The Genii Forum

Be sure to check out this effect in the June issue. It looks like real magic.

-Marty

That first change looks fantastic. Check our the video in the digital edition.

It is a lovely routine (and I also like the larger video format - very nice.)

When we switch to a new company in the next 30 days, the videos will all be larger when viewed on your computer.

That was both fun and thought provoking. Thanks

Today, I met my friend, Jindai Nishikawa at his Tenyo Magic Corner in Nagoya city, Japan. He said many thanks to everyone who watched his performance appeared on iGenii June issue. He love to hear your thoughts / feedback on this trick (he also thanks for everyone who posted kind words here.). If you have your thoughts, please post here. He'll be glad. Thanks! From Yuki Kadoya

This was an interesting routine to write up. I spend some time with any routine before I start writing, so I can identify possible areas of trouble; once I had found a glass that worked properly I had one of those self fooling moments standing in front of a mirror watching the coin change from copper to silver and back again.

I have a feeling that we will see this change in other routines in the future; it's screaming out for adoption and adaptation.

I just watched this:

Wow! Am I glad I didn't peek (and didn't rewind). Final sequence completely MURDERED me!

I'm tempted not to read the "hows" until next week just to make the wonder last a little longer.

Nice work, Nishikawa-san!

The final sequence is the only non-original part. It's based entirely upon Pressley Guitar's ingenious gimmicked coins and takes no skill whatsoever.

Richard Kaufman wrote:The final sequence is the only non-original part. It's based entirely upon Pressley Guitar's ingenious gimmicked coins and takes no skill whatsoever.

I totally missed it. Gonna have to watch it again (next week )

Richard Kaufman wrote:The final sequence is the only non-original part. It's based entirely upon Pressley Guitar's ingenious gimmicked coins and takes no skill whatsoever.

I thought the e[ was a Connie Hayden thing.

Who gets the credit for using the two so you can show both sides of a silver - i recall that being around when i was starting in '75 or so.

Gotta say i like the glass based change. More deceptive as "hands off" than the palm turnover and drop thing i was using.

Is this trick easy to do?

I have never learned a coin trick before - but was thinking about learning this one.

I haven't read the method yet (still waiting for my hard copy of the magazine). But having seen the video - I am assuming the gimmicked coins - and the knacky move with the shot glass would take care of the method.

As such - it should be pretty easy for a non-coin guy to learn?

You'll be able to learn this routine with very little difficulty. The only 'knacky' bit (aside form the glass switch) is the second phase, and I offered a slightly easier method for that in the write up.

Thank you very much for your kind words, everyone! We really appreciate.

Kendall-San: We really appreciate your perfect write-up. I can't believe Kendall-San wrote up this routine perfectly from my poor explanation!
Because of your great effort, everyone can learn this routine from your in-depth explanation (and we happy to know you fooled yourself in front of a mirror!). Nishikawa-san also thinks your alternative method for 2nd phase is really good.

Dear Mr. Townsend: Thank you very much for the great input. He really appreciate your comments!

To Joe: We surely believe you can learn this routine from Mr. Kendall's in-depth explanation easily. Yes, you need some knacks for this routine as Mr. Kendall told, but you can find knacks soon with coins and a shot glass. Actually, I got knacks within only a hour after I learned this routine from him. Good luck!

Joe, just buy a Copper/Silver/Brass gimmicked set with an expanded half-dollar shell and you're in business.

Dear Y\'s-guy:

Thanks to you and Nishikawa-san for following along and commenting in this thread.

I wonder if perhaps Nishikawa-san might be willing to comment here on how he came up with this routine? Were there particular published inspirations in the literature? Were there sequences in the early iterations of the routine and later discarded and why? Specifically, what alternate endings did he consider? Does he have other versions of the routine that he currently uses?

Dear erdnasephile :

I hope you enjoy his routine!
No problem, I'll ask him to answer your questions (I told him to post reply on this thread, but he asked me to post his message here). Once I receive his answers for your questions, I'll post them here. Please wait. Yuki

This is a very cool effect!

To pick a tiny nit...

Page 37, left column, second paragraph, should read:

"Remember that you cannot show both sides of the coin your left hand is holding. Place it into the mouth of the glass, which is lying on its side on the mat. Your right fist now turns fingers up, but stays closed."

I just checked my original file, and given the preceding text, I'm really not sure that the hand holding the coin needs to be detailed (especially if, like me, you are left handed, and would be using your opposite hands anyway...)

