I was wondering how you guys got interested in coin magic...For me, my grandfather once showed me a simple trick as a little boy. He took a nickel or a quarter in one hand, and brown paper bag in the other hand. He threw the coin into the air and caught it in the paper bag. He then blew some air into the bag and immediately bursted it with his hands, and the coin was gone. I was blown away. My grandfather never told me how to do the trick, probably the only trick he knew. But it was the absolute right one at the time, as that simple little trick hooked my imagination for what seems now to be a lifetime. How about you, how did it first happen?

I was fooled in a magic shop by a guy who took out a small jar, unscrewed the lid and took out a dime and penny. He put the two coins into the jar and I closed the lid myself. He gave the coins a shake and they changed to 2 pennies. then to 2 dimes, and finally back to a dime and penny. He then opened the jar and gave me the coins.

He challenged me to come back and show him how he did the effect. I pondered on the effect for weeks. When I came back, he sold me the dime and penny and showed me about 9 different effects possible with the set. Haven't looked back since....

In Tannen's, while looking at an item on the shelf, I saw Geoff Latta do a retention pass. It was as if a light went on in my head and I understood that illusions could happen close-up.

Seeing Geoff Latta perform isn't a bad way to get interested in coins! For me I originally got interested in magic by a friend at school, and then got a few general magic books that had a bits on coins, and then I joined here. I think I might 've seen a few videos of people doing coin magic, so I decided to get Bobo's, a steal at about £5! Might've seen Blaine bite a coin in half somewhere aswell... or vanish it off someone's hand?
Like the new pic Eric, very sophisticated!
Rik

Actually my interest developed over many years.

The first was when I was about 7 and my mom's dentist pulled a gold coin from my ear.
In my early teens it was card tricks from a friends dad and others.

Bought Bill Tarr's book at a flea market in my early 20s.

In my 30s I was on a camping vacation at the Jersey shore and it rained all week. I wandered into a magic shop on the boardwalk in hope of finding something to entertain my kids with. I left with several beginner tricks and Bobo's MCM and was pretty much on my way.

I decided to focus on coins because they're readily available.

I found Ken's Magic Shop and got some videos. Roth was on a couple of them.
Later I discovered Mecca Magic and bought the "Coin Magic", "Expert Coin Magic" and a couple of other coin books and pamphlets.

Nuff said.

I was not inspired to do coins the way some of you describe (I jealous of you watching Geoff Latta, Jonathan). In my late teens I was doing kids shows with props like hippity hop rabbits and the coloring book. I drifted away, and just recently got back into magic. When I got back into it, I decided I wanted to learn sleights so that I could use borrowed items. I decided on coins as the item probably most available for borrowing.

When I was 12 I always like watching magicians perform on television doing close up with cards. I never fancy the stage stuff, altough I really enjoy it. But no resource for me at that time. Only bought little tricks like imp bottle, prediction square (whatever the name is). Then when I was 20, I already had my own income, so I can buy a lot of stuff. Started with Complete course in Magic - Mike Wilson, Ammar DVD series, and a lot more stuff since then.

For coin, actually I'm not interested at the first time, but my friend insisted I should learn it as well. So started with Ammar Introduction to coin and also David Roth series. I ended up bought all the ga**s available to do coin magic from Schoolcraft.

The complete idiots guide to magic book has a trick, "A bird in the hand" which is a simple version of Gadabout Coins. I tried the trick while going through the book and really enjoyed it. I asked the guy in th magic shop what good books there are that have to do with coins, and he sold me a copy of Bobo's.

Well, go on my website, and read my bio. that's not how I got into coins, but its how I got into magic particular. Quite an interesting story, and the way it is written doesn't even give a justice to it. I havent read it for a while though, so if there is something that sounds weird, let me know.

I was first interested in cards and then expanded to coins. To me it was a logical progression. It became a lot of fun just practicing and before you know it, I'd read MCM and the other standards (Roth, Slydini etc).

It became like poetry in motion and some of the slights just had to be practiced over and over before they even started to look good. When you find yourself always carrying a silver dollar or a bunch of half dollars, you know you've embraced coin magic.

Craig

I started into magic when I couldn't sleep one night so I turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels when I came to the the Jaw Droppers commercial. I ordered the videos and things grew from there.

I was really into card magic and decided to include a coin routine into my bar act. so I got bobo's book and began studying.
I got addicted. that's it !

-Matt

One word (two actualy): Dan Watkins

/dennis

Around 1977 I was invited to the Magic Castle as a guest and I saw a magician in the Parlor of Prestidigitation plucking silver dolars from thin air. I knew the coins were real and I was impressed that he could create such a wonderful illusion using skill alone. I ran right to a Hollywoold Magic and bought my first magic book: Intro to Coin Magic by Shigeo Futagawa. I practiced a coins across routine and I have been hooked on coin magic ever since.

Not a very interesting story I'm afraid.

After watching Gregory Wilson perform 3/4 across I knew I was hooked.

Jim

This is a very good topic~!

The first magic I saw was "Sawing the lady in half". Frankly I was terrified as a kid of 7-8 years old. At that time I never imagined I'll be so interested in magic.

Nevertheless I was always facinated with mysterious and puzzle like things, so I evently came to a book teaching magic. The first trick I took my time to practice was the back clip card vanish production, and I was about 12. Close-up magic was interesting and not scary as those stage ones =)

The very first coin effect I came across was from an old book in my school library. Interestingly although it was very old, not many people have borrowed it. The trick I learnt was a 1-coin across effect with 4 quarters. It uses a simplified version of HPC. The plot involves a "failure phrase" and then the 1-coin across phrase.

At first I was very doubtful about the effectiveness of it. I doubted it would fool no one. But I gave it a try. Ha, to my amazement every classmate were stunned, and people kept asking me to do that again, they even told their friends about it. From that time on I was the class magician =)

I once heard someone said: As a teenager there will be some time he/she will be interested in magic. The only difference would be eventually they will forget about it, or become into it for a lifetime.

I'm the latter one.

Oh I also remember now when I was a (young) kid at school, a magician came to school and he made me cough up coins, in what was, I now think, proabably a Miser's Dream!

I remember seeing a tail-coated magician doing 'Miser's Dream' on the Sullivan show. Of course, I didn't know at the time that's what it was called, and I have no idea who the magician was. But it blew me away. Back in the days of TV variety shows, you could count on watching a name magician do a great (albeit short) routine on TV at least once a week. *sigh* The good old days...

The library is where it started for me,checking out every magic book they had.
"Jaz" mentioned Mecca magic, that was the first magic shop I ever went to. I saw my first lecture there (9 or 10 years old).
Thanks for the memories

My first interest started as a teenager, when due to both lack of funds and a demand from peers for impromptu tricks, I deceided the only thing I could do was learn some coin magic. I scrimped for Bobo's book and started to learn and practice. I did a lot of coin stuff until about my early 20's at which time I was doing more stand up and stage shows and sort of got out of it. At the recent WMS in Las Vegas seeing the work of the likes of Curtis Kam, Roth, Rubenstein,Latta, et. al that my interest got peaked again. Only shock I had in return to coin magic was that I could no longer walk into a bank and get the coins I needed! Never thought I'd be shopping E-bay for half dollars and dollars!