Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The performer begins by placing upon the table the coffer and the box of bran. Removing the lid (with the false top), he brings forward the coffer, and shows that it is perfectly empty. In returning to his table, he loosens (though without removing) the moveable bottom, and replaces the coffer on the table. He next brings forward the box of bran, showing that there is no preparation about it, and in replacing it on the table, places it in front of the coffer, which, however, being the taller, remains visible behind it. He next introduces the orange, either palming it (from one of his pochettes), and magically producing it from some person’s nose or whiskers, or by the more prosaic method of having it brought in by his assistant. He now returns to his table, and, standing behind it, proceeds to fill the coffer with bran. This he does by placing the coffer upright in the box, holding it with one hand and ostentatiously pouring in bran with the other until it is full. In placing the coffer in the box, however, he takes it up quite without the bottom, so that he is, in reality, only filling an open tube. Meanwhile, he secretly picks up, with his disengaged hand, the second orange from the servante, and places it upon the bottom, which remains behind the box.