From the young guys back to the old-heads, this guy is one of the best…Just refreshing to watch him work with little of nothing. He’s another one that can do it all, and do it all well. Like so many, you don’t hear much about him any more, but man could he work. Quite a storyteller too, and he wrapped all of his magic up in it and made it all unforgettable…Take a look here, and believe it or not, he’s just as good with a deck of cards, along.with anything else he magically touches…So, sit back as I bring you yet another real master of the art….

Glad you all enjoyed Jamy Ian Swiss, and I truly appreciate all the PMs about what I’ve been doing here, thank you.

As they say in the streets I come from, “Game knows game!” And so, it’s no wonder that Jamy knew of this wonderful performer and thought to help to better recognize the man and his magic. Anyway, I was thinking, if I don’t bring this to you here, just exactly who would? Yep, that’s about what I was thinking…Nobody would. And so, I will take a great lead and continue it a bit here, and bring you some more magic from the big, small & all of us once again…

“… He was equally expert with coins, and was the originator of a coin sleight that is a standard in the repertoire of any advanced close-up coin worker, and will be until the end of time. He made me fall in love with coin magic at a young age, well before I became enamored of magic with playing cards. And in fact, since he was first and foremost a sleight-of-hand artist, much of his standup and platform work was magic that was fairly small, often of almost close-up scale, cleverly adapted for and presented on stage. Mixing in a few small apparatus pieces for size and comic effect, Presto could do a great show almost anywhere for almost any kind of audience. He was, as we say, a “worker.” -Jamy Ian Swiss, Magicana

https://www.magicana.com/news/blog/take-two-37-presto

You had to have been there to see this guy work with coins. Man, he was good. Besides the many times at Tannen’s Magic that I’d eventually come to see him, the very first time I saw him as a kid, he wasn’t doing coin magic at all. It was at the world famous Apollo Theater in NYC playing for a great audience that absolutely loved him doing this exact routine…He wasn’t just a good coin man he was a whole lot more, a complete showman. He truly was one of a kind…

Hope you enjoy this magical respite from the regular…I can see all the big smiles already…Enjoy!

You might not hear him mentioned around here much anymore, hard to believe, but he’s still out there doing some of the very best coin magic there is anywhere. It took him around the world to the respect of everyone that recognizes true excellence in the art.

I’ve always recognized his great potential and brilliance from the very beginning here. He was something special and unique, and he proved it in a big way, not just via awards and topnotch performances but through a personal touch. You can look at all the coin magic out there and what he does is just different from everyone else, who in most cases are good workers pretty much like everyone else. This guy was different with a jazzy approach and confidence way beyond his years.

Not just an excellent magician but a creator and teacher of the art, a real thinker & doer. He has made a real mark out there and this offering continues to me to be one of the very best coin magic offerings/teachings ever produced, book, video, lecture, whatever on the subject. The style & finesse are unmistakable and incomparable to anything else you see out there. He’s one of our own, from right here on the Café, one that truly stands alone as to his way and magic…There’s a whole lot of “cool’ in it all, and you just can’t fake that. Anyway, here’s a short redux to remind you…

I like this performance:
https://youtu.be/pvFyw0lWfAY

Yes, that’s something I have always liked about Eric, that he is good at it all and not just coins. I think it makes one a lot more interesting as to the art. This display of his abilities was not just closeup work, but showed his hand at even large stage level performance. Yep, he can do it all, while being as creatively good with coins as anyone that ever was. I particularly in that clip enjoyed his movement & interactions around the stage. His Metal series is all coin magic but it creatively teaches you everything you need to know, about as well & better as anything I’ve ever come across as to this part of the art. I look for it to stand the test of time with the best of the other such great contributions.

I love to look back sometimes, as it gives proof to where I’m at today. The journey is a long one, but sometimes when you realize the places you’ve been, it truly can show you where you are and how you got there. Like a lot of folks, for me it began with this guy and with some of these same tricks…The basics. They truly teach you everything else that you need to know, and this fine fella taught many of us from the very beginning… Are you one?

Thank you sir and much respect.

