I looked around a bit and didn't see any real review of this tape so I thought I would provide one. I'm a bit of an oddball when it comes to money magic because I've always been more interested in magic with bills than coins. I can't explain why, just my preference. But I was very pleased to find such a nice selection of bill tricks on this tape. The setting (Lake Tahoe) was much more pleasant then the studio his card series was filmed at.

Coins Through Silk: This one was okay, he said this routine won him a gold medal. I'm not sure why.
Dining on Dollars: I already had been performing a variation of this trick that I learned at a McBride Lecture. I love the trick. This handling was a little different, with one subtlety that I really liked and will definitely be sure to incorporate.
Flying Eagles: This was decent, but I doubt I will do it.
$5 and $1: wow! wow! wow! Ok.. I like it. consider this officially added to the ol' repetoire.
Coin from Pen Cap: I doubt any spectators would *honestly* believe the coin came from the pen cap
Chocolate Coin: What can I say. I just watched the tape last night and I've already shown this to half a dozen people. What does that tell you? This would be a great magician fooler too. I can just picture the next club meeting.. a magician has just done a coins across... and I go, "Hey... wait a second, let me see that coin... a ha!!! just as I suspected... its not even real, its made out of chocolate!!"
E-Z Money: I can't begin to tell you how much I like this trick. A magician peformed this for me about 6 months ago, and I'd been trying to find it ever since.. I thought it was called "Flash Bills".. but this is the trick, now I have it! yay!!! The Dai Vernon quote is very applicable here.. if you suddenly gained real magical powers tomorrow, which effects from your performance repetoire would you still do? Turning scraps of paper into real money seems like a pretty good idea no matter who you are.
The 10,000 Grains of Salt: its a TT trick.. Adding a dollar bill to it is okay, but nothing too exciting.. I'd be just as inclined to pour the salt into my fist.
Bill to Nut + Thoughts Bill to Impossible Location: I have been performing a Bill to orange effect for a long time, and I thought his comments about the whole Bill to Impossible location genre of trick were really insightful. His variation with the Bill to nut was awesome! but a lot of prep work!!

In summation, I liked this video. It definitely goes beyond the standard here's a coin, now its gone type of money trick. Each presentation was very distinctive.

Thanks for the review Geoff. I might get these DVDs now that they are coming out. I would assume that the first two volumes are great as well.

It sounds like you got a couple of keepers off the video, so that means it's worth it in my book.

Greetings...
I like all of the Ammar videos that I've seen, the cards and thread vids, and like you Geoff I prefer bills to coins too for some reason... so now I hafta get this video too...

IMHO, anything Michael Ammar puts out is quality.

I have all 3 money videos and they are full of very nice, strong effects and advice.

Ammar is the best. You will never go wrong buying any of his tapes or books.

I Started to learn Magic on video from Michael Ammar's and man.... it's a big shot!
Never miss it..

Everything from Michael Ammar is good.

Good review Geoff,

Its nice to hear comments on the individual effects. If you have the other two, your comments on those would be welcome as well.

thanks.. I only have vol.3 I will check to see if there's any other material in my library that should be reviewed..

My personal favorite was Volume 2 if I had to pick one because it tends to be the one more focused on coins.

Coin highlights for me are:

SHADOW COINS (Michael Ammar, David Roth) This is Ammar's on the floor version of Roth's Chink-a-Chink. Roth's routine is one that really kicked bare handed coin assemblies off and is still one of the absolute best around. Ammar introduced a gaff method so he did not need to lap a coin (you can't on the floor obviously)

COIN FLURRY & JUMBO PRODUCTION - this is a very usable flurry and jumbo production that parts of I still use today.

COINS THRU TABLE & KICKER - This is a stand up coins through the table with Mike Gallo's kicker ending. Ever since I saw this routine it became an active part of my repertoire. It doesn't get much better than this, 4 coins, no extra, no gaffs, no laps, no sleeves, just pure sleight o' hand magic.

SONIC SQUEEZE - This is a really straightforward 4 coin production. It is very magical and not hard to learn.

4 COIN ROLL DOWN - This will cause intense pain to learn. But looks pretty darn cool if you can do it.

EXPANSION OF TEXTURE (Dai Vernon & L'Homme Masque) - As far as silk and coin magic goes - this is one of the best routines. I don't really care too much for mucking up coin magic with silks though - its a personal thing.

HN Review 36: Easy to Master Money Miracles videos vol. 1, 2 and 3 – Michael Ammar

AD:

A rich collection of powerful money magic - both new and classic. World Champion magician Michael Ammar has assembled the very best of the practical yet astonishing routines using coins and currency ever shown on video. This is any-time, any-place magic which you can use to astonish spectators anywhere!

Volume One
· 41 - Cent Miracle (Michael Ammar)
· Continuous Production (Jack Chanin)
· Credit Card Quickie (Tony Antoniou)
· Hornswoggled (George Stark & Jay Malbrough)
· Snappy (Aldo Colombini)
· Michael's Matrix (Michael Ammar)
· Star Warp (Howard Schwarzman)
· Bent Penny Transposition (Michael Ammar)
· Incredible Coins Across (Michael Ammar)
· Hanging Coins (David Roth)
· Bonus Effect - Cash Back (Peter Pit)

Volume Two
· Shadow Coins (Roth & Ammar)
· BeSwitched (George Hample)
· Coin Flurry & Jumbo Production
· Sensory Control (Bob Elliott)
· Copper Silver Transpo
· The $2 Bill Tear (Bert Jacques & Gene Keeney)
· Sonic Squeeze (Michael Ammar)
· The 4 Coin Roll Down (Manuel)
· Expansion of Texture (Dai Vernon & L'Homme Masque)
· Bonus Effect - Self - Folding Bill (Stephan Schutzer)

Volume Three
· Coins Thru Silk (Michael Ammar)
· Dining On Dollars (Rick Johnsson)
· Flying Eagles (Eddie Fechter)
· $5 and $1 (Tom Ogden)
· Coin From Pen Cap (David Williamson)
· Chocolate Coin (Paul Harris)
· E-Z Money (Patrick Page & Fred Kaps)
· The 10,000 Grains of Salt
· Bonus Effect - Bill To Nut (Michael Ammar & Louis Falanga)
· Plus - The Bill To Impossible Location (Michael Ammar & Louis Falanga)


REVIEW:

Mr. Ammar has kept a pretty clean record during these 15 years – this trilogy is no exception.
Sure, you’ll find a lot of vacuous manipulative stunts and fillers (several tricks, such as Matrix, Flying Eagles, Coins thru silk and c/s transposition are illustrated twice) but you’ll get away with a few good impromptu effects with coins and bills.

Overall rating: good

H.

I just got the Volume 3 DVD the other day and finally watched it last night. For the first time in quite a while I was fried. By the $5 to $1 Bill routine (Tom Ogden). I saw it printed in Apocalypse but figured it was just another bill switch routine and skipped reading it. Boy was I wrong.

I would rate the DVD overall as very good.

I also have Volume 1 and give very high marks to "Snappy" as a fooler and to "Coinswoggled" as a performance piece. And of course the veritable Star Warp can go unmentioned, though I guess I just mentioned it.

Anyone want this Easy to master money miracles volume 3 video???
I have it and I will sell it for $10 plus $3 shipping, so $13 total. Let me know if intrested. I really don't want this video!

I loved his Coins Through Silk routine. I thought that was the best thing on the tape. Very great routine and extremly powerful. The coins melting out just looks like real magic to me. Maybe you didn't like it because of the way he presented it....???

Andrew

I loved Coins Through Silk as well.