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Rito so I was performing at a party at the weekend and some guy started kinda heckling and challenging me to say I bet I couldnt steal something from him....I don have a clue how to this effect, but I didnt know what to say back...

I took his wrists and saw that one had a chunky bracelet...I laughed and said "that expensive" and he laughed and so did other specs...I then askes him if it was a present from his mum and as I did I held his wrist tightly and undid this latch thingy on the braclet...

by the time they had all laughed I was holding the braclet in my other hand in fron of his face...this all took about 5 seconds? I was impressed and everyone laughed and went "man thats cool..."

So now Im interested in this skill, weres the best place to start? Maybe I just fluked it first time so I want to learn technique and ways to pratice without getting shot or arrested?

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Magic world used to stock pick pocket routines. I know theres a great dvd on this and I can picture it in my mind but can't for the life of me remember who it's by.

I'm sure that I've seen books on pickpocketing on Cards 4 Magic

I got 2 DVDs on watch stealing from Hocus Pocus - they came as free gifts. Apparently there are 4 in the series.

Mastering the Art of Watch Stealing with James Coats I believe is rated quite highly, although I've never looked into it myself.

http://www.academymagic.com/products/Ma ... -94-3.html

James Caotes yes that's him... he's good and has more stuff available.

There's an ultimate guide somewhere I believe too but dont know who its by.

Cheers

Strangely enough I've never been impressed with all that watch/wallet stealing stuff, far too smarty-pants for my liking and the specs seem to be a very second rate part of the act, not much respect shown to them other than as a source of embarrassing humour for everyone else. If anyone did that to me I think I'd be very angry and not the best kind of spectator, sorry .

I'd also like to recommend Byrd and Coates. I have a DVD called 'Mastering the Art of Pickpocketing by Byrd & Coates' which as well as the pickpocketing aspect, also goes into watch and bracelet removal, as well as put-pocketing (where you load objects into people's pockets or around their necks) and the removal of people's belts and ties without them realising.

Very good, very clear instructions in my opinion, even though I haven't practiced any of it - I just watched it purely for the greed for knowledge.

It must have been a very odd spec to challenge you to "steal something" if you'd been doing a magic/mentalism routine? Normally I get challenged with "tell me what I'm thinking right now" type things. No-one's ever asked me to steal something! I could understand it if you were doing a pick-pocket routine. Very odd. But anyway...

themagicwand wrote:It must have been a very odd spec to challenge you to "steal something" if you'd been doing a magic/mentalism routine? Normally I get challenged with "tell me what I'm thinking right now" type things. No-one's ever asked me to steal something! I could understand it if you were doing a pick-pocket routine. Very odd. But anyway...

What do you say to them? I'd say something like "You're thinking that I won't be able to read your mind"

queen of clubs wrote:
What do you say to them? I'd say something like "You're thinking that I won't be able to read your mind"

Yes, that's a good reply or alternatively "You're thinking that you really hope this is for real, but you're very doubtful," The response I would use would depend on whether it was a challenge (usually blokes) or a genuine enquiry (usually women).

However these days I usually use it as an "in" into the next routine. I'll say something like "Well that's impossible for me to say. The human mind in incapable of thinking of just one thing at a time. There are so many stimuli around us that our minds are continually flitting around and being distracted. That's why I use objects such as playing cards. They give us something solid and definite to concentrate on. Here, let's try a little experiment to show you what I mean..."

Long ago I did a short but fair Pick Pocket act as a kind of tourism service thing. I've done a few gags with friends here and there and even did a comedy mind reading bit I stole from the old Munster's show, in which the charlatan stole the mans wallet and was reading information from out of it... kind of a psychic version of Paper Wads Over the Shoulder...

All in all I've found that Pick Pocketing is not overly amusing to most, outside the performer himself and maybe the band of local jocks that have had more than a few pints of ale. Billy McComb, myself and a handful of others got into a very long discussion about this very thing during lunch at the Magic Castle one afternoon (this was over 20 years ago) and the consensus seemed to be that with very, VERY few exceptions, most pick pocket acts stink and are distasteful... quite insulting to the poor victims. Ironically the one act that most people gave their thumbs up on what Harry Blackstone's (Jr) because Harry would never do anything to belittle others, that's just not how the man looked at life.

I was fortunate enough to learn from and work with Gerard Majax long ago. He was the talk of Europe for quite some time, his skills just down right uncanny. Especially when he demonstrated the "Electric Vest"... a modern version of the old Bell Coat used by the Gypsies to train kids in the pick pocket's craft. If you can find any old video on him I think you'll be impressed.

There seems to be a lot of material around, ranging from a whole series on watch-stealing (covering different types of bands, I think, as mentioned above), to other DVDs that cover the whole shebang in one go.

I've got to say that I agree with Craig and Mandrake. Often, this stuff comes across as a bit smug, or even cruel. Mark Raffles had/has (I don't know if he still performs) such a lovely sweet manner that I doubt anyone ever really took offence, but even then the act was at least partly about making someone look a little silly.

If you really are interested, Chris, I think you first should decide if you want to learn specifically about watch stealing, or if you are also interested in 'proper' pickpocketing.

honestly? I never got tauight, I just went out and did it. Practiced on family youngsters, before moving onto family drunks, before moving onto family sobers, before moving onto friends, before moving onto strangers!

Seems a logical step to me!