Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

THE GLASS WITHOUT COVER, FOR MONEY.--This is of tumbler shape, without foot, and of green or other dark-coloured glass, so that it is semi-opaque. In this instance no cover is used, and the borrowed coins are not seen, but merely heard, to drop into the glass, where they are found in due course. The secret of the glass lies in a false bottom of tin, working on a hinge, and held down by a catch worked by a pin through the bottom of the glass, and flying up with a spring when released. The performer, having gained possession of three or four borrowed coins by either of the means before mentioned, retires to fetch the glass, and takes the opportunity to place the coins beneath the false bottom. He then comes forward, glass in hand. He does not offer the glass for examination, but turns it upside down, and rattles his wand inside it, showing, ostensibly, that it is empty. Having done this, he places it on his table, as near the back of the stage as possible, at the same time moving the catch, and so releasing the false bottom, which naturally flies up, and uncovers the concealed coins. Standing at a considerable distance from the glass, he takes one by one the substitutes, which to the eyes of the audience represent the genuine coins, and gets rid of them by one or other of the various passes, saying as each one apparently vanishes from his hand, “One, two, three--Pass!” At the same moment the sound of a falling coin is heard, proceeding apparently from the glass, but really from behind the scenes, or any other available spot out of sight, where an assistant, placed as near to the glass as circumstances will admit, drops another coin into another glass. If the position of the assistant, with reference to the audience, is pretty nearly in a straight line with the glass which they see, the illusion will be perfect. When all the coins are supposed to have passed in this manner, the performer, advancing to the glass, pours out, either upon a tray or upon his open palm, the borrowed coins, and leaving the glass upon the table, comes forward, and requests the owners to identify them.