There are some special threads for this trick that have been treated with fluorescent dye.

Wow. I never thought this to be such a HUGE issue, really.

Once I found the perfect thread for my use, I purchased 250 spools - each is 172 meters in length. I use 1.75 meters roughly per performance, so I guess you could say I'm pretty much set for good - and I'm perfectly happy!

I been doing the yarn for almost 50 years, having learned it from watching one of those short films put out by Castle, "Magicians of India." It showed a series of street performers doing their thing. One of them did the yarn trick with what appeared to be several yards of yarn. It was broken, burned, then restored, and then put into his mouth where he blew smoke. I must have watched that film two dozen times to get the handling.

The presentation I used came from Orlando Bagley, an old-time performer in Southern California. Orlando had a touch that's never been published that makes it into a minor miracle. I was pleasantly surprised when I learned the trick is in Greater Magic which I bought when I was 15 thanks to Joe Berg.

Orlando was a clever guy. He could do a genuine Downs Coin Star without the wax Downs used. He did a couple of other things that I eventually learned.

David:

I learned the Downs Coin Star, sans wax, from Bobby Bernard, who also performs it sans wax. I haven't done it in years, though. The next time I see you, remind me to tell you about what happened when Bobby Bernard met Bev Bergeron at a magic convention.

David Alexander has it right; this trick is almost as old as the Cups and Balls and is of Indian origen. It is part of the everyday act of almost every Indian street magician. With the spread of Buddhism, which has its origins in India, the trick spread to China, Burma and Japan. This trick also spread through the land route to Persia and later to Egypt. Indian tricks never had a name, this trick was originally called the "The Hindu Thread or the Yarn Trick". Another name for this trick is "The Gypsy Thread" as the Gypsies (who trace their origin to India) who it is believed were expelled from North of India travelled thru the land route to Europe. The trick was introduced in Europe through them. In Europe the first mention of this trick is in "Scott's Discoveries of Witchcraft (1584). As Marko points out it is also mentioned in Hocus Pocus Jr. (Anonymous) 1634, "A Text-Book for Magic" by Elbiquet (real name Lionel Branson) in 1913. Greater Magic by John Northern Hilliard, (1938) also mentions it as "The Hindu Thread Trick" p. 846 ,"Unconventional Magic" by Lewis Ganson, and the book on Indian Magic by Eddie Joseph also has it. Joseph preformed it with yarn rather than thick cotton thread used by the Hindu street magicians and suggests the use of a thumb tip which is a far cry from the original method. I think he never got even close to the original secret.
The Tarbell Course also has it as "Indian Yarn Mystery" on vol 5 pg. 27. who mentions that it was performed by John Platt in his East Indian Act.
And Marko performs it rather well and I think the secret is the closest to the Hindu Mystry workers. A Similar version is performed by my good friend and Markos' Amilkar. Hope I have been helpful.

The two best performances of this I have ever seen were by Ted Lesley and Jonathan Neal Brown. Each was done to music with a spectator from the audience. However, just as the two performers were quite different, so were their interpretations of this classic.

Ricky jay had a great presentation.

Nic Niberco had a good routine with a few original ideas.


Brian