Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

TO RUB ONE SIXPENCE INTO THREE.--This is a simple little parlour trick, but will sometimes occasion great wonderment. Procure three sixpences of the same issue and privately stick two of them (as directed for the florin in the last trick) with wax to the under side of a table, at about half an inch from the edge, and eight or ten inches apart. Announce to the company that you are about to teach them how to make money. Turn up your sleeves, and take the third sixpence in your right hand, drawing particular attention to its date and general appearance, and indirectly to the fact that you have no other coin concealed in your hands. Turning back the table-cover, rub the sixpence with the ball of the thumb backwards and forwards on the edge of the table. In this position your fingers will naturally be below the edge. After rubbing for a few seconds, say, “It is nearly done, for the sixpence is getting hot;” and, after rubbing a moment or two longer with increased rapidity, draw the hand away sharply, carrying away with it one of the concealed sixpences, which you exhibit as produced by the friction. Pocketing the waxed sixpence, and again showing that you have but one coin in your hands, repeat the operation with the remaining sixpence.