Merenkov, Roth was booked for private parties, and did both walk around, and a formal show where a table was set up with chairs in front, and he did his Castle Act. He had many rebookings from wealthy people who saw him perform - his table set was extremely popular!

That's interesting, Michael, I would have loved to have seen David blow the minds of laypeople with one of his signature routines. On a semi-related note, this reminded me of a video of Dean Dill from years ago performing for a small group of laypeople. He performs one of his beautiful shadow matrix routines, which was great, but then someone asks him to do something with their own special "challenge" coin. Dean proceeds to blow their minds with it, but doesn't stop there. As an afterthought, he melts their brains with one of his instantaneous, kicker climaxes. These spectators didn't stand a chance, had no idea they were dealing with a real wizard...

My 11 year old thinks coin tricks are magical.
And not just because she's my 11 year old, I rarely perform for my own kids.

Also I've performed for a lot of neurodivergent people who were able to follow coin tricks better than card tricks. Cards were a bit more abstract to some of them. I wish every kind of magic worked for every spectator because I love most of it but it doesn't work that way.

Making pieces of metal do magical things is a pretty straightforward concept.

Even if someone hasn't handled a lot of change all you have to do is feel a coin to understand that it's solid and shouldn't just melt through a hand or table or whatever. Like try to bend that without special techniques or training.
You want to talk solid through solid? Doesn't get much more solid than a hard piece of metal.

Someone doing things that shouldn't be possible is hecking magic.

Merenkov, I don't know all the stuff David did for walk around, as he was also a pretty good card guy (he had the best teachers - Jennings, Ortiz, Marlo, Dingle etc.). I know he always did his flurry, shell coins across, and he used to tell me that people loved Rip-O (his handling, but I don't think the trick was his). It was on the NYCMS DVD series. I also know he was enamoured with color changing knives, as he had several sets, including a set of Buck knives.

I remember Dr. Rubenstein writing about how card guys would show Roth their special stuff they wouldn't show anyone else since he wasn't primarily a card guy so he wasn't just trying to steal material.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Correct! He wasn't a threat to them.

I haven’t performed since high school, but approaching retirement is having me reaching back. I always thought a coin routine using a stack of cookies might be fun. Maybe a glass of milk involved. Hey, maybe I’m starting to wake up, a new project!

Bob McCallister (of Wonderama fame) was a magician and part of the NY crowd. He did a fantastic routine back in the day - a Miser's Dream using a paper bag and chocolate chip cookies. He had one realistic plastic cookie that he produced, and pretended to drop into the bag with the distinct sound of the cookie hitting the bag. It was available commercially back in the day.
Now N2G makes coin tricks up with Oreo cookies. I haven't seen them, but the videos look pretty good.

Thanks for this, Michael. Gaffed cookies, sounds like a bad weekend I once had!

Maybe if you carry a pack of wet-wipes. The fuss of crumbs and getting smeared by sugar and chocolate make such magic more difficult than expected.

Could make a little bit with a mini handheld hoover. Could be funny.

Mini vacuum, crumbs as pixie dust, bites restored, stack of cookies sunk in a glass of milk that appear only when tilted, filling inside cookies / cookie inside fillings, color/flavor changing fillings, appearing/disappearing in a sealed package, seems like there’s quite a bit here. I just bought a box of Oreos.

Ramsey's coins and cylinder could adapt quite well I think, with a marshmallow instead of cork.

So while gazing into a glass of milk, on cue an Oreo cookie floats to the top and breaks the surface. Magnet? Thread? A weight? Fizzy chemistry? Thick milk or thin milkshake? I’m thinking it’s like a Magic Eight Ball, “Ask again later”.

Something else I was just thinking about when it comes to coins being solid is that they're more durable than cards.
With cards I cringe every time someone takes a $13+ deck and shuffles it in some horrible way or with nasty boogery hands. I'M NOT SPONSORED, STOP JACKING UP MY CARDS.
A coin isn't just going to be a different shape when I go to do something with it.
If it gets gummed up I can just wipe it off.
They're consistent and I like that.

Thanks Critter,
I like cards but yes, they can be messed up at any time by anyone and what do they care?
Coins are the ultimate long lasting props for easy carry magic for every day walk around, especially
during the warm weather. Much easier to carry cards in a jacket in cooler weather.....

My EDC uses clad half dollars, because if you drop silver coins and they become dented, they can be harder to use. Professionally I use both silver and clad, depending on venue.

David told me a funny story about his chop cup routine years ago. He had a great audience, appreciating the chop cup. Midway, a woman walked by and said, "the ball is magnetic." It bothered him to that day, whether she knew about the chop cup, or saw a move out of context, and guessed.

I was playing around with pen thur coin when I thought straw through oreo and somehow I wound up with this

https://youtube.com/shorts/ldS5gR-CUnw?feature=share