I'll also recommend Dean Dill, Roth, and Hooser....

How far did you get with the items in Bobo's?

Have you borrowed a quarter, made if vanish, then taken out two of your coins and changed the seleted one into their coin? The method's in Bobo's.

The gaff is usually brought in to solve a problem in a trick, or to offer a specific "look" to the item. Check out the "mutiplying money" item in hoffmann's "more magic" for some ideas. Also the routines using covers a few pages before.

So much material if you look.

I mentioned this in the other coin section, but on the 2 vol. DVD set on COINS ACROSS by the New York Coin Magic Seminar group, there are several tricks that use this gaff, from Roth, Latta, Gallo, and Harbottle. Plus so much more. You can find it and the contents on the website, http://www.newyorkcoinmagic.net , or now at many of your local magic dealers!

I think there is also a video called, "Shell Shocked" that pertained to this type of work. I do not remember how the material on there is. I think it is from Barry Taylor???

Jonathan is right about pointing you to this. HE JUST DIDN'T SAY IT LOUD ENOUGH! I don't usually like the idea of "single effect" DVDs, however, I read so many good things about CoinOne I just had to see what the hype was all about for myself. This is REAL MAGIC with 4 coins and a [ and it just doesn't get any better. And it is within reach of the average coin guy.

Check out Kainoa's book "Coinapalooza I: Shell Shocked". At http://www.kainoaland.com

Wow!!! never expect so much response in my post... I'm checking all your suggestions in coin shell routine. never expect that there are lot of effect that you can do with this powerful gaff..

thanks guys!!!

The gaff is quite useful. If you followed the discussion about visible coin jumps elsewhere* you might also enjoy using the ] to permit a borrowed and marked quarter to jump from hand to hand pretty much visibly.

*You can find some ideas on that... see the movie "The Fly", "The Prestge" and find some of my work in the September issue of Genii.

Hmmmm, lets see...other than what people have already mentioned there's:
-Corey Burke's wonderful Payphone DVD, has some shell work in it
-East Coast Super Session's book has stuff in it
-Plenty of stuff in the Roth book as well as COINMAGIC both by Kaufman
-Kenner's Totally Out of Control
-Close-up and Personal (David Regal)
-Chris Korn's Radical and Extreme Korn DVDs

Those are just some I can think of off the top of my head and that I don't think have been mentioned yet. I have a few routines using a shell that are being released soon in my manuscript as well.

Take a look at the stuff that has already mentioned as well as what I've added there's a wealth of material out there.

Good luck in the search,
Bill

Don't forget Roger Klause's routine from Klause in concert. He showed it to me at a convention in Texas many years back, and I've been doing it ever since.

- John

Or, how about something really simple, like the Kort material from Bobo? There is a great "Coins Thru the Table" under an old-fashioned glass, using this principle. Or, even the very first item in Bobo with a ] - I think it is called "Mystery with A Half Shell", is great! Just a production and vanish and reproduction of coins, very simple, but miraculous-looking if you work on it...

I've always thought of this as a "utility" item, more than a trick unto itself. This and the C/S gaff. In fact, I've often said that with those two utility items, half a dozen coins, and an Okito Coin Box, I had all the coin magic I'd ever need, and then some!

Using it as a utility item lets you do things in a much "cleaner" way. It simplifies procedures for you. There are several very good "No-]" Billiard Ball routines, but very few folks bother - they are really hard to do, and most miss that magical moment that a ] allows you to put over. The same thing is true of coins. With a ] you can get that "clean' look that is impossible otherwise. And you can get from point "A" to point "D" without having to hit "B&C"!

Use your imagination - look at a trick you do now, and ask yourself, what if I could get one-ahead? Or, what if I could get one-behind? Would this help? I find that if I think about general principles rather than specific tricks, I sometimes come to a greater appreciation of the magic I can generate.

Sure, we can name tricks that use a ] all day long, but, it's kind of like the "feed a man a fish, teach a man to fish" story - I do better when I understand the principles, and explore the possibilities for myself. Anyway, there sure is a lot out there! Have fun...

Best, PSC

If you like the idea of incorporating fire with an expanded shell routine, Nathan Kranzo's Fire Coins is a $5.99 instant download that I've been enjoying. Here's a link (it's towards the bottom of the page):

http://www.hismagic.com/?page_id=15