Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The only drawback to the trick is the tediousness of the process of unwinding. To obviate this, some performers use a wheel made for the purpose, which materially shortens the length of the operation. THE GLASS GOBLET AND COVER.--This apparatus consists of an ordinary glass goblet, of rather large size, with a japanned tin cover, in shape not unlike the lid of a coffee-pot, but of sufficient height to contain, in an upright position, a couple of florins or half-crowns. These are placed side by side in a flat tube, just large enough to admit them, fixed in a slightly sloping position in the upper part of the cover, and divided in two by a tin partition. Across the lower end of this tube is a tin slide, which, in its normal condition, is kept closed by the action of a spring, but is drawn back whenever a knob on the top of the cover is pressed down. If a slight pressure be applied, one coin only is released; but if the knob be still further pressed down, the second also falls. The mechanism of the cover is concealed by a flat plate or lining, also of tin, soldered just within it, with an oblong opening just large enough to admit of the passage of the coins. The inside of the cover is japanned black, the outside according to the taste of the maker.