Leipzig Thumb Roll

[performer]

I have been doing this coin flourish for years and years. However, for some odd reason in the nearly 60 years I have been doing magic I have never seen anyone else do it. I have always wondered why. I suppose it might be the inadequate description by Ganson in the Nate Leipzig book that has something to do with this. Normally I have always considered Lewis Ganson a really good writer on magic and I have learned an awful lot from him but I do think his description was a bit faulty in this case.

However, I somehow learned it anyway. It is not a spectacular flourish in the same way the standard coin roll is but it fits in well with this anyway.

Here it is. Please excuse my long thumbnail. I keep it this way because of my frequent use of a thumbnail writer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2OAiIXcDyw

[Richard Kaufman]

Looks good! Sort of the "cardistry" of its day.

[performer]

The "coinestry" at any rate! It's strange that you never see it. Even Vernon said the only person apart from Leipzig he had seen do it was Silent Mora. I use it as part of a little routine I do with the coin roll. I do the regular roll backwards and forwards and under the hand as per the usual procedure. Then I turn the hand palm upward and continue in the same way. This is also described in the Leipzig book. Then I do the thumb roll as in the video. I usually stop there if I only have one coin available. If I have two coins I do one on each hand and then two on one hand.

If I have 4 coins available I then do two on each hand and finish off with the well known roll down flourish.

It does take a fair bit of practice but I learned it my younger days when I had the enthusiasm for that sort of thing. I still do it. It staves off arthritis if nothing else.

[performer]

OK. I feel like one of those awful you tube kids but here is the full routine. I am very rusty indeed and there are a lot of people nowadays who can do it a hell of a lot better than me. After all I am now terribly old and decrepit.

However, I am posting it for the routine itself rather than my aged execution of it. There may well be some young hotshot out there with more youthful and agile fingers than me that can make use of the routining and do something with it.

The line "Here's how I put money in circulation" comes from Nate Leipzig who actually invented the coin roll in the first place after playing with a loose button. I bet he invented the thumb roll I showed earlier at the same time although nobody is actually doing it except me. Although I expect they will now.

Anyway here it is. Do with it what you will. I know it is entertaining and that is the main thing. Somebody may well make good use of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQiEr5FWWrI

[Bill Mullins]

Mike Perovich teaches the thumb roll in MUM Jan 2012. He said he did it for Vernon, who asked where he learned it. Perovich said from the Vernon Tribute to Leipzig book, and Vernon said, no, that's different from what's in the book, and that he and Ganson had guessed at what they thought Leipzig's method must have been. But after seeing Perovich, he decided that it was more likely the proper method.

[Bill Mullins]

Mike Perovich teaches the thumb roll in MUM Jan 2012. He said he did it for Vernon, who asked where he learned it. Perovich said from the Vernon Tribute to Leipzig book, and Vernon said, no, that's different from what's in the book, and that he and Ganson had guessed at what they thought Leipzig's method must have been. But after seeing Perovich, he decided that it was more likely the proper method.

[performer]

I may well be doing it a different way from Leipzig too. I couldn't do what was in the book so I also had to guess at it. I have no idea if I am doing what Ganson, Vernon or Leipzig intended but it seems to work so I am not going to worry about it. It fits in well with an extended coin roll routine.

There is not an over abundance of coin flourishes in the same way there are with cards. Come to think of it (and I may be wrong) I don't think I have ever seen David Roth do a flourish with coins. Perhaps he is of the school of thought that likes to hide skill and that is fair enough.

I like to do it providing there is not too much of it. And of course with coins you are limited anyway. It does add to the entertainment value.

[Tarotist]

Aha! I put that video up in 2015 and nobody took the slightest notice of it. I made it on a train journey when I was bored. However, just yesterday somebody DID make a comment and I must say that person is a man of astute judgement! Here is what he said:

"ive seen a couple of versions of the Leipzig thumb roll and this is the most intricate and most beautiful . Thank you for sharing"

I really must congratulate myself on the matter.

[magicfish]

I'll congratulate you as well. Very nice little flourish. Right up my alley.
I appreciate the dedicated practice time it must've taken to get it smooth.
Nicely done.
I love little bits of business like this.

[Tarotist]

Aha! I put that video up in 2015 and nobody took the slightest notice of it. I made it on a train journey when I was bored. However, just yesterday somebody DID make a comment and I must say that person is a man of astute judgement! Here is what he said:

"ive seen a couple of versions of the Leipzig thumb roll and this is the most intricate and most beautiful . Thank you for sharing"

I really must congratulate myself on the matter.

I see the comment is no longer there! He probably deleted it when he saw it mentioned here! I have no idea who the commenter is. He probably wanted me to thank him for the comment but alas at that time I had no idea how to reply to comments although now I do. If he (or she I suppose) is reading this then please accept my belated thanks for the comment and know that I consider you to be a person of rather good judgement!