By that I mean...I'm a semi-professional at best...doing occasional table (wish I had more (I LOVE IT) but I digress..I've been using kennedy halves (not necessarily silver, I can't afford them) but I recently purchased a set of Morgan dollars for just a few bucks...Yes, they are steel clad replicas BUT most people have never sewn them...Silver or otherwise... to help a little, I polished them and then use a little renaissance wax.... besides being more or less visual why use dollar coins over half dollars and does it really need to be "silver"....I'd like your thoughts and opinions

Dollars or half dollars doesn’t matter for close-up work.

What matters is the routine, your presentation, and your audience’s positive reaction.

As GJo says, your routine, presentation matter...however.
If you are doing some manipulation such as a One Coin routine....the dollar coin is more visual/impressive.
For misers dream, the dollar coin is more audible.

Half dollars are fine for table matrixes as larger dollar coins often are too large to all fit under a card.
Plus half dollar gaffs such as copper/silver are easier and cheaper to find.

If possible I always use dollar size coins, more for the seeing benefit of the audience.
And actual silver looks better as it isn't as reflective like a mirror.
But no need to break the bank, your steel Morgan Dollars will work fine.

Hiya 52, and GJo the Z-Man gives some good advice here.

My 2 cents…It doesn’t matter much anymore whether the coins are silver or not. Specs honestly don’t care about all that, nowhere as much as magicians like to think. But I will say that a nice set of coins looks nice. But as long as they all sorta match, that’s the most important thing, real or replica. Some people like new, shiny coins, others prefer old and or soft coins. They play differently depending on what you’re doing, for instance, soft coins tend not to make much sound as you manipulate them which can be helpful in a lot of routines.

As to using half dollars or dollar size coins, once again either or is OK, and most coin magicians use half dollars. For a trick like 3 Fly, the larger dollar size coins can have much more of a presence and impact. But ultimately it’s about what’s comfortable for you. Half dollars are certainly easier to hide, but depending on your hand size, that might not be a problem anyway. Just gotta play with it to see what’s right for you. I use half dollars when doing something like my Pa’s Famous 3 Coin Trick (my version of Gadabout Coins), but I prefer the Morgans whenever I do my FlySki (my version of 3 Fly), or as you know when I do my Grandpa’s Coins. It depends on what you’re doing with them, but typically what you can do with dollar size coins can be done pretty much with halves as well.

And again, silver coins are nice and do have a particular feel to them, but they are not necessary, as you can do all the same things with regular coins or replicas. I for one am happy that replicas have become a real alternative and you can find them out there easy enough, so everyone can afford them as to coin magic. And there are some very good replicas out there nowadays for a fraction of what silver coins would cost you.

Rather than replica silver dollars, one might consider a poker chip set. Most people are familiar with poker chips, and if the surface is smooth, they handle like soft silver dollars.

First and most important, the size should depend on the comfort you have palming coins. For most people, half dollar size coins are the easiest, while someone like Curtis Kam who has large hands, uses dollar sized coins. But as I mention in my book, dollar size coins have been around for hundreds of years, but magicians have always used half dollars. Why? Because half dollar size coins are big enough to be seen for a close up performance (which is how most coin magic is performed), and easier to palm than dollar sized coins. That is why the greats of coin magic (Slydini, Vernon, Kaps, Goshman, Roth, etc) used half dollars. However, there has been a trend since Chris Kenner released Three Fly, to use dollar size coins. The reason Chris used dollar sized coins for Three Fly was because he was doing it for parlour work, not close up table work, and dollar size coins were easier to see. However, since then, more and more magicians have decided to use dollar size coins for close up work, probably because they think it is more impressive, or perhaps they just were influenced by the other magicians using those coins.
Personally, my work with coins is mostly for one one one, table work, or a small room of people (like the close up room in the Castle). I rarely use dollar size coins but have some set routines (like my Retro Fly or S.E.M.) which were designed for larger audiences.
So, use not what everyone tells you, but use what best fits your hand and what is best for your target audience.

Hello Mr.Rubinstein
I know you are the Expert at Coin Magic... but I am wondering about Slydini. In every tape I saw he used silver dollars, Cellini learnd me Slydinis Coin Routine with Silver Dollars.

Maybe there are other Routines I never saw, I am just wondering.

Best regardes
Shorty

Slydini may have also used silver dollars (though I never saw him use them), but most of his material used half dollars.

Spectators don't care what you use. I prefer to use dollar size coins if possible as they are more visible and seem more impossible to hide. I prefer to use clad coins even though I have plenty of coins that contain actual silver. I prefer clad silver color coins over other colors such as copper, brass, bronze, etc as silver contrasts your skin color better. Any bank will sell you Eisenhower dollars or Kennedy halves at cost if they have them in stock. Just ask them as many people don't want them and exchange them with the back. At times you won't have a choice what coin to use as the availability of certain gaff coins will dictate what you use.
The only other time I prefer to use halves are with a Boston coin box, or if I'm traveling a lot especially overseas. Carrying 4 dollar size coins, a shell, and a jumbo coin while walking a lot is not my idea of fun. Also, I prefer a silver jumbo coin that is chrome plated. The contrast from a clad coin to a chrome jumbo coin makes the production pop, and freaks spectators out. Only a fellow magician will comment that the shine is not the same and gives away that they are not the same coin. Spectators know that they are not.
I suggest magicians to keep some coins handy and just fidget with them in your free time. In the process your sleight of hand will improve and you may come up with things that you've never seen in print anywhere. For me this is the pinnacle of the creative process. So much fun for the price of several coins. Enjoy your journey.

