talkmagic.co.uk

if you make a 10p apear from empty hands, people think its so small i just didnt see it. if you then produce a large chineese coin or half or my favourate a silver english penny, then they think that coins so big how could he possibly have hidden it, no way, he must have a false hand.
useing different / forign coins allows you to say that they have diferent properties than regular coins, due to there size you can fold them into small bits and even take bites out of them yet they remain unharmed.

coin's need to be visual so the bigger the better for coins across routines and coin changes, my favourate is the capracorn change from dear old wierd jay sankey, utiliseing the tenki or gosham pinch, amasing when a half visibly changes to a chineese coin, back and forth as required and i start with sakeys i have two empty hands and a coin, well worth the effort, its just not as much fun with a 10p and a 2p.

I finf that smaller coins like 10p are palmable, it just takes a little more practice to get your hand looking natural. The milled edge on 10p helps quite a lot, and it is also easier if you have dry hands (I don't usually so the coins can slip after a while). 50p is harder bacause of the shape, the pointy bits mean that you have a less even contact so if one part slips the rest is more likely to.

As a sort of impartial observer, I wouldn't be impressed with anything using our current 5p and 1p coins in terms of a manipulation routine. The 10p is not all that visual so I guess it would have to be foreign or £2 coins - rather expensive props and not all that likely to be as borrowable (if there's such a word!) as £1 and 50p coins.

Having said that, things like The Matrix/Great British Coin Trick and so on are good with 2p coins but use other props as well so are more visual overall.

I like the £2 cos it's a great size and a milled edge gives easy palming, yet quite visual and because it is regular money there is no need for stories to explain why you are using a foreign coin and less suspicion of it being a special gimmicked coin. I do however accept that in some cases MagicDiscoMan has a point about it being an advantage to suggest the coin has magical properties. Where this is an issue I reckon you can't beat a chinese coin.

Coin Meisters might like to check out http://www.allmagic.com/magicshow/gregw ... facto.html

http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=673 copper /silver x2 =£18.00.
half dollars x2 =£2.
http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=685 optional shell x1 =£19.95.

woo quite exspensive for a trick but then you have two of the best utility props for coin work so if you dont have them get them, and e-magictricks is about the cheepest when bought tougether.

To classic palm small coins (if you need to for some or other reason), if you palm them deep (closer to your wrist) it's a bit easier. The muscles of your hand form a V so the closer to your wrist, the closer the muscles are to hold the coin. I know - a bit of useless information, but i like a challenge, so i was playing around with some small coins this weekend.

Well, I can only say that the ONLY regular coin I use is an American half.

They're big, shiny, milled quite deeply, and EVERSO easy to palm.

In fact, it's quite easy to palm at least six of the beasties, because they're thinner than a £2, but visually, they have the same sort of size.

Also, they are relatively intriguing.

Of course, this is only relevant in set-up effects. When working impromptu, a UK 10p or 2p gets my vote. Also, 10ps and 2ps have more of a 'k-ching' sound than the £2 coin. And the 'k-ching' is the seller in a lot of stuff I do.

iv'e just been looking at the link for coin palming link and technicly iv'e been doing it all wrong for the past few years, ive always palmed the coin between the little, middle and ring finger crease and the thumb stock crease.
due to the size of my hands which are ghostly and femine a half or penny fits in the creases exactly.

do i now need to relearn to palm the coin 3mm further down just for appearences, well none appearences or am i allowed to carry on with something that works and flog it as my ghost palm clip

I have employed the old school science trick of putting 2p's in some coca cola and leaving them so they become all new and shiny. Makes them pretty visual on the "flash" scale. I only have one half dollar now and i keep it in a special pocket in my wallet.

jugglemonkey wrote:I have employed the old school science trick of putting 2p's in some coca cola and leaving them so they become all new and shiny. Makes them pretty visual on the "flash" scale. I only have one half dollar now and i keep it in a special pocket in my wallet.

Like it.

But doesn't it make your coke taste funny?

Re. MagicDiscoMan... mate, being fair, as long as you're concealing the coin for a purpose, I don't think it matters HOW or WHERE you palm it. It's the effect that counts. I spent yonks trying to learn the classic palm from books, and wondered why it never happened.
Now, I just do it 'where it feels right' in my hand, and it works a treat - and this is, I think (I hope!) how most people learn it.