Https://youtu.be/q69Yfya-4a4 HI MARION IM BACK ON AFTHER 76 MONTHS IWAS SUSPENDED

Y’know, magic is so much more than just tricks. It’s a way to connect with people, to perhaps bring out some of the best in them by way of a laugh or smile. That’s what has always been important about it to me, how it allowed my entrance into anyone else’s world. And always to leave it a little better than I found it. I especially remember doing magic for an autistic boy, that his father said he might not respond, but he did and his dad was so happy that he would bring him by all the time (at his son’s request) just to see me do magic. His dad said It made his day…mine too.

Anyway, have you ever had this kind of experience…”To win the affection of children…” Emerson said, “…This is to have succeeded.”

Here’s another view from someone, a favorite son here, who felt as I did about doing magic for others, not just for magic sake but for the deeper beauty of wonder that happens, releasing something from within both the spec and you, that sometimes stays with you both forever.

Thanks for sharing that - and your personal thoughts. I have been amazed over the decades at the number of magicians who avoid the notion of "affect"
and even attack it when discussed. While you cannot plan on having a specific impact on another's life, you can be confident that someone in your audience of the moment,
will take away something more than expected or imagined. The magic is that you and I are alive to experience this special awe&wonder.

I’ve always enjoyed my own response to magic as much as I enjoy the response from specs. I’m just as into it as they are, so I like to watch like they do. That’s why I like this guy Chris Ramsey so much, because despite being a darn good magician himself, he sorta see’s it the way I do, with sheer wonder and amazement and let’s you feel it. Yeah, I can’t help sometimes tearing things apart as we do, guess that’s the magi in me, but when you tear things apart and still can’t find nothing, man that good old feeling comes right back to ya. I guess I just love his responses because I feel that they’re so real & honest. But it’s not all about him, as not only does he showcase great magic from around the world, but he shares the big, small & all of us in it. Despite the video quality, this piece of coin magic still clearly enough speaks for itself. I’m not exactly sure how he’s doing this either, and that’s alright as I truly also continue to enjoy the sheer wonder of it. Chris’ responses always remind me of that. Anyway, how about you…How do you think he’s doing it, besides doing it “very well?”

Like Doug Henning

I don’t know, but If so, this kid is sure doing it a heckuva lot better than Doug Henning could’ve ever have imagined.

He is Avi Yap. He is a photographer who does some very visual coin moves. He posts a lot on instagram..

Yep, that’s Yap alright. Extremely thoughtful & talented guy. Here, see for yourself…

Another very clever young magi, not mentioned here much but as slick of sleight of hand as ever there was…

Man, it’s been a decade or so now…It’s always nice to stop a minute and look back as to where you came from in all this. I don’t see people doing this one much anymore but it’s still every bit a classic. This was my little take on it down that part of the journey for me…What fun it was presenting it, and even creating a bit from it along my way. And y’know, I was just playing with those old silver dollars when I came back across them yesterday…Man, has it been that long? Y’see, all of this starts from when my grandpa showed me my first trick, a coin trick with a paper bag and a dime (remember those?), when I was just a boy. I guess I never forgot it. Thanks again, Grandpa.

Awesome routine, MB. Great story, and relaxed, un-rushed presentation.

Always liked that one MB !

Thanks so much guys, it was truly a labor of love presenting it.

Now, this one I used to do quite often at company events and around my office. It brought me as much fun as it did the specs because it brought together a lot of different things as to coin magic, and good all-around closeup magic too. I guess it always reminded me of the sorta magic I would see out on the streets of NYC and in the bowels of the subway here & there. Man, I’d always stop to watch a magician. And the old heads were just remarkable SOH guys, true workers. I always wanted to get to that level. Don’t know if I ever did, but getting decently close was close enough. This was my ode of lasting appreciation to them…

Gal,

Thanks for the PMs folks. But I wouldn’t just call this a coin trick, but certainly the coin is the main focal point of the magic, as to any ordinary now you see it, now you don’t. But also all the things the coin goes through, which brings into play other elements, like the purse, my pocket, and my hat. It’s wrapped with a vanish and return to the hat, that speaks of some sort of transit from here to there, but how?.

Also, the presentation allows for great & precise interactions as you go. I would call it more of a closeup piece of magic, a routine that doesn’t look like a planned thing but just something you happen to do. I have done this for folks and they would just stare in awe, as I kinda start right out in front of them and end up sorta standing behind them, and they are wondering…How in the world?

So, yeah, I wouldn’t quite call it a one coin routine or coin trick even, as to me it’s so much more.

Thanks for the good response.