The Genii Forum

Can anyone help recommend a dealer ?

Looking for a coin pail for a misers dream routine.
Pererably champagne bucket size suitable for silver half dollar/dollar. The coins must not be released into the hand, but into the bucket (if that makes sense)...ala Joe Porpers cocktail shaker. Thank you.
Also considering purchasing a coin wand thru RnT (half dollar size)Has anyone purchased one that could give me feedback ?

Best coin wand made is by Owen Magic. They aren't cheap, but they work great...one hand operation open and closed.

Get the Benson Book !

Don't even think about doing the Miser's Dream until you get Levent's Ultimate Guide To The Miser's Dream DVD set. $39.95 for a 3 DVD set. He will take you through coin pails, droppers, sleights, routines, history and much more. Over 5 hours.

http://www.leventmagic.com/

Thanks for the advice

I think the coin wand takes away from the trick.
Why and how is a coin on top of wand??

Joe Porper sells a coin wand, but the tip is splayed out--not the perfect shape.
Coin wands are an odd thing and you're absolutely right to question it. The Coin Wand only makes sense if you using the wand extensively in your Miser's Dream, like Al Flosso did. Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxl7cMTsn4M
His Miser's Dream is one of the best ever performed, and you can see how the Coin Wand was used.
The question is, then, not "Why is the coin on top of the wand," but "HOW is it balanced there?"

Richard Kaufman wrote:The question is, then, not "Why is the coin on top of the wand," but "HOW is it balanced there?"

If the effect is presented properly, no one will care. They'll be laughing too much.

When Flosso sticks the wand in the kid's mouth and takes the coin out you really have to laugh. Try it today--and you'll get sued. :)

Colin Rose makes his Enchanted Tweezers. I am waiting to see if he will make one for a 1921 Morgan dollar I sent him. Makes more sense to me than the wand.

Joe Porpers tip is splayed as you say.....makes it kind of obvious aint it? ( but no doubt his normal excellent quality) That is why I was looking around. Have contacted Owen Magic...awaiting a reply.

Read the Benson book, apart from being excellent on the Misers Dream, gives interesting background to Nelson Downs and his routine.( who worked with a hat mostly)

Go to a restaurant supply house and take a half dollar with you. Look at "steam table inserts" and champagne buckets. Drop your half dollar into each one of them until you find one with a good ring to it or the clerk runs you off.

If you are looking for a bucket with built in droppers, get a Bertram. It will cost you your kid's college tuition, but it's the best.

Owen may also make one.

BTW, releasing the coins from the bare hand has many advantages over using a dropper, the primary one being that you can reload from the bucket, right in front of the audience, and they will not know you are doing it.

Also, look up Karrell Fox's B.S. Coin Pail.

I concur about Levent's DVDs. Tremendous!

This is just a suggestion.

Get a copy of the Bobo coin book and look in the section it has on the misers dream. Then get a kids sand bucket and a handful of coins and then get out there and do it.

The hardest part of the misers dream is "learning" how to "selling it" to an audience.

And in my opinion the only way to learn how to sell it to an audience is by doing it for an audience.

My Dad the late Billy Bishop did the misers dream with nothing but a handful of coins and a sand bucket. On the stage of the Palace theater in New York to Billy Roses Diamond Horseshoe to television shows like the WGN Bozo show.

It is my opinion that the misers dream needs a performer with a "personality" in order to be entertaining. The weak point I have seen when others have done this trick has always been in the performer not the method.

Having done this trick since I was about eight years old in my opinion - the fun part and the entertainment is the audience reaction as coins appear - as they are being pulled from the elbows - shoulders - behind ears etc. Of the young helpers as the magician moves through the audience and as my Dad ended it - has one young helper come up onto the stage and then he produced a shower of coins - like a slot machine for the climax.

Just my opinion.

000, are you looking for a gaffed pail with built in dropper(s)

I never needed a coin dropper for the misers dream. I found early on I can drop coins without one. That was OK in practice as long as they did not roll when they hit the floor.

Hi Guys:

I was VERY surprised to see my new DVD set mentioned in this thread!

In case anyone is interested, Charles Reynolds recently watched the DVDs and had the following comments:

"Levents Ultimate Guide to the Misers Dream is an astonishing work of both scholarship and practical teaching. Based on his own very original version of the classic effect which he has performed and perfected over a period of more than two years, his own staggeringly detailed analysis of the effect examines the work of such masters as Robert-Houdin, T.Nelson Downs, Al Flosso, Charlie Miller, Pat Page, Roy Benson, Jose Frakson, Allan Shaw and literally dozens of other top performers. It is hard to believe that there is not a sleight, routine, or bit of business that he has missed in researching the more than a century and a half history of what is arguably the greatest of all coin tricks. At an almost unbelievable five and a half hours in length (3 excellently produced DVDs) it is the definitive work on one of magics true masterpieces"
-Charles Reynolds

Bill, any idea where to look for a Bertrams coin pail?
And thanks for the advice chaps

000 wrote:Bill, any idea where to look for a Bertrams coin pail?
And thanks for the advice chaps

Be prepared to pay several hundred dollars for a Bertram Coin Pail, if you can find one. Owen Magic's pail is also several hundred dollars, but more readily available. They occasionally pop up on eBay and usually sell for $400 and up, depending on who is bidding at the time. Owen may have some in stock. I do not know what the current price is.

Having done the Miser's Dream for over 40 years I know that such pails are unnecessary for the successful presentation of the effect. A Charlie Miller Bell Bucket is quite sufficient. Be sure you get the stainless steel model and not the thin aluminium one. They will run you anywhere from $50 and up.

Thank you David
Owens Pail I can confirm is $450, their wand $395., and have been recommended by people on this thread. I was just wandering why the Bertram could be a better choice? I have also seen advertised Porpers Coin wand ( quarters) together with a cocktail shaker, for $1500. Has anyone purchased this item and is able to comment?