Chinese Bit by Eddie Gibson

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Chinese Bit by Eddie Gibson

Postby dat8962 » Dec 2nd, '07, 12:54



The Effect

Three coins, a two pound coin, an old English penny and a Chinese bit (the one with the hole through the centre) can be inspected by the specs before being placed in the hand. Slowly and under the closest of scrutiny the coins transpose from hand to hand. You end totally clean.

Cost

£47.99 from Alakazam

Difficulty

(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

I’m inclined to rate this as a 2. Although nothing too difficult and it’s basically self working, you do need to get the hang of a certain move that an experienced magician will not have any difficulty with.

Review

This was another CUPS purchase based on my liking for Gibson coins and on the routine itself. As with all Gibson coins the quality is simply TOP NOTCH and the instructions are written well, easy to follow and printed on decent paper. All too often these days other peoples coins are shipped with a third generation photocopy that’s grubby and cheapskate. Not so here and it’s the little details that often makes the difference and you have to ask if it’s really worth turning out dodgy quality for the sake of three pieces of A4 paper?

No DVD to learn from here so back to basics and learning magic through traditional methods which is a pleasant but personally satisfying. In my opinion there’s a greater sense of reward and achievement when learning from written instructions. I paused my reading at several stages of the handling to reflect how simple yet brilliant the thinking is behind gimmick, the handling of it and the routine.

The routine begins with three clean coins and ends with three clean coins. The switch for the gimmick is done under the guise of the routine itself as part of the instruction to the specs so there is nothing complicated at all. The gimmick is undetectable from the clean coins and the routine means that the spec won’t know which of the coins in play is the gimmick even if they are still suspicious after handling them.

The result is something that looks from the specs perspective as if it could only be explained as being sleight of hand. Unlike more simple routines where only two coins swap places, the three coins make this all the more impossible in the eyes and minds of the specs as two coins in the right and one in the left, suddenly become two coins in the left and one in the right hand.

Overall

This is a really beautiful piece of engineering coupled with some extremely clever thinking. Some may be put off by the price but if you look at the quality of what you are buying and the use that you will get from this, I think that it’s a cheap price to pay and the fewer that own these items the better for those who do.

Ten out of ten for what is most probably one of the best coin transpo's on the market

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Postby Lord Freddie » Dec 2nd, '07, 13:51

I'm a sucker for Gibson coins and at this time of the year CUPS purchases have to be kept to a minimum and then comes along our old chum dat8962 with a £47.99 purchase I now feel I must have! :evil:

Nice review, the Gibson coins are of a superb quality and the ones I have last me years (unless I spend them in error). This sounds like another great coin effect from EG.

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Postby dat8962 » Dec 2nd, '07, 15:20

:lol:

You won't be disapointed and this certainly would make a nice Christmas pressie to yourself! Go on - you know you want to!!!! :wink:

Finally, after about 2 years of wearching I finally got a genuine and brancd new Gibson 2p/10p coin unique with a huge huge amount of thanks to Mike Danata.

I had been using a JB magic miracle coin and also one bought off a TM member that was originally purchased in Davenports (it wasn't ever claimed to be a genuine EG coin BTW).

Anyway, the Gibson quality stands head and shoulders above the other two. Next up I want a genuine Gibson £2/10p :wink:

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Postby Yorkshire Pudding » Dec 2nd, '07, 17:08

I used to have a Gibson Chinese Bit many years ago.

I agree that it is top notch but did not find it entirely flawless. If I remember correctly, the difficulties I had at the time were:
- Some talking of the coins.
- The specs getting confused over which coin was supposed to be where (clear, careful and steady presentation needed here!).
- The coin toss from the back of the hand I found to be a bit dodgy but I couldn't think of a better way of doing it at the time.

I was a lot younger then though so I guess my skills may have come on a bit since then. Notwithstanding the above, I agree it is a great trick... maybe I should give it another go...

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Postby dat8962 » Dec 2nd, '07, 17:24

I agree that these are potential issues but I think that you've hit the nail on the head with what you have said about expereince.

