I am making my list for Santa (it's never too early!), to make sure he gets it right. Included will be a few beginner gaffs I've been drooling over for a few years now... while shopping around I came across Copper/Silver Half by Johnson and the Ultimate Silver/Copper Half by Johnson. How do these differ ?

While on this subject, anyone know a good place in Canada to order from ?

Cheers

For canada, the best custom coin maker to get coins from would be Roy Kueppers, you can also find his gaffs at any local magic shop, so it would be quicker than having them custom made. Just google some magic stores in your area and I'm sure they would carry gaffs from Roy.

With regard to the Johnson gaffs you mentioned, I suspect that "Copper/Silver Half" refers simply to just that -- a single half-dollar-sized coin which is copper (English penny) on one side, and silver (a half dollar) on the other side. (I hope that's not giving too much away, but I assume we're all magicians here!) It's not an effect, in and of itself, but a standard utility gaff which can be used in a near-infinite number of ways in a near-infinite number of effects and/or routines.

Johnson's "Ultimate Silver and Copper," by contrast, is a particular effect in and of itself, as it were. Gaff-wise, it's not the same thing as the copper/silver coin described above. (If you bought both of these products from Johnson, the items you would receive in each would be different. For instance, whereas a standard c/s half is just one single physical item, the Ultimate C & S provides you with multiple physical items or components.)

Again without hopefully giving too much away in a public forum, Johnson's "Ultimate Silver & Copper" is basically a "Scotch & Soda" variant (or vice versa), using an English penny instead of a Mexican centavo.

Hope that helps!

It helps karnak, thanks! You as well Dentian, although I will have to order everything online, as the closest magic shop to me is 2 days drive away! I'll have a closer look at Johnson's ultimate silver and copper.

Cheers

Ultimate C/S also has another piece that isn't standard with the scotch and soda sets. It's a shaved EP that also fits the half dollar [.