I agree most spectators won't likely notice the difference. However, I have to admit I use only silver dollars, half dollars, and Victoria Crowns purely because of their beauty, and how special they feel in my hands.

I think everyone here has given good advice. However, recently I did an appearing and disappearing dollar of mine close up that normally kills. Very close up surrounded very clean. But I followed this up with an appearance and disappearance of an Ike dollar. Surprisingly they were shocked at this. I was using some moves from some of Marion Boykin's videos, in the routine. He is know as MB here.
I can only explain the shock with the size of the dollar coin. They could not figure out how it could just disappear.
So there is something to the size of the dollar coin, and that was a recent revelation to me, since I had not made a big fuss about whether to use halves or dollar coins before. Now I will use dollar coins.

Dollars do look more impressive as they look more difficult to manipulate and "hide". Have a look at Gary Kurtz for some even more impressive work with jumbo coins. Looks impossible to spectators!

Jamy Ian Swiss wrote an essay which I felt really hit the difference between half dollars and dollars:
"I also explain that there are really two different physical approaches to coin magic, and that one basically needs to study them separately. That is, palm-down handling, as exemplified by David Roth, in which half dollars are generally used; and palm-up handling, as exemplified by John Ramsay, generally relying on silver dollars. Although this latter style is quite popular now, thanks to routines like Three Fly and many variations on Troy Hooser’s Extroydinary (which in turn evolved from Geoff Latta’s Standing Hoard), students often are unclear as to the stylistic and technical differences. One of the significant reasons we should use half dollars for Rothian coin magic rather than dollar-sized coins is that Classic Palm has more angle problems than is often realized, with the edge of the coin readily flashing to someone viewing into the thumb side of the palm-down hand. While is quite manageable with halves as long as you are aware of the potential hazards, silver dollars are far more prone to such flashes, and one must completely avoid leaving spectators a view from that vantage."

To continue on that well-thought out essay, dollars rely on fingerpalm techniques while halves can be concealed via classic palm. Halves are good for close up situations, while the large size dollars work best for bigger groups at further distances. Personally I prefer half dollars, although I will do specific tricks with dollars (my S.E.M., for example).

That's pretty thought provoking stuff.
That two factor approach would seal up a lot of knowledge gaps.

I have big enough hands that I can hide a jumbo without any sticking out (I'd consider them "medium large") but I still prefer halves most of the time.

Many of my effects have a coin in the hands of spectators and a dollar size seems uncomfortable for them to hold in a fist.
So, if you desire for them to just hold a coin, a dollar can be fine. If you plan on a transportation, color-change or vanish in their hand, a half or quarter is best.

Decades ago I would have tray of various objects from which a volunteer could select an object with which I would perform (various coins, rings, nuts, candy, etc)

Many would pick up a sliver dollar, examine it and put it back. Most popular was a gold Sacagawea dollar. Next was an English Penny.

Draw your own conclusions. Me - I was prepared with several effects using any of them and did not care.

Point is - what a magician prefers may not be the most important factor.

That's a good point. I don't do much for kids but they always seem especially interested in the foreign coins.

For me both size have their place, especially for me as my pet effect, The MB Transpo Plus, and or my ReViSiTed uses both a half dollar and dollar size Chinese coin. I think changes are heightened by not just changing coins but changing sizes as well. And for me, the coins serve other purposes, as the heavier, bigger coin is better to change the half dollar into, it makes it all look more magical as the Chinese coin just flies out easier behind its weight upon the action. I have done this effect hundreds of times for people and you can see how it captivates them as the impossibility of what’s happening just cannot be, that is once you add in the trappings I put all around it as to things like the Liwag Subtlety for vanishes that works with both size coins, the Quick Pitch for trafficking coins around right in front of them, and various other changes I came up with that keeps the magic jumping between the two different size coins. Oh, and the “Plus” is adding in a powerful piece of impossibility that I came up with and shoot it right between their eyes! They never see it coming, and all of the sudden, BANG!!! Fun, fun, fun!

Some very good and wise advice on this thread, from very experienced workers. I’m only a few years into my coin journey but I’ve practiced and performed with both half and dollar-sized coins as well as replicas and real silver. Maybe it’s just a mental thing on my part, but I like the sound and feel of real silver and my preferred coin size depends on what I’m doing. For example, I got it in my head a few months back that I wanted to learn to produce coins from Down’s Palm. I had no particular routine in mind and truthfully I may never even use this move in an actual performance; I just wanted to see if I could make my hands do it! I tried both half dollars and silver dollars and for some reason the silver dollars just seemed to feel better in my hands. I started with one coin and now I’m up to 5, which may be my limit. I can do the move correctly with 5 coins in my right hand and 3 in the left, about 80% of the time. When I switch to half dollars I find my progress much slower and accuracy to be pretty low. My take-away is that at least in my case and for this particular move, dollar-sized coins seem to work best. Ultimately, as the experts here have said, I think everyone has to find what works for them. Our hands, tastes and dexterity levels are likely all different. So too is the amount of time we all have for practice, not to mention the disposable cash to spend on magic.