Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

CHAPTER XIII. THE CUPS AND BALLS. The subject of the present chapter may be said to be the groundwork of all legerdemain, being, we believe, the very earliest form in which sleight-of-hand was exhibited. At the present day it is not very often seen, save in the bastard form known as “thimble-rig,” and used as a means of fleecing the unwary upon race-courses and at country fairs. It is, however, well worthy the attention of the student of modern magic, not only as affording an excellent course of training in digital dexterity, but as being, in the hands of an adept, most striking in effect. It is by no means uncommon to find spectators who have received more elaborate feats with comparative indifference, become interested, and even enthusiastic, over a brilliant manipulation of the cups and balls. The prestige of the illusion is heightened by the simplicity of the appliances used, consisting merely of three tin cups about three inches high, each in the form of a truncated cone, with a rim or shoulder round the base (see Fig. 118), the ordinary wand, four little cork balls, three-quarters of an inch or a little less in diameter, and blackened in the flame of a candle, three larger balls of about an inch and a quarter in diameter, and four more of such a size as to just fill the goblet. These last are generally stuffed with hair, and covered with cloth. The number of balls may vary according to the particular “passes” which the performer desires to exhibit, but the above will be found sufficient for most purposes. The performers of the olden time were accustomed to use the gibecière, or apron with pockets, already mentioned, and to perform at a table having no speciality, save that it was a little higher than those in ordinary use; but at the present day the gibecière is entirely discarded, the servante of the table answering the same purpose. The arrangement of the table and apparatus is shown in Fig. 118.