Hate it when that happens - even when I'm on the stairs in my home I forget whether I'm going up or down and why...BUT ANYWAY - I digress.

Without diving too deep...What is really the difference in both coins and routine of Hopping halves and copper ailver brass I know just really the addition of the brass Chinese coin but are they essentially interchangeable???

Hopping Halves sets are usually English Penney and Half Dollar, rather than using a smaller copper coin (twenty centavo) to display as two copper coins.

With hopping halves, one coin is removed, and magically returns - repeatedly.

With (most*) CSB routines, one coin repeatedly switches places with the other two.

They are not interchangeable sets. What you do with one you can't do with the other.

*Pipo Vilanueva has a great routine with the CSB called "The Atomic Coin". It's quite different than other CSB routines.

With Hopping Halves, only two coins are (or seem to be) in play; there are only TWO coins for a spectator to keep track of.

But with Copper Silver Brass, there are instead (as the name implies) THREE visible coins for the spectator to watch.

If you have in mind another effect that might be “essentially interchangeable,” whose only real difference is the use of a brass Chinese coin, perhaps you’re thinking of Two Copper, One Silver — which (again as the name implies) also has three visible coins in play to keep track of; it’s just that two of them are both copper, whereas CSB swaps out one of the coppers for a brass Chinese coin.

Thanks for the answers...It's clearer now...on another note does anyone know where I can get a quarter sized chinese coin (any color)

If you have a Chinatown in your city, you will see them in twine if the gift stores. But they are not colored.

Also, search Amazon.