For your first coin trick, how about something easy and entertaining, like "Two in the Hand, One in the Pocket." As you work more with coins, you can make it more deceptive and you will always have a routine to test your concealments and transfers with.

Coin in the bottle

Dave,

There is a very nice Jennings effect where a coin vanishes to appear inside the deck on a spectator's card.

I used to do the thing with a stack of library cards and a borrowed quarter. I'd stamp the book, ask for a quarter then stamp both the card and the quarter. Have them put the stamped card into the stack, and have the quarter find their card. It went over well.

There are many really good coin effects. Even the most direct copper/silver transposition can work well.

I suggest start learning hold outs and false transfers. Keep learning a complete effect on hold. Once you get the basic hold outs on, you can start putting them together and suddenly you find you can do quite a few effects.

True that with coins you have a hot hand. And for me, coin sleights appear to be more difficult. But with coin effects, I find that I get to learn a lot more about misdirection than cards. With cards, I find that I focus more on the sleights itself.

So when I started out with coins, my cards presentation somehow improved a little.

So well... I suggest learning ungaffed effects first.

By the way, did you start of on cards gimmicked or ungimmicked?

Hopping Half set offers the best set of gimmick coins that can be used for many other routines. Johnson's price on a set is reasonable and the quality good.

BUT...for the true coin man..the true Ultimate dreamer's coins....Bob Kohler's U3F

I'd agree with George! If you're mainly a card guy who's looking for one or two coin tricks, then hopping half is for you.

There are a couple of cool phases, a great ending (you end clean) and it resets easily (durig the few moments while you're walking another group of spectators). Plus you get a shell to use with other effects (Shadow Coins, Shell Coins Across, etc).

Ultimate Three Fly is usually something that I usually reserve for extra special occasions. If you're going to get two effects that you'll use forever, get hopping half and U3F. Good Luck!

Copper/Silver Coin! Because then you can do Hopping Half, Copper Silver Transpositions, and Copper Silver Brass routines till your hearts content, since there are a lot of very minimal routines out there.

Thanks for all the good advice. I actually took a leap and learned two ungimmicked matrix routines, from Shoot Ogawa's Lecture notes/video. Watching him perform makes me feel like a child again....it really does look like true magic in his hands.

I saw him perform in London last November at the competition and his matrix routines really blew me away. Even though I had absolutely no matrix experience, I HAD to buy the notes and video. I'm really glad I had him sign my notes because this guy is really going places IMO.

Dave

I'VE been using Whisper, and getting great reactions.

Simple and easy DIME AND PENNY!!! I too am a card man but this is a truly nice feat and leaves you clean and not many people (magi included) know about gaffed pennies. to me on the 12th

This is absolutely true.
I enjoy performing them...

99 cent trick
Coins Accross (Tenkai Pennies)
Questionable Trick


I don't do the third one as much but the first 2 are great.

I can't believe no one has suggested learning the coin work of the Master.... Slydini.

What he could do with a handfull of coins will (and has) blow away anybody.

Besides, the skill level is not that high, but the timing and misdirection he taught will serve you well in many areas.

You asked for the ONE, GIMMICKED coin effect to KNOCK'EM DEAD! (My emphasis)

Do the cigarette through the quarter. It uses a coin that everyone is familiar with, looks absolutely impossible, and there are several ways to "get into it" and "out of it" that are deceptive and relatively easy. Don Alan had a great way to get into the trick: He asked who had any change in thier pocket. When someone volunteered a handful, Don would say, "let's see what you've got there..." and push the coins around in the spectators hand as if trying to decide what to use. Finally he would take a quarter from the handful and say, "This will do...".

Next, he borrowed a cigarette, lit it, laid it down, lit end on the quarter, which was laying flat on his left fingers. After a minute, during which he told a joke or two, he announced that the heat had sufficiently softened the metal. Then he lifted the cigarette off the coin, put the coin in Spellbound position, and did the penetration.

Finished up by removing the cigarette and tried returning it to the owner, who was hesitant to take it. Don then stopped and put it out. This gave him plenty of time and misdirection to switch the gaff for a regular coin and then, when attention was off the cigarette and back on the coin, to return it to the spectator.

Don always had a tag line to finish up, and the "cigarette through" was no different. I won't tell you his, but I'm sure you can think of something. I say, "careful, it's still hot!" as I blow on the coin to cool it before returning it. It cost you a quarter every time you do the trick, but it is probably worth it...

That's what I'd do if I was looking for just ONE killer gaffed coin trick.

Best, PSC

Dilusional, right on.
I KNOW the dime and penny but when I went to a magic store in NJ and asked for a trick for the kids and he demoed dime and penny, producing dime from mouth we fell over!! Great effect. Hard to appreciate ANY magic that is not seen (despite books-are-best people).

The two headed coin is the only gimmick in coins that I will use.
Pete wrote the master Slydini... Pete I do not recall Slydini using any gimmicks with coins, but I could be wrong.

vinny

Hi Vinny!

You are right. Tony rarely used gaffed coins. The closest he came to a gimmick was a coin clip that he sold for a version of the coins through the table. He could do just about anything with gaffs, though, and when he came into the magic shop I ran for a while, he would demonstrate some of the presentations he'd tinkered with for gaffs. But as far as his own performances, no gimmicked coins!

Best, PSC

There is a truly diabolical use of a C/S coin to make a copper silver transposition published in Apocalypse. The item is titled 'Inferrential Copper Silver Transpo' by Curtis Kam.

That might suit your needs. No palming, and both coins go into spectator hands. Then they change places. Very clean and simple too. Should also fool magicians.

Lethal Tender.

If you wait a little bit, there's supposedly a trick by B.J. Bueno coming out called DIGITAL DISSOLVE which is one of the most visual coin effects EVER created. This will absolutely fry 'em!

I'd recommend the copper/silver transposition from Brainstorm In The Bahamas (also in Book 3 of the Art Of Astonishment series)

It uses a dime and a penny, which means no uncommon coins are in play, and it ends with a bent penny in the spectator's own hand!

It's easy to do so you can be up and running with it in a very short time.