Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

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mrmagik68
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Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby mrmagik68 » August 15th, 2020, 3:57 pm

Hey folks,

I'd like your help in deciding on which coin magic book I should get for now, Rubinstein Coin Magic or Giacomo Bertini System of Amazement? I consider myself an intermediate coin guy. Years ago when I first got started with sleight of hand, coins is what I gravitated towards. I studied Bobo's and Expert Coin Magic and always walked around with coins in hand. I'd like to rekindle that passion as well further my coin skills and was looking into both of these books. Both books seem fantastic and chock full of great coin magic but, since I want to limit myself to just one book for now, I wanted to hear from those of you who actually own BOTH books. Many thanks!



Roberto

rpmagicshop
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby rpmagicshop » August 15th, 2020, 4:52 pm

Rubinstein Coin Magic for sure, Giacomo's book is very good but is geared more towards advanced coin magic in my opinion.
I have 1 copy left of Rubinstein Coin Magic at the shop.
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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Richard Kaufman » August 15th, 2020, 8:39 pm

Rubinstein.
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Bill Duncan
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Bill Duncan » August 15th, 2020, 10:43 pm

Do you have The Complete Works of Derek Dingle? That was my second book on coin magic and it's essential study as far as I'm concerned.

Rubenstien's work (I have not seen the book yet) is both evolutionary and occasionally revolutionary (his matting work will slay you). Bertini doesn't really break ground so much as floats unencumbered above it.

If you love books, get both. Books often go out of print and and the secondary market isn't kind to the pocketbook.

But really... don't ignore Dingle.

Larry Stangel
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Larry Stangel » August 20th, 2020, 9:38 pm

Not to complicate your decision but if you don't already have it, the Geoff Latta book is worth considering.

Bill Duncan
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Bill Duncan » August 21st, 2020, 12:10 am

it is indeed.

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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Jeffrey Cowan » August 23rd, 2020, 1:46 am

Neither. Get Kaufman's Coin Magic and/or the Latta book.
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Edward Pungot
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Edward Pungot » August 23rd, 2020, 7:20 am

Yes

Michael Rubinstein
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Michael Rubinstein » August 23rd, 2020, 8:08 am

