Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The use of this appliance in the trick we have just described will be obvious. The performer, having turned up his sleeves to prove that they have no part in the matter, shows that his right hand is absolutely empty. Continuing his observations, his hand rests for a moment with a careless gesture against his waistcoat, the ball of the wrist being above and the fingers below the waistband. A momentary pressure causes a half-crown to fall into his hand. This he palms, and in due course proceeds to catch, as already described. As the capacity of the slide is limited, and the same gestures frequently repeated would be likely to excite suspicion, it is best to begin the trick in the ordinary manner, and after having produced three or four coins in this way, to overhear, or pretend to overhear, a suggestion that the coin is all the while in your hand. Ostentatiously throwing the coin with which you have so far worked, into the hat, you draw special attention (not in words, but by gesture) to your empty hand (the left hand is never suspected), and then have recourse to the slide. You throw the coin thus obtained into the hat, and again show your hand empty. You produce another coin from the slide, and make this serve you for the next two or three catches, and so on, as circumstances may dictate. The money magically caught as above may be used for the trick of the Multiplication of Money, described at page 176, the two forming a natural and effective sequence.