talkmagic.co.uk

High. For a number of years I was very active in magic. For various reasons I have not actually actively been into it for the last 6 years though. I dabble here and there... but I just didn't have the spirit for it that I once did. Recently I have rekindled my interest and just recently went digging through my supplies to see what I wanted to do. I used to do large scale illusions and stage magic.. but I have since sold all my illusions and I have been moving torwards cards and coins and other general close-up magic.

I was once fairly skilled withe coin boxes... but I am now very rusty.

Anyways.... After getting what I wanted to use, I found that most of what I had for coins, in terms of shells and folding coins... etc... were all regular US half dollars. I know that magicians (at least in the US) seem to prefer silver half dollars. This raises the question of whether I should put away my regular expanded halves and such and move to silver. I have some silver coins... but I wasn't sure if there was a specific type of silver half dollar that was preferred? (year and type and such?)... also how aailable are silver expanded shells and silver folding coins... and the like... the expanded shell is really the most important... I don't use the folding coin except for an interesting rendition of the coin in bottle in which the label eventually turns itself inside out as well.

Anyways... any information would be appreciated. I primarily like working with silver half dollars (which I have used before in the coin boxes) and "english pennies" (are they really pennies? They're awfully large! )

Also besides the coin boxes... what else makes a good basis for coin magic? I'm trying to move away from gimmicks and more towards sleight of hand.... so expanded shells and coin boxes will both be helpful... but what else? I am not so interested in one-trick-wonders like cigarette through coin... there was a time during which I loved those tricks... but no longer.

Anyways... I'm rambling... thanks.

I think to stick to silver half dollars and English pennies is a good idea. I've recently purchased a few half dollars (1964) and English pennies (1967) from a local magic shop along with an expanded shell for half dollars. The shell works just fine, although I am not planning to use it a lot, as I've finally arrived at the point where I want to avoid using gimmicks as much as possible and only work on my sleight-of-hand skills. Half dollars are classics in magic, so I see no reason to look further. For bigger coin tricks I would choose silver dollars. I have two of them from 1974.

I suppose it depends on which country you perform in but do any of you encounter problems using US Dollars and old English pennies? As the UK hasn't issued or used those pennies since February 15th 1971, I'd assume they'd stick out like a sore thumb as suspicious if anyone used them in the UK. Dollars are perhaps more universally known but are still 'foreign' coins to some.

Oh yes, a big welcome to TM Stewart!

Speaking of coins. Would somebody be willing to send an English penny over here to Australia. I could trade an Australian coin for an English coin. I've been experimenting with different coins, and it discovered that an American Quarter is easier to vanish than a half dollar. So yeah, if anybody is willing to trade me a few English coins for a few Australian coins, please PM me. Cheers.

Mandrake wrote:I suppose it depends on which country you perform in but do any of you encounter problems using US Dollars and old English pennies? As the UK hasn't issued or used those pennies since February 15th 1971, I'd assume they'd stick out like a sore thumb as suspicious if anyone used them in the UK.

If the coins are non-gimmicked, then suspicion can be done away with by letting people examine the coins. Of course, using your country's coins is the ideal way to avoid suspision, but often there are simply none of the proper size. Euro coins, for instance, are all small, some sleights are simply not possible with them. (

el topo wrote:I think to stick to silver half dollars and English pennies is a good idea. I've recently purchased a few half dollars (1964) and English pennies (1967) from a local magic shop along with an expanded shell for half dollars. The shell works just fine, although I am not planning to use it a lot, as I've finally arrived at the point where I want to avoid using gimmicks as much as possible and only work on my sleight-of-hand skills. Half dollars are classics in magic, so I see no reason to look further. For bigger coin tricks I would choose silver dollars. I have two of them from 1974.

yeah, same here. I've found the expanded shell is extremely useful though even when using mainly sleight of hand. However I think it's really the only gimmick that is a standard, rather than a one-trick wonder... unless you consider a sun/moon (half english penny, half half-dollar) a standard... although I'm guessing a silver one of those would be tough to find.

Mandrake wrote:I suppose it depends on which country you perform in but do any of you encounter problems using US Dollars and old English pennies? As the UK hasn't issued or used those pennies since February 15th 1971, I'd assume they'd stick out like a sore thumb as suspicious if anyone used them in the UK. Dollars are perhaps more universally known but are still 'foreign' coins to some.

Oh yes, a big welcome to TM Stewart!

Interesting idea.... are they the same size as half-dollars? I will be in London in 2 weeks on business so I could certainly get a few while there.

i have used english pennies and shells for several years because my dad was a fitter and turner so gimicking them was easy and they were redily avalable to me because my gran had 200 of them stashed away for the meter .

regards useing coins i rarely used uk coinage even when our 10p was a reasonable size so i always introduced my coins as special with special properties thats why my hopping halfs are the sun and moon variety.

are they the same size as half-dollars?

Not really - our current penny (1p) is small, only 20mm diameter, the 2p is 26mm, 5p 17mm, 10p 24mm and £1 is 23mm (all approx and using a scruffy plastic ruler). The 50p and 20p coins have corners on so aren't included in this!

