. But of particular interest to Coin Magicians was his new handling for his classic Pencil Through Coin.

The effect looked INCREDIBLE. A pencil is s-l-o-w-l-y pushed through a borrowed coin, starting with the lead tip! First you see the lead tip poke through from the front AND the back. Then the entire pencil slowly glides into the coin. The coin seems to stretch open to allow the pencil to pass through. Both sides are clearly shown with the pencil embedded in the coin. No flaps, no Pressley Guitar-inspired gimmicks.

Then the pencil is slowly and visibly removed from the coin and the coin is handed back to the spectator. It’s about as magical as you can get. Ammar plans to market the effect soon, once a couple production issues are resolved.

Ammar also teaches a few new bits of finesse for his classic Pencil Through Coin from his book "The Magic of Michael Ammar". It features a very deceptive new way to do Bob Elliott's FlipSwitch.

The lecture is very good. 2 hours of good advice, TV clips, and strong, practical magic. And all for $1! The Pencil Through Coin happens at the 34:50 mark, and is something you really have to see. Do yourself a favor and zip over to VanishIncMagic and pick this up. Did I mention it’s only $1?

To Coin Purse or not to Coin Purse? Part 2

I am a big proponent of using a coin purse (or coin holder, if you prefer) to carry your coins. Here are several practical and presentational reasons why I think all serious coin workers should, too. First, the practical reasons:

A coin purse keeps your performing coins separate from any change in your pocket. It helps to keep the coins together as a group. No more picking through pocket lint and candy wrappers to find your coins. And it makes it easy to switch from one outfit to another.

A coin purse will protect your investment. Lassen and Schoolcraft coins are not cheap. The last thing you want is to have your Lassen expanded Morgan squashed and dented between your car keys and your iPhone.

A coin purse can define you as an expert and build interest in your magic even before the first coin has vanished:

The coins we use like Kennedys, Morgans, English Pennies, and West African Dimes, are pretty common to us finger-flingers. But, when is the last time the average layperson saw an 1888 Morgan Silver Dollar? These are rare and interesting items. They attract attention and are definite conversation starters. So it only makes sense to carry them with some reverence. A coin purse is perfect for that.

I make a show of removing the coins from the purse, mentioning how rare and interesting they are. I then let every one take a look at them so they can have a chance to ‘touch a bit of history.’ I ask them just to imagine whose hands these coins may has passed through. ‘…Eliott Ness, Jesse James, or maybe an American president.’ In a smooth and subtle way I have generated interest, AND let everyone see that the coins are regular coins, without having ever to say, “Inspect the coins, make sure they’re real” (blech)

Carrying your coins in a special holder adds to your professionalism and subtly tells the audience that you are no mere dabbler. It shows that you are serious about your art, like a Pool Shark that carries his cue in a custom engraved case.

With the wide variety of holders available, you can choose one that fits your personality and goes with your style of performing and clothing.

Here are a few links to some great looking coin purses:

The Dmann Coin Wallet

The Jerry O’Connell Coin Tidy

A unique design from Roy Kueppers

A zippered coin holder

Another very unique design

My personal favorite from Ton Onosaka

A Memory Card holder with a belt loop

To Coin Purse or not to Coin Purse? Part 1

Do you Coin Purse or do you go commando? Do you carry your coins in a small leather pouch that you call a coin HOLDER (when we all know it’s really just a purse)? Or do you just let it all hang out and stroll along with a pocket full of loose, jingling coins?

If you’re a guy and you’re just starting in coin magic, you tend to shy away from carrying anything called a purse. I mean seriously, how you can impress a girl with your French Drop if you have to pull the coin out a little leather purse? Well, being a guy, and being a coin magician, I can tell you that’s exactly how I felt, until…

I was a young Air Force recruit at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. It was payday and, of course, I was broke. I had spent my last $30 on a set of Gin & Tonic coins from Gordon at Zucchini’s Tricks & Things on Cannery Row. Food you can get anywhere, but these coins were my step into the big league of magic. As I dressed that morning I stuffed the nested Gin & Tonic in my left pocket and the centavo in my right pocket. Hungry, but ready to amaze.

On a break between classes I spied a quarter on the ground and stuffed it into my left pocket where it hit something. I reached inside and found another quarter! The Caffeine Gods were smiling on me. As quick as I could I popped those 2 quarters into the Coke machine on the top floor of Munakata Hall and took a huge swig of that ice-cold elixir. Life was good.

Near the end of the morning, I decided to show off my new coin effect to my friends. I reached into my pockets and found just the centavo in the right pocket. A brief moment of confusion, a niggling fear, a twitch, then the heart-dropping realization that I had just bought a THIRTY DOLLAR and twenty five cent Coke and lost my killer new coin trick in the process.

