I like this idea, although the following might be overkill:

1. The coins are set out in the familiar square formation.

2. The sheet of paper is quartered, and the coins covered as described.

3. The first coin vanishes, and appears in the gathering corner. That shown, both sections of the paper are placed on the two gathered coins.

4. Repeat for coins #2 and #3. After showing all four coins under the pile of pieces...

5. Open out the pile, showing that the pieces have restored "...back in time, before the paper was torn..."

6. Lift up the opened sheet, revealing that the coins are back in their starting positions. "...and there was a coin in every corner."

For the Bizarrists in the house, the paper is a newspaper,and to prove that it's gone back in time, show that it's a paper from last week.

For the "Wonder Wizards" in the house, you then prove that you've gone back in time because it's now before the time when you introduced yourself. How can we tell? Ask them what you name is. No one ever remembers the magician's name. Q.E.D.

Jon, I actually thought of a very commercial routine for the plot of the paper merging at the end of the assembly and was wondering if I could have your approval of using the basic idea of the 4 pieces of paper merging. I cannot give the premise of the routine openly in forums but I think it is creative and fun.

Credits as far as I know: The basic idea of a quartered bit of paper restoring goes back to the torn and restored card plot. Using a full sheet of paper kind of goes back to Ramsay with his tissue paper.

I have not seen the thing done using a sheet of colored construction paper or writing paper or in context of a coin assembly. It struck me as an organic way to create the covers after showing the assembly effect with the coins under the corners of the whole sheet.

PM if you want to discuss.

Re:(Jon, a nice jumbo production idea would be instead of a jumbo coin, you could produce one of those big horse shoe magnets. Just an idea.)

What if you start out by drawing a picture of a magnet on the corner of the paper where the coins gather?



Joe

Joe,

Thats a nice idea.

Makes the plot interesting.


Dave,


I apologise for not seeing something that you do, but how would this stifle it?


There are other ideas for showing the coins are magnetic in other routines. David Williamson showed a bunch of us a way to make a coin appear to be magnetic, as it appeared to be stuck together and as you pull them apart they seemed drawn to each other. Another is in Harbottle's Cointopia where he uses the fingertip muscle pass and talks about showing that the coins are magnetic and shoots them across visibly. How would this version of the magnetic coins plot be any different?

Curtis showed me the snap-it like move with coins back around 79-80 on his visit to NY. It seems appropriate to the trick. Last I saw him do the thing, it seemed like the coin jumped about a foot. Spooky. I suspect the bit is his.

Sorry Jon,


David didn't tell us where he learned it, otherwise I'm sure it would of been Curtis's as well.

Jon I wonder if this magnetic coin bit is the thing that Curtis does (but doesn't explain) at the beginning of his Palms os Steel vol.1?
Jason

Jason,

That's the fingertip muscle pass.

Jonathan,

I picture you carrying the magnet with three coins "stuck" to it wrapped in a piece of paper. Open the paper, remove the coins, put them in formation, then tear up the paper. Go from there. At the end stick the coins back to the magnet and wrap them back in the now restored paper.

Curtis - I like the routine you've laid out. Perhaps you reverse the magnet (I'm seeing a bar magnet) and that instantly pushes the coins back to the original corners.

RE: Jon I wonder if this magnetic coin bit is the thing that Curtis does (but doesn't explain) at the beginning of his Palms os Steel vol.1?
Jason

Jon, Jason, This is indeed the thing that Curtis was doing on the PoS1, From Kainoa's book "Cointopia" he says "A number of years ago Curtis showed me a technique that he used to propel a coin from the fingertips of one hand to the other. Curtis would refer to this as the "Tiddlywinks Move" "Named after some archaic game the existed long before Gameboys or even Ataris"...lol

What Kainoa did was bring it up to a vertical level. The "tiddlywinks move" was horizontal as seen on the PoS1.

Hope this helps
Joe