I haven't had ANY problem with the coins talking and if you're performing in a working environment where there is some background noise then this won't be an issue anyway. This is also one of those routiens where you use patter throughout so the specs willbe focusing on what you are saying and if your presentaiton is good then they will follow.

I have to say that I also found the pass from the back of the hand a not too difficult move to pick up and without spending much time on it either.

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Postby Yorkshire Pudding » Dec 2nd, '07, 18:41

I'm sure you're right. It's probably about 30 years since I last tried it so maybe I should give it another go... another one for Santa perhaps!

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Postby Al Doty » Dec 24th, '07, 20:52

Is there a place in the US that sells the Gibson coins? I saw some coins made in India that do the same routine but are of poor quality. I refuse to buy knockoffs and if made in India usually means the labor used to make their imports is children. I won't make someone rich off the backs of children. I might be wrong about the labor thing but it has been an issue in the news before.
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Postby dat8962 » Dec 24th, '07, 23:36

It looks as if Eddie does make a set with a US coin if you look at his web site below.

http://www.eddiegibsonmagic.com

Happy hunting

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Postby Yorkshire Pudding » Dec 25th, '07, 19:15

dat8962 wrote:It looks as if Eddie does make a set with a US coin if you look at his web site below.

http://www.eddiegibsonmagic.com

Happy hunting


Am I missing something or are there no UK coins on his site? I'm sure there used to be or am I mistaken? I do hope plod hasn't been hassling him for defacing the queen's head or something...

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Postby dat8962 » Dec 26th, '07, 12:19

Apparently Eddie still makes the £1/1p but that's it in preference of the Euro.

Apparently the Euro's sell far more than British currency now and I suppose that you can only make so many!

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Postby Yorkshire Pudding » Dec 26th, '07, 16:59

That's a real pity. I used to have the 'Three Coin Monty' in old 10p/2p (before the 10p's shrank a few years ago) and always intended to get this again with current coinage... looks like I'm out of luck.

I've just given myself a John Kennedy 'Supercoin' for Christmas though (10p version) and am pleasantly surprised, better than I expected.

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Postby Replicant » Feb 23rd, '08, 11:56

I've been looking at this one for a while now and I'm very tempted. The effect sounds quite similar to Sterling Magic's Classic Coin Transpo; that version uses an English Penny, a US Half and a Mexican Centavo. Can anyone confirm this?

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Postby Sleightech » Jul 13th, '08, 18:11

I can't confirm that, but I think Doc Eason uses a Johnson set, that's got those coins. I saw him at Blackpool a few years back, and he was impressed by the Gibson set, but you couldn't do his routine with it, due to the "allowance" for the Chinese coin. I think it's on Doc Easons Bar magic 3. I may be getting mixed up, as he was referring to a routine in a book he'd written, but I'm assuming they are one and the same.
I've got a set of Mr Gibsons, and wrote a review on them :wink: . I'd bang in a link, but will check with the Mods first. I don't want to be cheeky.
Replicant, I'll get you to spend some cash if it kills me :lol: .

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Postby Replicant » Jul 13th, '08, 18:22

Sleightech wrote:...Replicant, I'll get you to spend some cash if it kills me :lol: .


Won't be difficult! I'm being paid on Wednesday. :D

I don't do as much coin work as I used to, but I love the sound of this set. You can't go wrong with Eddie Gibson.

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Postby Rob » Jul 15th, '08, 09:14

Replicant wrote:
Sleightech wrote:...Replicant, I'll get you to spend some cash if it kills me :lol: .


Won't be difficult, Jason! I'm being paid on Wednesday. :D

I don't do as much coin work as I used to, but I love the sound of this set. You can't go wrong with Eddie Gibson.


Hey Rep!

I've had my Gibson's Chinese Bit for nearly two years, and I have to say, whether you normally work with coins, or not, it really is the doggies do-dahs!

Stunningly machined, and a killer routine, coupled with the ability to hand all coins out for examination at the end.

CUPS really doesn't come into this purchase, so long as you're willing to spend an hour learning the routine, and a week or so polishing your presentation.

It really is a steal for the money, in terms of the punch it packs :D

Now...buy a bloody set, already :wink:

Rob

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