I just came across this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fj0BZV9xeo

Looks like Johnny Wong has a new Coin out. I think this looks very interesting. Is someone around who has more info on this one.

Interesting. Just looked and many magic shops carry this, more so that his other products. It seems that way. Maybe not. I haven't seen this yet then after reading this thread I Google and it's everywhere. Looking at the demos, it looks like Cartel Coins only with a brass coin (chinese) instead of copper. Available in half and dollar sizes. Looks good.

It does remind me of Cartel Coins, anyone with Spectacular care to comment? It looks really nice though, and if it is liek Cartel Coins it would be nice to have the varying routines.

A member here just listed and immediately sold this set. If this is like Cartel Coins it is much less expensive.

My opinion - Johnny Wong's products would look a whole lot better if he got someone else to perform on the demos. Johnny always looks like he speeds up every time a switch or other move is happening, and his videos always seem to have little "jumps" in them. I've seen others performing with his coins on YouTube and look much cleaner.

As I said, just my opinion, so don’t start shooting all you big JW fans!

Jim

Hey kelvin,

I watched the video again and there are some properties that make them most likely not like cartel coins. I have my idea on how this works, and if I am correct its a pretty neat set. I might spring for the ikes.

Ben,
Are you thinking F****r ??

Never mind...I watched it again.

There is no Flipper in this coin. It is pretty much the typical Wong type coin only with the Chinese coin. One thing that is not clear in the demo and ad,though, the Chinese coin does NOT have a hole. It is simply a black spot in the middle. That went right by me in the demo's, so I should have watched more carefully. Even the supplied genuine ungaffed Chinese coin does not have a real hole.

Also, Mouse Tape is usually the solution to the usual problem with Wong's coins, however, in this case you CANNOT use Mouse Tape because it would cover the Chinese design. There are no "bare" surfaces on this set. And, as usual with Wong's coins, these can be VERY difficult to separate. I sure would like to know how he so easily does it on the demo.

If these coins separated easily, I'd give it a 9, out of 10. As they are, I'd give them a 4 because you just never know when you will squeeze and nothing will happen.

Hey runawayjag, what set do you have? the half dollar or ikes? also, are the chinese characters raised or smooth?

-ben

I have the dollar size and the Chinese coins are smooth, not raised. I'm not sure if you understood, but the usual film on the Wong coins IS the Chinese design on these. That's why you can't peel it off to replace or cover it with Mouse Tape. I really like most of Johnny Wong's stuff, but I have to admit that the more I play with this set, the less I like it. It is just way too difficult to do the separation when necessary. In an earlier set of instructions for one of his coin sets, he recommended that you "moisten" the inside of the coin to make it move more easily. That is impractical with this set as you'd be doing it each time you brought them out of your pocket to perform.

As did runawayjag, I always had to replace the film with mouse tape to get the coins to separate properly. Since this cannot be done with Spectacular, I started thinking about some way to solve the problem, since this set seems worse than the others in that way. I tried applying a small amount of 'armor all', which worked fine at first, but then things got bad again. I have now tried a tiny bit of 'Door Ease', which seems to be working fine so far. (Door Ease, which I've had for years, is like a large Chapstick, and is applied to drawers, zippers, etc. to make then slide easily). Hope this will be helpful information for those who have the set. I like the possibilities of this set and would hate to have to throw it in a drawer because of manufacturing deficiencies.

So the "chinese coin" is actually a sticker?

Yes, in fact it comes with a couple replacement stickers! I guess after it wears down, you peel it off the coin and then apply the new sticker in its place. The 'Door Ease' sounds like a really good solution/idea, but for about $150 you shouldn't have to apply "fixes" to gaffed coins....not even Mouse Tape.

Agreed...so you can take the stickers and apply them to 2 other sp**T coins and have another set?

I just bought the Kennedy half version. I am very disappointed the the quality of the gaff. The stickers for the Chinese coin and gaff are pretty bad. They scratch easily in the natural process of using them. The gaff does not always fit together properly. I do have a problem getting the gaff separated also. Overall On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being great, I would have to give this a 3. I won't be recommending this to anyone. I also will not be using them in any performances.

Thank you haroldross for the review. I was on the fence about purchasing a set in ikes...guess I will hold off. I am debating the ikes STC versus what Roy Kueppers makes...not sure if I can justify the price difference of 150 to get them in morgans. guess we shall see!

-ben

I guess you can always remove the stickers, replace with teflon, and have a regular split coin. A more expensive, regular split coin.

I am also disappointed about the quality. I knew there were no holes but I thought the chinese coin was better than just a sticker. But after all I have to admit that I like the concept of the coin. I wish someone could make the coin with some kind of copper coin instead of the chinese sticker. After playing a bit with it I think that the concept has a great potential. I covered the chinese parts with clear scotch tape and it helped very much with separating the coin. Here a vid of exploring the coin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meOR_-7lr5g

Your changes look very clean and magical. Good work.