I’m getting these aging hands back into some coin work after many years, and finding these gorgeous soft Morgan dollars are tough to grip. Any advice on getting these same coins re-edged? Experiences? Contacts? Bad idea?

Whether you go for it or not you could use this to make them grippier:
https://www.amazon.com/DAddario-Kaplan-P......038XUDW6

Of course, you can have the coins re-edged by a craft$man, but since you’re just getting back into a little coin work it might be a better idea to just get yourself a few replica Morgans that will come with good milling, and some are available in a soft form. Might cost you $10-20 bucks. You might check eBay for the old SIck set that comes with 5 replica Morgans and a dollar size Chinese coin, less that $20 bucks. I remember those looked somewhat worn down a bit but with good milling, plus it comes with the Sick dvd. Even though that coin work is a bit advanced, it’s really the coins you want.

Hello Mac.
As usual, Mb offers the best advise.

But,
because you asked... : )

I don't 'mill' my coins, so to speak;
but I .. 're-rill' them(!).

With a Jeweler's saw,
every other 'rill'
get two or three strokes.

I hold the coin flat, on the tables edge,
then,
with the saw virtical ..
two to three strokes.
Sometimes, when finished,
I clean the coin's 'burr-y' edge,
with emery cloth.

I do this to practically ALL(!), of my coins ... new and old.

"Grip like chainsaws!" ... I once heard said.

On the other hand,
I'm performing at 'a distance', from my audience. ...3 meters (10 feet)
... and never hand my coins out.
It IS 'noticible'.

All the best,
gallagher

p.s.: It helped .. me,..at first, working with Sleights and Routines
that didn't need 'iron grips'.
Mb's 'Crimp Change' Routine, for example(!)
Blows the socks off the folks(!)
(Especially, if you learn 'the Blow Change'!)
... and 'grip' is not essential.

Thanks, Mb and all. I just snagged the last Sick stock from eBay. It’ll be good to try the better edges on the replicas with my creaky hands before I start sawing into the real Morgans.

NP and hope you got the one I saw for about $15.99…Great deal!

When I first started to play with dollar size coins, they were some old Morgans that my grandpa left to me long ago. They were very soft and had no milling on them left as some of them were over 100 yrs old. But I loved those old coins and learned to work with them quite well I’d say. There was little of any grip on them, but I learned to hold them pretty good just the same. It all made me work harder to achieve my goals. But good milling or edges does make it quite a bit better for you. Hey, I’m using those old Morgans here…



Hope you enjoy it and good journey to you.

Very nice, I’ve been enjoying your videos for a while now. And yes, not only was it $15.99, but I ordered two sets and somehow the final shipped price for everything was $23.99. Uh, magic, I’ll take it! Thanks for the advice.

I love the 1800s Morgans.
There's something incredibly cool about something that survived the Old West.

Hah, yes, I pick one up and imagine how many shots of whiskey this coin was exchanged for at the local watering hole.

Hey, and noticed my old friend Gallagher here above speaking of “sawing.” You just need to know that he is quite a fine craftsman himself, a bit of an engineer I’d dare say. Capable of fixing anything from truck to building fine instruments like a piano or a glockenspiel even. He’s an amazing guy and a uniquely fine street entertainer as well. He and his wife are exceptional people to pursue what they love, and of course there’s quite a bit of magic in all that. That he endeavored to get my Crimp Change down to a high level, and WOWS spectators everywhere he goes with it, is a real honor. Special people & friends, it’s what real magic is all about.

Unless they're mint marked "CC" or "S" there's no telling if they were ever out west.

Not definitively, but good enough odds to spark the imagination.
A story don't gotta be true to be good.

Most people remill coin edges to be able to better grip the coin in classic palm. With dollars, classic palm isn't the best concealment, as described in the Jamy Ian Swiss article I posted elsewhere in the coin section. So, although it might be beneficial to remill edges for half dollars or english pennies, less useful for dollar-sized coins.

I’ve been thinking about skipping the classic palm with these soft Morgans, so it’s good to hear your comments. In addition to the replicas on order, I’ve got some Eisenhower dollars coming in. I’ll be able to make more confident decisions when I’ve tried the options. Many thanks.

Here is a part of the article I referenced earlier:
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."

I see, palm-up = palm-forward = palm-exposed. Speaking more generally, I have to say that what I’m seeing as the modern (post 70s), aggressive coin handling is a revelation. Most impressive.

Yes. Dollars rely more on finger palming techniques (counting finger hiding such as with Nowhere palm in that category).

Really advanced guys can classic palm 12 4-inch jumbos and produce them singly. There's at least ten YouTube commenters who can so clearly it's not even hard.
Of course, I've never tried it because another YouTube commenter told me that jumbos are corny.
Now I only levitate above buildings. Everything else is lame.

@critter’s suggestion of rosin is excellent. It's what Roth recommended and sold re-packaged as Roth Rosin (subject to correction by Dr. Rubinstein).

I purchased and use Hidersine Special Double Bass Rosin #3:
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/orchestr......00000003

Really helps coin grip.

You are correct.