On the debate of 'which foreign coin/which UK coin', I've never been asked. As I say, if you're doing things on an impromptu basis regularly, it's worthwhile practicing with 10p and 2p (Or, in Taneous' case for instance, your 'common' native coinage).

However - half-dollars seem to be a bit of an 'industry standard' - even though they are not US current wonga either. I think it's their size, their 'tactile' quality, and the fact that the kennedy's have a copper coloured milled edge - making the copper/silver effect possible.

Plus, I find them more of a 'token' than a coin. The routine of manipulating coins could be done with flat washers, as far as the speccy is concerned. It's the effect, I think.

It's also nice to drop them down for inspection afterwards - as the US coinage and more so the Chinese coins have a real magicial quality to people.

Chinese 'holed' coins are also very good, if you can get them in US half size. They make a perfect compliment, and are generally easy to palm. If you're lucky - you can get brass ones with various coloured enamel insets - very attractive.

And as taneous says, it's sometimes an excuse for an elaborate 'plot' or tale, having foreign coins.

Plus - the mystery of an old English Penny (you can pick up a handful of these for about a £1 if you shop around) to people who've never seen one is quite enchanting.

BACK TO PALMING...
I've just thought of something else which may help... the essence of training your hand for a 'natural' looking classic palm takes ages - it doesn't just 'happen'.
You need to be doing it often - walking round Sainsbury's, walking the dog, watching telly. The muscle control needed to be able to just drop a coin into palm is NOT something which us hooomans are born with.

Hints: open your palm flat. Drop a coin onto your palm. Keeping ALL your fingers as straight as you can, bring your TT (your real one ) and the tip of your pinky together. The coin should get gripped. This is only a layman's thing, but this is how I taught my nephew, and within a few months, he was palming coins, balls, keys, all sorts. And he's got a cracking muscle-pass going on.

Cant' think of much more to add than has already been said. One of the best bits of advice was from Nick, who mentioned dry hands... sounds obvious, but as the years have gone on, I've become almost obsessive about having squeaky clean, freshly washed hands when doing coin work. It's a good tip.

The one thing i still need to be concious of is my thumb tends to stick out like I'm hitchhiking when i put a coin into a classic palm. So now I make sure i touch my TT to the side of my first finger.

Dry hands used to be a problem for me (or lack thereof), but i had an operation recently which ensures I always have dry hands - which has really helped. It's a bit tricky with cards, though, where it sometimes helps to have a bit of friction. Ah well - you can't have it all

Practicing the muscle pass really helped my classic palm - I think it's cos it develops the muscles used in palming the coin. The calous that has formed also helps a bit. I find that I put the coin now in the same place for the classic palm as when I do the muscle pass - it's become the place that's most comfortable for me.

taneous wrote:The one thing i still need to be concious of is my thumb tends to stick out like I'm hitchhiking when i put a coin into a classic palm. So now I make sure i touch my TT to the side of my first finger.

As it happens, I think most of us have come across this. But, it's something which I think vanishes once the right muscles are fit and working. In fact, it's possible to move all of your fingers almost freely whilst palming, once you've got the knack.

The only usual giveaway that a magician has a coin in palm is the 'dimple' in the main knuckle of the pinky. I think that's almost impossible to hide.

However, by relaxing the whole hand (except the muscles which are palming the coin), the whole thing becomes a lot more natural. Once it all fits into place, palming a coin uses virtually no straining or stress at all.

A common misconception is that you have to grip the coin like it's got to slice into your skin. But actually, once you've got it sussed, the coin just kind of sits there quite happily, and you really feel not much exertion at all.

The dimple is very hard to hide but if you try curling your fingers in a little bit further than you normall would it does become less noticable

getting the coin into classic palm without kicking thee thumb is the bain of coin palmers everywere, j sankey dosn't even bother to hide it.
amars advice is to practice going into classic palm with the thunb and first finger touching in an ok like jesture, since its is done with your hand at waist level under distraction then its not to much of an issue but praticeing amars method will help disguise the kick out.