talkmagic.co.uk

How will this affect things?

http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... hill-fiver

Australian banknotes have been made of plastic, with see through transparent sections, for many moons - I wonder how they get on with banknote magic?

The 15% reduction in size for Churchill notes compared with the current Elizabeth Fry fiver brings English notes into line with sizes in other countries. But they will remain larger than existing euro notes and the different denominations of sterling will retain tiered sizes to help blind people differentiate between them.

All those 'lottery ticket/magazine cuttings to bank note' props will need remaking! For a while any magish askig to borrow a banknote from the audience will need to be wary if a switch is involved at some point, very similar to when old and new versions of £10 and £20 notes are both in circulation. Ditto any routine involving tearing a bank note as polymer notes don't tear very easily - if at all.

Mandrake wrote:For a while any magish askig to borrow a banknote from the audience will need to be wary if a switch is involved at some point, very similar to when old and new versions of £10 and £20 notes are both in circulation.

Of course with at least 4 types of each note in circulation in Scotland, this is an all too common problem here. I think there's only one bank issuing £100 notes, but not much point asking a typical Scottish audience for one of those.

Ian

Apart from routines that need you to tear a note, there shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as they fold the same.

I like bill switches, so as long as I can still do the one that I do, then that's ok with me!

Didn't one of the Northern Irish banks trial plastic notes a while back, what were they like? If they're anything like the Australian plastic notes I think folding them might be a problem. I guess we'll just have to wait and see and adapt to suit them.

Well, they're here and in use! Already there's magic being done with them but nothing new, just good old tried and tested stuff - see
https://www.theguardian.com/global/vide ... iver-video notably via the same newspaper as referred to in the first post in this thread!

Sadly not seen any yet.. Anybody had any ?

I briefly saw one earlier this week but have had none in change yet. According to MSN the first issues with AA prefixes in the serial number or consecutive numbers are being traded at up to £200 each - presumably to be stashed away for several years and then offered for sale to other collectors? See http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/money/savi ... 4098466490 for more details.

Mandrake wrote:I briefly saw one earlier this week but have had none in change yet. According to MSN the first issues with AA prefixes in the serial number or consecutive numbers are being traded at up to £200 each - presumably to be stashed away for several years and then offered for sale to other collectors? See http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/money/savi ... 4098466490" target="_blank for more details.

I'm not surprised by that.. Collectors are a strange bunch.

As a collector of (never likely to he used) magic tricks I can only agree with your assessment!

Mandrake wrote:As a collector of (never likely to he used) magic tricks I can only agree with your assessment!

Sadly also the same.. My attic will tell you this.

I got my first one a couple of days ago... I have 3 now.
I was just coming on here to suggest a brainstorm on things we could do with them... although might need to wait until you've all received one of them.

A magician friend of mine pointed out that if you fold it in half there is a clear window in the note... and this window goes directly over the top of one of the serial numbers, allowing a peek of the number inside. Maybe not very deceptive like this, but food for thought, especially if layered with something else.

There might be an application for using the "window" to view inside the machine in card warp.

I haven't tried it yet, and I've a feeling the note might be too small.

Has anyone managed todo an Easy Money/Extreme Burn or similar effect with the new plastic banknotes? I just can't get a good crease into them that'll then flop over when it comes to the change.

Yep, I folded them separately under an iron for a few days before making the gimmick. You also have to be careful with the window when it comes to applying the solution because you'll see it through the transparent part. Plus the note has a tendency to flop forwards after the change unlike the paper ones so you have to be on the ball when it comes to catching it. I put a quick vid on the Alakazam product facebook page to demonstrate.