Ladies and Gentlemen,

Two questions:

1. What current currency British coins do you use for your sleights? I find the 10 pence too small, the 2 pence about right (but is not milled), the 50 pence is okay but a bit ugly, and I quite like the 2 pound.

2. I've got quite wide palms and a large fold of skin between my thumb and index finger. Consequently I find the Down's Palm difficuly because a. the gap is between the thumb and finger is a bit big to hold, say, a 10p and, b. the flap of skin gets in the way. Does anyone else find this or will I overcome it after continued practise?

Cheers,

Beetroot

Personally (and this is only personally), I find the edge of a 2p far easier to palm than that of a 10p. And I presume, from your comments, that you find the reverse.

I therefore find 2p and 50p easy to palm, and £2 too despite its edge. But 10p (and half dollar) I find difficult to palm.

That applies to Classic Palm and to Downs Palm.

Regarding Downs Palm, your hands are probably different from mine. But I will say that it took me ages, many years ago, to master Downs Palm. And now it's dead easy. But I'm no expert.

Dave

PS. Note that plain-rimmed coins have an advantage. If you buy a non-expanded shell with a set of shimmed coins, the shimmed coins look normal without any extra work.

I use half dollars!

Seriously, I carry these around with me and as they're not legal tender, I can't spend them!

But seriously, one of my favourite impromptu tricks is a down's palm vanish and reproduction. I can do this with coins down to a 1p size.

I've just tried DP a half dollar and then a 20p (separately). I automatically tend to leave the smaller coin closer up the thumb, so there is a gap between the thumb crotch and coin.

Interestingly, it works out that the two coins contact the thumb and palm in roughly the same place.

Anyway, my advice is to just practice with whatever coin you have handy and with time you should be able to find a position that suits your hands - regardless of size of coin and whether it has a milled edge or not.

Cheers,
Shafique

Have you tried the old 10p or the 2 shilling which was the same size? The old half crown is nice too, a bit larger than the half dollar. They are cheap and usually worn soft.

I'll stick with standard current coinage simply because people are more likely to buy into (!) what I'm doing if I use what they're used to.

Dave, thanks for you comments. I note your point about the coin edges. I actually do find the 2 pence easier than the 10 pence because of the slight difference in size. I just assumed it would be easier to hang onto the thing if the edge was milled.

Thanks for everyone's responses. I thought I'd ask to see what people this side of the pond thought since a lot of coin effects are described using American coins (which I very much like the look of, but don't really want to do by bulk practising with).