On 2012-10-01 07:51, volto wrote:
You could use old british coins. Half crowns and old pennies are roughly the same size (about half dollar size) and you can even buy gaffs in those sizes.
Instead of dollars, you can use old crowns. £5 coins are same size as crowns. You can get pre-decimal crowns and half crowns cheaply on ebay.

You can get silver half crowns and full crowns, if you want to go for real, old, silver coins. Victorian pennies are available very cheaply. You can get a victorian penny sh*ll set, and a penny/half-crown hopping halves set from a few dealers in the UK. The most deceptive sh*ll set I own is a victorian penny set that cost £20 - and I own a lot of sh*ll sets, including top of the range Morgan dollar and walking liberty sets. Nothing comes close to the deceptiveness of those pennies. Google "expanded victorian penny set" and "victorian hopping halves" from the UK for dealers - I think emagictricks and "hocus pocus" (the UK ones) both do them.

For other gaffs, you can get custom work done surprisingly cheaply. The cost of gaffing up your own coins is about the same as the cost of buying a pre-gaffed set (including coins). Or at least, around that kind of level. If you have your heart set on a TUC, Marcelo Insula (Mr. Tango) can create one from your own coins.

I find that UK coins work better for me. I use both gaffed and ungaffed, old and current, but almost always UK coins. So it's doable, it needn't cost much and it might even be cheaper (at £20 a sh*ll set).

On 2012-10-01 12:30, volto wrote:
Yep, they're the same size. The two main reasons I prefer the Victorian pennies are - first, unlike pre-decimal pennies, Victorian pennies have normally tarnished to a very dark brown with lighter bronze relief; this makes the rim of the sh*ll almost invisible when it's mouth up. The second has to do with Queen Victoria and how people respond to that name - it immediately grabs people's interest.

Good luck with finding the right coins. Sorry if I've confused the issue...!

On 2012-10-08 21:42, bowers wrote:
The tuc is one of the most versatile coin
gimmicks I have ever purchased.so many things can
be accomplished with this coin.the most cleanest
coins across you will ever do.well worth the money.
todd

On 2012-09-30 11:57, djurmann wrote:
If you do use half dollars they are about the same size as an old English penny - good for copper / silver transposition.

DJ

On 2012-10-09 06:43, Dirtytrix wrote:

Quote:

On 2012-09-30 11:57, djurmann wrote:
If you do use half dollars they are about the same size as an old English penny - good for copper / silver transposition.

DJ

Actually, copper/silver walking liberty and old english penny are next on my shopping list. I just bought a load of old english pennies on ebay for a couple of quid, so I can go through them all and find suitable candidates for performances.

Of course, I've been aware of copper/silver gaffs for a long time but they just never appealed to me and somehow seemed unconvincing until I saw Eric Jones' and also the guys that produce the !@#$%^& Coins DVD. Now I'm a convert and definately going to integrate that into my routines. I guess that until I saw it being presented I just looked at them and though 'meh'. I'm probably guilty of giving my audiences too much credit.

On 2012-10-09 09:36, Foxlute wrote:
Are you UK based Dirtytrix? I had assumed not until I saw you use the expression "a couple of quid".

I remain torn on the subject of gaffs. I lean more towards using them for coin magic simply because I find coin sleights more difficult than card sleights. (I have virtually no card gaffs at all and concentrate mainly on FASDIU effects.) So, I am resigned to using, at least, some e******d s****s at the moment and since I started to read about it I have become sorely tempted by the TUC too. Since starting this thread I have a better idea of which way to go but I still haven't taken the plunge and bought anything! (I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure!) ;-)

On 2012-10-09 10:19, Dirtytrix wrote:

I'm in Watford, Hertfordshire.

Same as you I don't use much in the way of gaffed cards. I have bought them in the past but what I have in my card routines is so much stronger from being able to work with FASDIU which means everything can be inspected, and you're right on the money when you say coin sleights are harder - no question about it. I watch Eric Jones perform and the fact that he's just so relaxed and natural makes me ill lol. I wanna be like that, but even Eric uses gaffs. He's right in what he says though. Coin magic doesn't need to use gaffs and can be really strong even without complicated moves, however the use of gaffs can turn a good effect into a full blown miracle.

My routining of the effects I'm performing at the moment is fairly organic and starts from a real basic coin production right after 'washing' my hands and showing both bare, then produce a coin, then do a single 'coin across', then produce more coins from nowhere, and up to this point I've not touched a gaff. I then will either do a multiple coins across which I can still do impromptu without a gaff, but my favourite is to then do a coins thru table and employ an e******d s***l. It's killer, especially when the coins are going through the table and into someone elses hand.

Now, if we're on the subject of not using coin gaffs and keeping it clean like with cards, what I can say from experience is that I find it FAR easier swap gaff coins in and out with a simple s*****e p**s than it is to swap gaff cards in and out. Unless those cards are out of the deck then the deck can't be inpected and routing the moves to swap out cards I find tricky, they can't be concealed quite so easy. With coins the act of actually handing the coins over can cover the move, it's really simple.

I can't remember if you said whether you've seen Metal 1, 2 and 3? If you haven't, get them, they are awesome. In fact I'd go as far as saying get them before you go and spend money on gaffs. Metal 1 is about the basics and breaks everything down, don't know if you need that or not. Metal 2 is more about routines with ordinary coins and has lots of useful stuff. Metal 3 essentially combines everything you got out of 1 and 2 but focusses on deploying gaffs. I keep finding myself flitting between all three of them constantly revisting for the bits and pieces I need.

I can't remember if you said whether you've seen Metal 1, 2 and 3? If you haven't, get them, they are awesome. In fact I'd go as far as saying get them before you go and spend money on gaffs. Metal 1 is about the basics and breaks everything down, don't know if you need that or not. Metal 2 is more about routines with ordinary coins and has lots of useful stuff. Metal 3 essentially combines everything you got out of 1 and 2 but focusses on deploying gaffs. I keep finding myself flitting between all three of them constantly revisting for the bits and pieces I need.