By the next weekend, I had bought the first of many black leather coin purses that would become my lifetime hip-pocket companions. To help overcome the crushing loss of machismo (hey, it was the 80s) I quickly came up with the premise that these polished half dollars could do amazing things, so I kept them protected in a special coin “holder”. Instead of looking silly, the coin purse was now a conversation piece and slowly revealing the coins inside became the first step in building the mystery.

My name is Ben, and I carry a coin purse.

The Magic Coin predicts...

The Magic Coin saw its shadow this morning forecasting 6 more weeks of winter.

3 Lessons from a Master

I was browsing the internets today and found this video of the 3-time FISM winner Fred Kaps.

Kaps, a Dutch magician, is best known for his FISM-winning stage routines. On stage he was in complete control, a master of his art. You could tell by his facial expressions that he truly loved to perform. Here we are treated to his take on the classic Coins Through the Table. (BTW this was recorded with no sound)


There are so many great lessons to be learned here.

First, there is the clean, uncomplicated way he handles the coins. There is no excessive counting the coins over and over, which we see in many of coin routines today.

Second is the natural feel to the moves. No odd hand positions or jerky, suspicious movements,

Third, there is a wonderful continuity to each phase of the routine. Each coin that passes through the table looks the same.

The feint with the 4th coin helps to break things up a bit and adds some humor to the routine. It’s just enough to put the audience off-guard as he manipulates the final coin. Although this video has no sound, I imagine Kaps had a funny line to add to this phase to add to the set up for the final coin. If your audience is laughing, they’re not paying attention and you can get away with some serious sinning.

You can boost the power of your coin magic (and the reactions you get) through the roof if you apply these three simple ideas to your current coin magic.

Until next time!

Coins of the Apocalypse

It’s often hard to find inspiration for new coin effects. Most ‘new’ routines are just a variation of a standard plot, but done with exotic new sleights. And the presentations are often little more than a narration of what’s happening.

“And now the 3rd coin will travel to my right hand” (stab your hand with your salad fork just to stay awake). And it’s even less often that a prop inspires a coin routine.

Enter The Zombuck, the Currency of the Apocalypse!

These dollar-sized coins from Provident Metals feature a design very similar to the Walking Liberty coins. But here the Lady Liberty has been transformed into a Zombie carrying an axe (probably to fend off other zombies). In the distance the shining Sun has been replaced with nuclear mushroom cloud. The reverse side features a large biohazard symbol and the words ‘Currency of the Apocalypse’.

As soon as I saw these coins the creative juices starting flowing. David Roth’s Wild Coin from the Expert Coin Magic is now about the rampant spread of the zombie infection.

Your favorite Spellbound routine can be presented as not knowing who is a zombie and who’s not as the coin changes quickly from normal to infected and back again.

Performing Jay Sankey’s Mass Consumption from his 1990 opus 100% Sankey with the Zombucks becomes the perfect cannibal coins routine.

Let’s dig back even farther to Michael Ammar’s Coins Through Silk from his out-of-print Magic of Michael Ammar. Add the Zombucks and it’s a story of infected coins escaping from the lab.

Coin Matrix becomes a scene from World War Z. Coins Across becomes a lesson in how zombies move under the cover of darkness. And T. Nelson Down’s Free and Unlimited Coinage of Silver become a veritable Zombie Apocalypse at the dinner table!

Track down some Zombucks and see how they can make your coin magic fresh and exciting!

Easy Coin Magic gets a glowing review from the WPR!

My Easy Coin Magic DVD got a great review from the guys at Wizard Product Review. Here's the trailer. You can check out the review and pick your copy at my STORE!

I'm back!

Wow, it's been a while since I was here. I'm glad you're all still checking this page out. I'll be posting some new items pretty soon and those much-promised contests will be coming this summer. It's a great chance to win some very cool magic. Until then, sit tight and check back often for the newest coin magic post! HyperSmash.com

The Come Back Coin

Bill Tarr's "Now You See It, Now You Don't" was my first book on real sleight of hand. This books runs the gamut from coins, to cards, to billiard balls, to cigarette and silk manipulation. But the one effect that has always stuck with me was The Come Back Coin. I still perform this effect today...20+ years later! Enjoy!

Citation Silver

Inspired by Marion Boykin's release of the fantastic Jump-Mandu, I present Bob Elliott's wonderful Citation Silver. This routine is a tribute to Bob's ability to get lots of magic from a simple method.

Bob taught me the routine using Harvey Rosenthal's Backclip. I prefer to use Tenkai Pinch, as it has more favorable angles.

Citation Silver appeared in the final issue of Pallbearers Review Magazine , page 1064. Wesley James says the effect is credited to Presto Johnson.

Slow Motion Coin Vanish

From his opus The Complete Works of Derek Dingle, the Slow Motion Coin Vanish is a welcome departure from the usual, close-it-in-my-hand-and-poof-it's-gone type of vanishes. The presentation gives motivation to the movements and keeps them from looking like a lot of hand washing and clever manipulation.

My signed copy of his book is one of my prized possessions. I am constantly mining it for new ideas.