Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

There is another speciality about the Domino-box, which renders it available to cause the disappearance of a coin placed in it; though, as in the case of the “Rattle-box,” described in the chapter devoted to coin tricks, the coin is heard to rattle within it till the very moment of its disappearance. This is effected as follows:--Between the bottom of the drawer and that of the box proper is a very small space, just large enough to allow a shilling to lie between the true and false bottom. On the under side of the drawer, however (see Fig. 220, showing the under side of the drawer portion), are glued two thin slips of wood, gradually approaching each other, and thereby narrowing this space to a width of about half an inch. If when the lid is withdrawn with the drawer, as already explained, a shilling or sovereign is dropped into the box, and the box again closed, the coin will have plenty of room to rattle about as long as it remains at the end a, but if shaken down with a sharp jerk in the direction of the end b, it will become caught in the narrower portion of the opening, and will thenceforth be silent, unless it may suit the purpose of the performer to release it again, which he can do by a sharp downward jerk in the direction of a. Of course, as the coin is below the false bottom, it will appear to have vanished when the box is opened in the ordinary way.