HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

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Guest

HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 12th, 2004, 11:30 am

Please help me if you can. I have just seen Derren Brown live and he was amazing. I have figured out a few of his tricks but the one i really want to learn is the one where a spectator puts a pound coin in one of their hands and he guesses which one its in every time. I have a few ideas about the principles behind it owning a trick called eye to eye, but i have to find out how to do this one. Please help me if you can. feel free to email me if you can help. It must surely involve magnetism or a very small metal detctor. He did the same with coffee cups too with a metal item underneath.

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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Bill Mullins » May 12th, 2004, 1:07 pm

Simon -- contact Derren through his website and ask him. If he isn't willing to share it with you, then it really isn't appropriate for anyone else to do so either.

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 12th, 2004, 2:10 pm

thank you for that useful reply bill. To anyone else who might have something useful to say i would also be grateful if anyone knows where the trick could be purchased.

Brad Henderson
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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Brad Henderson » May 12th, 2004, 2:24 pm

Bill's reply WAS useful. Not every trick in someone's show is store bought. If you want to learn one of Derren's tricks, ask him. Isn't that the most expedient way? Of course, if you feel uncomfortable asking him, maybe that tells you something about your question.

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 12th, 2004, 2:50 pm

Thank you Brad for your comments, I appreciate that every trick is not shop bought and i wouldn't imagine that an amazing trick like this one is shop bought. However, I think i understand the basic workings of the trick due to studying it but i do not know of anywhere i can purchase the correct equipment that must be needed. That is what i am trying to find out.As i said in my original post, i have a trick called eye to eye which is very similar but this involves the spectator having to put their wrists to your temples and is not as subtle as the way derren just happens to touch their hands. and would you really expect for one minute that derren would just tell a complete stranger how the trick was done ?

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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Bill Palmer » May 12th, 2004, 3:05 pm

I had a booth next to Charles Gauci at the IBM Convention in Kansas City last year. I must have seen him do Eye to Eye at least 100 times. He has so many ways of getting the signal that conceal the act of getting the hand near the gaff that the first couple of times I saw him do it, I almost laughed, because of the subtlety.

You don't have to put the gaff where Charles suggests.

And ALL of the answers you have seen have been useful. Just pay attention.
Bill Palmer, MIMC

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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby James Foster » May 12th, 2004, 3:07 pm

Originally posted by simondickinson:
...and would you really expect for one minute that derren would just tell a complete stranger how the trick was done ?
Probably not, but I suspect that was the point Brad was making in his post. If not Derren, who? Why should other complete strangers reveal methods from a performing professional's repertoire?

Good luck in your research...

James Foster

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 12th, 2004, 3:17 pm

Thank you Bill. I am wondering though if the gimmick in eye to eye that you mention is the same as the trick i have. doesn't it need to be inyour ear to be able to detect ? i would welcome any further thoughts you have on this.

Bob Baker
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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Bob Baker » May 12th, 2004, 7:28 pm

Let me be less subtle than my esteemed colleagues.

It's one of Derren's signature pieces. No one else should be doing it. Including you.

Period.

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 12th, 2004, 11:52 pm

my apologies. i had no idea that everyone else out there has never wanted to learn a trick they didn't know or develop a trick they already had. I will no longer have any curiosity. please forgive me and forget the initial messeage i posted. i am a very bad person indeed.

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 13th, 2004, 12:10 am

Please forgive the way i phrased the question initially but i was trying to compliment derren whilst at the same time trying to develop a trick that i have called eye to eye. what i am trying to find out is how to modify eye to eye so that instead of the gimmick being in my ear i could have a similar gimmick in my hand but i cannot yet see how i can get that to work. forget the derren brown part, but if anyone has any practical suggestions or links about modifying the trick in this way then i would be grateful.
simon

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 13th, 2004, 5:46 am

ask gauci

Bob Baker
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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Bob Baker » May 13th, 2004, 7:18 am

Actually, I was going to suggest the same thing, and I don't mean it sarcastically.

Charles Gauci is very generous and very helpful to people who have purchased his products. I'm sure he can offer you some good suggestions.

Bob

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 13th, 2004, 8:57 am

Thank you for that. I'll give it a try.

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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby El Mystico » May 16th, 2004, 10:23 am

Please help me if you can. I have just seen a video of David Copperfield and he was amazing. I have figured out a few of his tricks but the one i really want to learn is the one where the statue of Liberty vanishes. I have a few ideas about the principles behind it, having vanished a coin under a glass before, but i have to find out how to do this one. Please help me if you can. feel free to email me if you can help. It must surely involve black art wells or something.

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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 16th, 2004, 11:43 am

Dom, I don't think anyone on this board is just going to blurt out Jim Steinmeyer's method, as used by David Copperfield, for vanishing the Statue of Liberty.
Suffice to say that it is not something that you could ever repeat, and it does not use any principle you would recognize.
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Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 16th, 2004, 12:31 pm

Richard, I'm sure that Dom is joking. His references to a coin vanish and a black art well suggest that.

Dave

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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Jonathan Townsend » May 16th, 2004, 12:47 pm

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
...Suffice to say that it is not something that you could ever repeat, and it does not use any principle you would recognize.
Has anyone done the landscaping around their home to permit this using their house? That might make a cute home movie.

Is the statue of liberty open again?
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 16th, 2004, 8:49 pm

Yes, the Statue of Liberty has reopened.

