Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

PASS 6.--This pass is best adapted for use with three or four coins, as the chink of the coins against one another materially assists the illusion. Having to get rid of, say, four pence or florins, you take them in the right hand, as indicated in Fig. 70, viz., well back towards the wrist. Move the right hand sharply towards the left, with the fingers foremost, so that the finger-tips of the right hand may come smartly, at about right angles, against the palm of the left, at the same time slightly bending the fingers. The coins, instead of being shot forward (as to the eye and ear of the spectators they appear to be) into the left hand, are, in reality, retained in the hollow formed by the fingers of the right, as in Fig. 71. They are turned completely over as the hands come in contact, producing a loud chink. The left hand is, of course, closed, and the thumb of the right is allowed to sink gently on the coins, so that when the hand falls by your side, they may not make a second chink, and so betray their presence in the wrong hand. PASS 7. (La Coulée).--This pass is best adapted for a coin of large diameter, like the French five-franc piece, and is but little used by English conjurors. If, however, the student has a very small hand (a serious disadvantage in conjuring generally), he may find it convenient to use the pass in question with a half-crown or penny. Take the coin in the right hand between the first and second fingers and the thumb, and in the act of apparently transferring it to the left hand, gently slide it with the ball of the thumb into the position shown in Fig. 72, where it is held by the pressure of the first and fourth fingers against its opposite edges, the hand remaining completely open.