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i was watching bobos magic on dvd and i was wondering what coin he is using to do the back palm to front. i ve got the book as well but it doesnt explain on the coin he is using . the half doller is to small of a coin for my hands to hold in that position . will i need a expanded coin.

thanks for any advice in advance

Hi Jamie. I havent got the dvds but have the book. The move is described in the book using an American Dollar, its probably the same in the dvd.

jim

thanks for the quick reply . ill have a look on ebay for one . would you know if a replica morgan dollar would be big enough. dont want a original one just yet .

I use a canadian dollar. not as sexy looking and a tad heavier but a good deep milled edge makes it a nice palmer etc.

jamie82
have a look on coinvanish.com - in the Foundations section (there's a password to get in, but if you've got bobo's you'll have no problem answering it) there's a bit about coins, ages and so on. He talks about expanded shells, unexpanded shells, the difference between clad and silver coins and so on. That will also give you an idea of what years to look for if you want actual silver coins and not clad ones.

As for the relative sizes, have a look on wikipedia. A lot of the coins on there list things like diameter, and any in the better articles I think they might have details of changes (diameter, for exapmple) that came about. With a bit of homework and looking at different coins fron different countries you might find what you need.

The old English 1p coin is pretty big.
US Dollars
Canadian Dollars
5 French Francs (though these are a touch smaller than a US half so maybe not what you're after now)
I think the swiss 5 franc might be a bit bigger than the US Half, but I seem to remember it's thickness being something like a £1 coin, I could be wrong there though.

Those are all the big coins I can think of off-hand, but I'm sure there are more.

thanks for the help ill have a look on that site before i buy a coin .

already got hald dollars but bought a gold dollar off e bay but was smaller than the half

jamie82 wrote:thanks for the help ill have a look on that site before i buy a coin .

already got hald dollars but bought a gold dollar off e bay but was smaller than the half

Yeah, our modern dollar coins are smaller than the half dollars. Our dollars pre-1979 are the full silver dollar size. The cheapest of these to buy are the Eisenhower dollars that were minted from 1971-1978. However, finding gimmicked Eisenhower dollars is damn near impossible because traditionally the more expensive Morgan dollars are used in magic.

ETA: You can buy cheap Chinese knock-ff Morgan dollars are eBay. Visually they pass the inspection for magic purposes but you're not going to fool a coin collector or dealer with them due to the crude minting and lack of silver content. These auctions claim that 'REPLICA' are stamped somewhere on the coin but it isn't. They use a stock photo of a 'REPLICA' stamped coin but ship you a "true" copy. I do not know what your native laws are on the subject matter. There is also somewhat of an ethics issue as well.

No probs, Jamie.
I actually found the site quite useful apart from the coins, he gives his opinion on where to start with bobo too. I dunno how far along you are with things, but I'm only just starting out, so being given a clue as to which concealments, techniques and vanishes to start off with rather than just doing the book in order or randomly choosing them has been a big help.

BigShot wrote:No probs, Jamie.
I actually found the site quite useful apart from the coins, he gives his opinion on where to start with bobo too. I dunno how far along you are with things, but I'm only just starting out, so being given a clue as to which concealments, techniques and vanishes to start off with rather than just doing the book in order or randomly choosing them has been a big help.

Check out the "What to learn first from BoBo?" sticky.

Full of great info from Michael Jay and others.

Great link there, Robb, thanks very much.
I never saw that until now.

Jamie, I just looked for my own reference...
...the "big" pre-decimal British 1p coin is slightly larger than a half dollar

Half dollar = 30.61mm
Penny = 31mm

I don't know if that's enough of a difference for you, but if the half is almost large enough, it could be.

Just thought too, another "big" coin to consider is the old Irish Punt. I think they have a really nice sound to them too - something I remember well from being a kid was the sound that coin made being vey different to any other I'd seen. I'm not sure why that detail stuck with me, but it did.

I haven't tried this since decimalisation; the old half-crown was ideal for me.

Barry

.robb. wrote:

BigShot wrote:No probs, Jamie.
I actually found the site quite useful apart from the coins, he gives his opinion on where to start with bobo too. I dunno how far along you are with things, but I'm only just starting out, so being given a clue as to which concealments, techniques and vanishes to start off with rather than just doing the book in order or randomly choosing them has been a big help.

Check out the "What to learn first from BoBo?" sticky.

Full of great info from Michael Jay and others.

ye thanks ill take a look. ive got the dvd as well which makes it miles easyer than the book to follow

[quote="BigShot"]Jamie, I just looked for my own reference...
...the "big" pre-decimal British 1p coin is slightly larger than a half dollar

Half dollar = 30.61mm
Penny = 31mm

I don't know if that's enough of a difference for you, but if the half is almost large enough, it could be.quote]

the Old English Pennies are a tad bigger but they dont have a milled edge (the grooves around the outside) no biggie in most scenarios but can be a great help with a few palms.

I'd read that milled edges made some things easier, I've not got the experience to know just how much easier though.

I wonder, would milling the edge, if done neatly, be subtle enough? I wonder how many people, if any, would pick up on it.