I've checked AskAlexander, and the left and right designation had been added.

I added the designation of the hands. It usually makes it easier to learn if the hands are specified.

MartinKaplan wrote:Be sure to check out this effect in the June issue. It looks like real magic.

-Marty

It looks great, but as it's unlikely I'll ever be able to get the needed props, I don't think I'm ever going to attempt this one.

ejay, you can buy the gimmicked coin set in 100 different places on the Internet, so why wouldn't you be able to get the coins? A Copper/Silver/Brass set is among the most common set of gimmicked coins on the planet.

Also, as I mentioned before, the glass switch works very nicely with any double sided coin.

For example, you could place a C/S coin into the glass, copper side up. in your other hand you have a silver coin, with a copper coin classic palmed. As you do the visual switch with the glass, you have all the time in the world to do a palm to palm transfer with your other hand, for a very visual switch of the coins.

Is the coin set designed by Pressley Guitar the best one to get? Or will any set do?

Sorry if that is a silly question - I am a coin magic newbie.

Is Johnson products still in business? They make the Pressley Guitar set.
Yes, any CSB set will do, but they're not all made equally well. You also need a good expanded shell whose edge doesn't look like hell when it's over the CSB gimmick.

Joe & ejay:

It sounds like you would like some specific advice: if you are a coin newbie, I think there is little point purchasing from one of the boutique coin makers (Lassen, Schoolcraft, etc.).

If you just want to try the routine, I would respectfully suggest (as Richard has) buying something like this for $60:

http://www.johnsonmagicproducts.com/sho ... ucts_id=26

and you'll need this for $35:

http://johnsonmagicproducts.com/shop/in ... ucts_id=44

You can probably find these used on ebay for less.

If you end up deciding this routine is for you, you can always contact the big boys for a custom set.

(However, keep in mind, the video that impressed you was likely performed with the cheaper products recommended above. It's the guy, not the props...)

Hope that helps!

It's a fine C/S/B +e[ routine. If you saw it at the shop you'd likely be very tempted to start there. IMHO that's a better gaff selling performance that a lot of the demos for the gaffs online. Is the video available online in general via YouTube so makers and folks discussing the trick can link?

Just saw Nathan Kranzo lecture in Chattanooga. He taught a nice CSB routine, and was selling and performing with a Tango set. It's not a Cadillac set like Lassen or one of the other custom workers, but it was perfectly serviceable.

He was selling it for $50, I believe, and threw in a Tango DVD which featured many of their gaffed coins.

Isn't Pressley Guitar still alive? If I wanted a set I'd look him up and see if he could provide one.

Yes, Pressley is still alive. I saw him at TAOM last year. But I don't think he's making gimmicked coins anymore.

Years ago, John Mendoza wrote (as others have observed) that Copper Silver Brass was harder to present than the 2 Copper/1 Silver because although the effect was the same, some spectators (especially the drunk ones) had a hard time keeping track what was where. (He did publish his presentational solution (which is not mine to disclose)--I think it's in his book, "The Book of John").

Accordingly, I've performed with 2 copper/1 Silver for laymen, while playing around with some CSB sets at home.

Has anyone found CSB more confusing for real people than 2C/1S?

Another solution would be to say "An American coin here and two foreign coins over there." No mention of what the coins are made of.

"fifty cents - but not in American money"

I was looking at my CSB set and my expanded half and was disappointed they were both tails. I then looked at the video again and realized I should not worry as this is a good example how some details pass right by the audience (and myself).

I've been working on this with a shot glass I had, but I'm having a hard time finding a suitable one. Any suggestions?

I think this is the right kind:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-Heavy-Bot ... 4ae0c57a37

Thanks!

That looks like it ought to do it.

Is the half dollar expanded shell a standard piece with CSB? I recently purchased a very nice (but very expensive) CSB from Jamie Schoolcraft, but it did not include a half dollar expanded shell. I have an expanded shell I purchased from him some time ago that fits over it perfectly, but I think it would be quite risky to set the nested/shelled set onto the mat as openly as in the video as the shell only covers about half the sides and the whole thing appears quite thick, since the foreign coin nest is a little thicker than a half dollar.

No, the expanded shell is not part of the original set. Not sure who was the first to combine them, but it probably occurred not long after Pressley Guitar invented the trick.

Does anybody have a link to a suitable shotglass for use in this trick?

You can probably find a single on eBay, Amazon, at quick look, sold quantity.