You could do all the landscaping you want: no one who sees this trick live is going to be fooled by it. It works only as something performed to be filmed and broadcast, even though no camera tricks are involved.
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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby mrgoat » May 17th, 2004, 1:45 pm

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
Dom, I don't think anyone on this board is just going to blurt out Jim Steinmeyer's method, as used by David Copperfield, for vanishing the Statue of Liberty.
Suffice to say that it is not something that you could ever repeat, and it does not use any principle you would recognize.
Mr K

I think you missed a bit of 'across the pond' sarcasm.

The kid asked for how Brown does a 'which hand is it in' guessing game.

Dom is sarcastically linking vanishing a pound coin under a glass to vanishing the statue of liberty. The gag was really emphasized with the black art wells suggestion.

Sometimes I think us brits need to hold up a sign of some kind when we are sarcastic. If you read Dom's other posts you will see he is more than qualified and certainly wasn't asking for the secret to the Copperfield illusion!

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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 17th, 2004, 2:12 pm

Dom told me it was a joke after my initial posting. Have had to edit the previous message because we all decided we can't explain the workings of marketed items here.
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Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 19th, 2004, 10:04 am

Okay. I have NOT seen Derren Brown (who by written word alone I love) do this effect. I have no idea what his method is, but Christ almighty, the EFFECT has been in gobs and gobs of kiddie books. While I'm sure the old and inelagant blood-drainage method is not what Brown's doing (and my guess would be that it's what I learned as 'The Nose Knows' from, I THINK McGill's 'Psychic Magic') the EFFECT, to a spectator, is pretty much the same. (I know, the strength is in the repetition, but still...) I just don't get how someone can claim (and I'm aware that it ain't Brown who's doing the claiming) an effect well in the public domain is suddenly SOMEONE'S just because they do it well and on TV. And good lord, would it really be so crass to drop an actual book title to steer someone who's interested in the right direction? I'll wager anyone who's replied to this post so far knows ONE way of doing what ammounts to the same effect. Did Derren Brown teach it to you or did you already know the effect before you saw the performance? How did you attain this knowledge? Would you have been so stingy with the walloping, earth-shattering effect of a one-in-two chance if it hadn't been seen on the tube? Ain't values fun?

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 20th, 2004, 10:32 am

Interestingly, Derren was on a daytime chat show in the UK a couple of days ago.

He's been on several times before and done the coin trick.

The host is an awful man called Ricahrd Madely.

He was convinced that Derren had hypnotised him before the show last time, although he couldn't remember it happening, and somehow influenced him over his choice of hands.

Ricahrd sprang it on Derren and said "I've got a pound coin right now - I'm putting it in one of my hands - tell me which one"

Derren looked genuinely shocked and for a while looked as though he wouldn't be able to tell, before announcing "You've not got it in either hand have you"

Richard opened both hands to reveal nothing.

Either he was very lucky or is always prepared to perform it.

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 21st, 2004, 8:23 am

I'll give you a hint with this one, it's nothing to do with the nose.

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 21st, 2004, 10:48 am

Fair enough. I really wasn't trying to guess the exact method as much as I was trying dispel the illusion of 'ownership' of any and all "Guess Which Hand" performances. I don't thing method enters into it. The nose thing works well, the blood drainage thing can be disguised by having the person retrieve the coin from a high shelf (allegedly), certain metal alloys combined with perspiration emit a low electrical charge which cause the hairs on the back of the hand to stand upright, there are special glasses available in the backs of comic books that enable one to see through flesh, the coin can be smeared with bong resin so that an offstage drug-sniffing dog can signal the mentalist, corrosive elements can be added to the coin causing the flesh of the hand holding it to slightly blister, not to mention the method attributed to Ponsin involving sealing wax, potash and tiny ceramic pigs. Or should I not be giving away these things?

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » May 24th, 2004, 8:27 am

It's one of derren's signature routines. you won't find it on the open market.

Ron

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » June 19th, 2004, 2:38 pm

Ok this is my first post on this site so I will tread carefully!

I have lost of respect for Derren Brown and he is one of my faveourite performers (who I would deffinatly recomend seeing live) his coin in the hand effect is a great effect. However I realy dont think it is right to say that it is his effect alone. This is a very old effect that has been around in variouse different forms for a great number of years. In fact I have been doing the effect since before I saw Derren Brown perform it.
Now even though I dont beleive it is right to give Derren the rights to this effect I do not condone people explaining the method.
Plus even if I did it would be impossible for me to explain the exact method Derren Brown use as I know for a fact that I myself use several different methods for this one effect and without asking Derren I could not know how he does it exactly.

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Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Jonathan Townsend » June 19th, 2004, 3:05 pm

We could spend time discussing the mechanics of a trick, or ....

raise the stakes into a better trick.

How about they IMAGINE they have a coin on one hand, and use a pen to put a circle on their palm so all but the magi can confirm...

now... same procedure :D
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » June 19th, 2004, 8:55 pm

Does someone own rights to "Guess Which Hand"? My kids owe them a ton of money if this is true.

Oh, wait a minute, they use their own, different method anyway.

Thank goodness.

Guest

Re: HELP ! The derren brown pound coin trick.

Postby Guest » June 20th, 2004, 2:37 am

Thank you to everyone who has contributed(constructive or otherwise). Due to some of the constructive replies and e-mails I have now found a couple of places with different methods which I can use. This, after all, was all I wanted to learn in the first place, where to look to learn more. Not to reveal the secrets of a trick or receive a lecture on the rights or wrongs of wanting to learn. Thank you again to all of you who had serious suggestions.


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