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A Guide To Magic Theory in Coin Magic

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Roberto Riveros
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91 views1 page

A Guide To Magic Theory in Coin Magic

Uploaded by

Roberto Riveros
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A Guide to Magic Theory in Coin Magic

Coin magic is often seen as a difficult branch of our art. There are no self-working tricks; you have
to use sleights, concealments and palms straight away. Unfortunately new students to coin magic
often have a discouraging start, as they find that they are '‘caught'’ performing their sleights. The
purpose then of this piece is to give you some tips to make your coin magic more deceptive.
The first thing to say is that in coin magic the routine is of the utmost importance. Try not to
perform a single sleight instead of a routine. If you perform a completely baffling vanish, the first
thing a spectator will want to see is your other hand, which in many vanishes is where the coin is
concealed. This is not good. However display a coin and make it vanish and then reappear in an
impossible location! This can seem like a miracle. Don’t forget that many people’s first memory of
magic is seeing a coin reproduced from behind their ear. Try it, you’ll like it.
Tied in closely with the routine is the patter story. A good story accomplishes many functions, the
two most important are that it makes the effect more entertaining, the second is that it makes the
effect more baffling. How does it achieve the latter you may ask? Well, by psychological
misdirection. After an effect is over and the spontaneous (we hope!) astonishment subsides the first
question the spectator asks themselves is ‘how did they do that’? One way to prevent them from
reconstructing what really happened is by use of patter. The most obvious way is to suggest false
methods, these are of the…‘the coin travels up my arm, across my shoulders and down my other
arm’…type of thing. Even more subtle is to recap on events but make the conditions sound even
more impossible than they actually were, for instance don’t mention that you put the coin into
another hand, thus people will not tend to remember a false transfer. The other benefit is that if
people find your routine interesting and entertaining then they will not be looking for ways to catch
you out or trip you up. It is essential in coin magic to avoid the ‘Challenge’ type situation, you can
only ever lose.
The other misdirection device that you should make use of is the magical gesture. Professor
Hoffman said, ‘always do something to account for the magic’. The magical gesture does two
important things, first it defines the moment when the magic takes place for the spectators, and
secondly it provides a false explanation as referred to above. So what is a magical gesture? The best
example in coin magic is waving your hand over your empty fist before revealing a coin vanish. If
you have a coin classic palmed in the hand that is waving then you are also providing indirect proof
that the hand is empty. Sublime! Other magical gestures involve the use of magic words, waving
the magic wand, snapping your fingers, anything you want really. One word of caution try to avoid
reaching into your pocket for ‘woofle dust’ to ditch things, most people will be suspicious about
this move.

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