Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

Again spreading it over your left hand, you count the coins one by one upon it; then giving a glance round at the company, you say, as you quickly return to your platform, “You have all seen that the four coins are fairly wrapped in the handkerchief,” or make any other remark in order to draw the general attention, as a sharp, quick remark almost always will, to your face and away from your hands. At the same moment you move the left thumb over the face of the coins, thereby covering them with a fold of the handkerchief, and seize them, through the fold thus made, between the thumb and fingers of the right hand, as indicated in Fig. 79, immediately withdrawing the left hand. The coins will now be held in the right hand, the handkerchief hanging down loosely around them. To any one who has not watched your movements with more than ordinary vigilance, it will appear that the coins are within and under the handkerchief, though they are, in reality, wrapped in an external fold. Giving them a twist round in the handkerchief, you hand it to the person assisting you, asking him to say whether the money is still there, to which he naturally replies in the affirmative. You then tell him to grasp the handkerchief with both hands three or four inches below the coins, and to hold as tightly as he possibly can.