Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The trick may be brought to an effective conclusion as follows: After you have got rid of the double-faced penny, you may continue, “Perhaps it is a little too complicated for you with four coins; suppose we try it with one only, and I won’t even turn it over.” Placing one of the genuine pence on the middle of the right palm, which you hold out horizontally before you, you draw special attention to the fact that the coin is (say) “tail” upwards. Quickly covering it with the other hand, you say, “What is it now?” “Tail,” is the reply. “Wrong again!” you say, and, lifting up the hand, show that the coin has this time vanished altogether. This mysterious disappearance is effected as follows: When you apparently cover the coin with the left hand, you bring the hands together with a quick lateral motion as though sliding the one across the other. This shoots the coin from the palm down the opposite sleeve, the motion being so quick that the keenest eye cannot detect it. This little sleight is by no means difficult, and is well worthy of acquirement, as it may be introduced with equal effect in many tricks. THE MAGIC COVER AND VANISHING HALFPENCE.--This is a very old trick, but is still very popular with a juvenile audience. The principal apparatus consists of half-a-dozen halfpence, of which the centre portion has been cut out, leaving each a mere rim of metal. Upon these is placed a complete halfpenny, and the whole are connected together by a rivet running through the whole thickness of the pile. When placed upon the table, with the complete coin upwards, they have all the appearance of a pile of ordinary halfpence, the slight lateral play allowed by the rivet aiding the illusion. A little leather cap (shaped something like a fez, with a little button on the top, and of such a size as to fit loosely over the pile of halfpence), with an ordinary die, such as backgammon is played with, complete the necessary requirements.