Old English Pennies are collectors' items and, unless you get the really tatty ones at markets etc, will be a bit pricy as they're usually of the kind to buy and stash away whilst the increase in value. Using them for magic is an option they don't seem to consider!

http://www.magicshop.co.uk/COIN_MAGIC.23/English_Penny_Set.41.html?osCsid=c09ef915dbd58d768c20c92d61ae38f8 here

http://www.magicshop.co.uk/COIN_MAGIC.23/Expanded_Old_English_Penny_Shell.234.html?osCsid=c09ef915dbd58d768c20c92d61ae38f8and here tom

Wow - £6 plus P&P for 5 coins. If we look at US half dollars, 5 would be $2.50 (good, aren't I?!) and take the exchange rate at about $1.82 to £1 (hang on a mo while I take me socks off) that equals just under £1.40. I think I'd go for the half dollars, personally!

I did some research and called some friends.. They're all pointing me in the general direction of this guy:

http://www.toddlassen.com/ess.htm

his stuff isn't cheap... but I hear he's the best... so I'll give him a call. To be honest... I'm thinking of just putting all my old stuff away... all my scotch and soda and hopping halves... etc etc. (I somewhat collect gimmicked coins as more of a fascination than for use)... and just go back to basics.

I've done the big stuff... I've done the small stuff... but I think it's time I start fresh and re-examine magic from a new perspective.

I think I will start with a quality set of cups and balls (I had an ok Morissey combo set)... a quality chop cup..... my Jim Zachary coin boxes (if you don't own them... you must buy them)... 2 sets of sponge balls (2" maybe this time instead of 1 1/2") in different colors... and a set of good coins with one expanded shell.

I need to reread my books... (Bobo's Coin Magic... Royal Road to card magic... etc etc) and actually read them cover to cover this time.... etc. After that I'll explore getting maybe a sun/moon set... and other stuff..... but I want to take a minimalistic approach to magic... where my hands and mind are the tools... not the gimmicks. Minimal gimmicks... good idea?

As for what to get from this guy though (and going back to the original question)... which do you guys think is the best looking for magic? My friend uses his Barber set... I know another guy who uses Walking Liberty's.... I have no clue what I like...

as for English pennies... I have to explore that... I want to find some mint condition ones down here where I live... I called a coin shop and he said they were cheap as hell.... so I'll take a look at that.

Are there different kinds of english pennies?? like the half-dollars? I have no clue... I'm doing my homework first obviously before I buy anything.

Thanks guys for the help... also... since this is a UK site... any magic shops in London that I should check out while there? I will be working near South Square.... but I can really go anywhere if I wanted to obviously... any great magic shops I should check out?

Thanks.

Looks like a great gaffed coin site! There are only two basic kinds of English Penny, the old pre-decimal coin (in short form referred to as 1d) which would be dated before we changed to decimal coinage in February 1971 and is about the size of a half dollar, and the current smaller penny (referred to as 1p, spoken as 'one pee') which we've used since that date and which is about the same size as a US 1 cent coin. Just to confuse the issue, our 5p, 10p and 50p coins are all now smaller versions than the ones originally issued at decimalisation. The 5p was the same as the old one shilling coin and also the same as the US quarter so a lot of US coin effects could be done over here with our coins - until the powers that be made our coin the size of a large shirt button!

In cabaret or small show work, the choice of coin wouldn't make much difference as long a the audience can see them but for close up stuff I'd be worried that using a set of coins from a different country would alert the specs to something funny going on. There again, I worry too much anyway!

yeah, well, I was thinking around those lines too..

I worry if I use a half dollar set that is from an era nobody remembers, people will think they're fake coins....

on the other hand, at the same time, I wonder if using coins like the waking liberty half dollars or the barber half dollars would be visually appealing because of their unusual look.

I'm not sure which outweighs the other. I mean... obviously I think people are always "suspicious" when they see a magician with anything.... they assume something will be happening and therefore try to think ahead.

then again.... a HUGE number of people have never seen a half dollar ever before anyways. Even when I used real currency half dollars (Current currency) a lot of people were like, "That's not real! There's no such thing as a half-dollar coin!"..... so maybe it doesn't really matter what kind of half dollar... so long as I just say "I have here several half dollar coins".... and just let people follow along rather than reach their own conclusions.

The barber coins look really cool... they're pricey... but they look great. Then again I like the Walking Liberty coins and the Franklins...... oye... I need to think this one over for a while..

I confess I'm not all that up to date on Half Dollar/Dollar coins etc but I have quite a stash of ordinary half dollars which a friend in the US got via her mother who works in Las Vegas.

With suitable patter perhaps along the lines of, 'Las Vegas is a weird city, it's just about the only place left where you can get these half dollar coins and that's because they fit all the slot machines nicely and make the Casinos a lot more money than with the smaller coins'. Then go into a routine. OK it's an incredibly weak line but something of that sort to introduce and take the heat off might mean those coins can be used with very little suspicion. They're bright, silvery, visual, a decent size for handling and seem to be the default coin for a lot of coin effects. Just MHO, of course!

well, then again... they are actual currency.... but... hmmm.. I don't know. For some reason I have this urge to get half dollars that aren't made any more... like Barbers... or Walking Liberty's..... then I would want to use some appropriate patter to introduce them...

I have to think about this one.... lol

such a simply decision has suddenly become so complex (mainly because any which way it's a sizable investment)