Koran's Medallion effect by Luke Jermay: My Review

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Koran's Medallion effect by Luke Jermay: My Review

Postby Michael Kras » May 14th, '07, 00:58



Luke Jermay's "Koran's Medallion" is a clever mentalism effect using a poker chip. The effect is as follows:

A poker chip is displayed, and the magician tells the spectators that he has written a prediction on the other side. He puts the chip in his otherwise empty pocket, and has the spectator name ANY money value they wish. It can be as simple as $100 or as complex as $1294. The magician writes the thought-of value on a sheet of paper and puts the paper aside, he then removes the poker chip from his pocket and reveals his prediction to be 100% correct!

PROS: Same poker chip before and after the effect

No forces; genuinely free choice of number

End totally clean


CONS: Must put poker chip into pocket and out of sight

Fishy action while writing down spec's number


The routine is well thought-out and very clever, [edited by mods] Actually, the whole effect relies on this. But, you can nonchalantly go through this and it doesn't look at all suspicious to laypeople.


Overall I give this effect a 7/10. Very bizarre and very clean!

Koran's Medallion comes in the form of an Instant Download at www.penguinmagic.com


Hope you enjoyed my review!

Michael Kras

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Postby .:Ham:. » May 18th, '07, 21:24

Good review! I too recommend buying this effect because it packs small and plays big!

.:Ham:.

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Postby Demitri » May 19th, '07, 05:12

Am I alone with this uncomfortable feeling that people who purchase this effect may not even know why it's called KORAN'S medallion?

After seeing the effect in action, it certainly doesn't look like it. This is a rather bad variation of a classic. Certainly not up to the level of work one would expect from Luke Jermay.

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Postby Renato » May 19th, '07, 08:47

Demitri wrote:Am I alone with this uncomfortable feeling that people who purchase this effect may not even know why it's called KORAN'S medallion?

After seeing the effect in action, it certainly doesn't look like it. This is a rather bad variation of a classic. Certainly not up to the level of work one would expect from Luke Jermay.


You're not alone - it's lost so much of the subtlety of the original classic and the suggestion inherent within the props themselves is not good.

Here's the master at work (Al Koran) performing his creation... spot the differences :(.

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Postby seige » May 19th, '07, 08:48

Demitri... I agree, Al would be turning in his proverbials at this mainstream gash.

Oh well, I do hope Jermay hasn't sould his soul to the Penguin brigade.

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Postby DrTodd » May 19th, '07, 09:20

The original and the variants are much better. This has been panned on other forums....shame really since it is such a nice effect.

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Postby bananafish » May 19th, '07, 11:57

DrTodd wrote:shame really since it is such a nice effect.
Maybe not. Maybe it will encourage people to seek out the original handling.

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Postby DrTodd » May 19th, '07, 13:27

bananafish wrote:
DrTodd wrote:shame really since it is such a nice effect.
Maybe not. Maybe it will encourage people to seek out the original handling.


Let's hope!

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Postby mark lewis » May 19th, '07, 13:33

Al Baker once said that "many a good trick has been killed by improvement"

I would have thought it was perfectly obvious that a coin or medallion made of metal would be infinitely superior to that of a plastic poker chip.

I have some bookings soon in Latin America and I may just try the medallion trick which I have always admired. However I will be doing the Koran version and will not be touching the Jermay version with a barge pole.

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Postby AndyRegs » May 19th, '07, 13:49

I mentioned on a different thread about jermay rehashing (and possibly weakening classic effects) and selling them for penguin magic. His name has somewhat been dragged through the mud at the magic cafe due to some alleged poor marketing/customer service and the quality (and honesty about what you will recieve) of his recent 'exculsive' products. I only have his 'mainstream' (ifyou can call them that) products, so can not really give an opinion on them.

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Postby .:Ham:. » May 19th, '07, 14:04

Hey, I like to focus on the effect I'm buying, not on what it was originally. I will agree that Al Koran does have a better version, but I still like Jermay's variation.

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Postby Michael Kras » May 19th, '07, 19:13

They are both good, but then again, they are both basically the same.

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Postby Renato » May 19th, '07, 20:07

Michael Kras wrote:They are both good, but then again, they are both basically the same.


They're really not. Basic methodology similarities perhaps, but Koran's version is superior.

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Postby y2john » May 19th, '07, 23:42

Koran's is far superioir in performance and the fact that it's inscribed into the medallion. To me Lukes recent release of his is extremely disappointing and the effect shown as on the demo was completely see through. Of course this is just my opinion, and but many on themagiccafe seem to have a similar opinion.

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