Thought this might be helpful to those who don't have Rubinstein Coin Magic:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD by Bill Wells
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE – SLEIGHTS, MOVES, AND TECHNIQUES
CHAPTER ONE - R.O.P.S. TECHNIQUE
1. R.O.P.S. Move
2. R.O.P.S. New Theory Retention Pass
3. R.O.P.S. Click Pass
4. R.O.P.S. Double Click Pass
CHAPTER TWO - VANISHES, SHUTTLE PASSES, LOADS, AND CHANGEOVER PALMS
1. Variation Retention Pass
2. The Bronx Take
3. Miracle One Hand Coin Vanish
4. Roll-Down Retention Pass
5. Fingertip Shuttle Pass
6. Fingertip Shuttle-Pass Display
7. Palm-Down Fingertip Shuttle Pass
8. Fingertip Load
9. Tap Load
10. Spellbound Changeover Palm
11. Spellbound Changeover-Palm Variation and Display
12. Nowhere Palm Changeover Palm
13. Rubinstein Put-back Move
CHAPTER THREE - CLICK PASSES
Introduction
1. Rubinstein Click Pass
2. Air Drop Click Pass
3. Turnover Double Click Pass
4. Snap Down Double Click Pass
5.Nowhere Palm Click Pass
6. Nowhere Palm Double Click Pass
7. Fan Double Click Pass
8. Reverse Double Click Pass
CHAPTER FOUR – SPELLBOUND MOVES
1. Impromptu Touch Change
2. The Wave Change
3. The Rubinstein Steal Back
4. Flip-Over Change
5. The Soft change
6. The Strike Change
7. The Rub Change
8. Spellbound 9333
9. The Blow Change
10. The Cartwheel Change
11. Spellbound Times Three
12. Triple E.G. Spell
CHAPTER FIVE - FALSE COUNTS AND USEFUL MOVES
1. The PH (Pseudo Himber) Count
2. The Fidget Count
3. The R.O.P.S Discrepancy Count
4. The Combination Count
5. The Click Steal Back
6. The Clip Steal Back
7. Purse-Palm Subtlety
8. Fingertip Utility Switch
9. Angle-Finger Palm Switch
10. Multi-Coin Angle-Palm Switch
11. The Slide Move
12. Crossed Arms Subtlety
13. The Rubinstein Subtlety
CHAPTER SIX - STEALTH PALM
CHAPTER SEVEN – ADDITIONAL TECHNIQUES
1. Matting
2. Pocket Management
PART TWO – ROUTINES
CHAPTER EIGHT – COPPER-SILVER
1. The Purse and Glass
2. Magical Change Purse (Purse, No Glass)
3.  The Substitution Trunk Mystery
4. Stand Up Sucker Copper-Silver Routine
5. Copper or Silver Extraction
6. Copper Penetration
7. Handy Copper-Silver Transposition
8. Cup of Copper Silver
9. Stealth Copper-Silver Transposition
10. Ungimmicked Copper-Silver-Brass
11. Oil and Water
12. Matchbox Treasury Redux
CHAPTER NINE – WILD COIN
1. Twilight Zone Wild Coin Introduction
2. Twilight Zone Wild Coin Show Version
3. Twilight Zone Wild Coin Impromptu Version
4. Twilight Zone Wild Coin Cup Version
5. Twilight Zone Wild Coin Purse Version
6. Twilight Zone Wild Coin Original Handling
7. Twilight Zone Wild Coin Multi Gold Version
8. Sliding Wild Coin
CHAPTER TEN – SPELLBOUND ROUTINES
1. Thoughts on Spellbound
2. Ultimate Silver Lint
3. The Chocolate Coin
4. Imagine a Coin
5. Four-Way Spellbound
6. Shattered Spellbound
7. Chinese Explosion
CHAPTER ELEVEN - COINS THROUGH THE TABLE
1. Rubinstein Coins Through the Table
2. Standup Coins Through the Table
3. CSB Coins Through the Table
4. Giant Four Coins through the Table
CHAPTER TWELVE - COINS ACROSS
1. Tallahassee Jumping Coins
2. Impossible Four Coin Trick I
3. Impossible Four Coin Trick 2
4. Long Term Short Term
5. Retro Fly
6. The Specciolini Brothers
7. Shell CSB Coins Across
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - COIN PRODUCTIONS AND VANISHES
1.Triple Play
2. Magical Money Rap
3. The Wishing Well
4. Vegas Math
5. Fuzzy Math
6. Bologna Debut
7. Stealth Hanging Coins
8. Stealth Showcase
9. Deja vu Coin Vanish
10. Tri-Coin
11. Flash Vanish
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - COINS AND CARDS
1. Voodoo Revelation
2. Voodoo Revelation SOH Version
3. Two Coin Monte (Two Card Reverse Matrix)
4. Quadra Coin Reverse Matrix
5. Ultra Reverse Matrix
6. The Mentalist
7. Triple Coin to Card
8. Case Solved
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - GAFFED COINS
1. Silver Extraction
2. The Double-Faced Coin Routine
3. The Bent Coin Routine
4. Magnetic Coins
5. Thumb Through Coin
6. Signed Bill Through Coin
7. Smileys
8. Smileys Jr.
9. Fusion
10. Three Quarters of a Trick
11. Key Fobulous
12. Goodbye, Hello, Now Change
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - MISCELLANEOUS
1. The Purse Routine
2. The Blank Coin Routine
3. The Mystery of the Chinese Coin
4. The Black Hole
5. Mint Condition
6. Next of Boxes
7. Coin in Coin Roll
8. Coins to Glass
9. Polarized Plastic
10. Time for Change
11. The Counterfeit Coin
12. Nest of Envelopes
13. Nest of Envelopes Method Two
14. The Sympathy Card
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – COINS AND POKER CHIPS
1. May the Force Be with You
2. Poker Chip Spellbound
3. 3-D Printing
4. My Coin Collection
5. Conviction Prediction
6. Conviction Prediction, and Some Magishin’
7. The Famous Three Coin Trick
8. Three Coin Monte
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN – FRIENDS SECTION
1. Introduction
2. Mike Gallo – I Got It Covered
3. Nathan Kranzo – Shuzbut Coins
4. Jean Emmanuel Francis – Aegean Coins
5. Moritz Mueller – Slide of Hand Vanish
6. Bill Citino – Coins Walking Wildly Ahead
7. Tom Gagnon – Shell-Acted
8. Marc DeSouza – Cylinder and Coins for Three Friends
9. Eric Roumestan – Touch, No Touch
10. Brenden Wolf – Differential
11. Lawrens Godon – Three-ality Routine
12. Tri Ryuzaki – Synchronized Spellbound
13. Giacomo Bertini – Coinmeleon II
14. Etienne Lorenceau – Faustus Chameleon Skin Purse
15. Danny Goldsmith – The Frenetic Change
16. Leonard Rangel – Three Flight
17. Doug Brewer – Left-Handed Coins in a Box
18. John Carey – Simplex Positive Negative
19. Miguel Angel Gea – Coin Munch
20. Bill Wisch – The Elbow Servante
21. Jay Wang – Purse-onal Coin Production
22. Karen Dorangrichia – WOW Magic Chicken
23. David Roth - The Roth Blank Coin Routine
PART THREE – BONUS SECTION
CHAPTER NINETEEN - PUNS FOR ANY OCCASION
1. Introduction
2. Medical
3. Professional
4. Animals
5. Sports
6. Home
7. Car and Travel
8. Food
9. Personal
9. Bars and Drinks
10. Miscellaneous
CHAPTER TWENTY – CURTAIN CALL
1. Chinese Explosion II
2. Quarter Steal
3. Baseball Miser’s Dream
FINAL THOUGHTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Randal2
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Chris Randal2 » September 28th, 2020, 8:16 am

Ok that looks like a super ton of material. I know what I need for Xmas

Chris Randal2
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Chris Randal2 » September 28th, 2020, 8:19 am

The Troy Hoosier books should be up for great coin books especially for modern coin magic that seems to be the norm with very little credit. Seems like every new young hot shot coin guy is just doing a bad Troy Hooiser. I did 20 years ago and it still seems to be the trend

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Efendi Kwok
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Efendi Kwok » September 28th, 2020, 8:52 pm

mrmagik68 wrote:... I consider myself an intermediate coin guy. ... I'd like to rekindle that passion as well further my coin skills ...


Get yourself Giacomo's. Plenty of hard stuff to further your skills, upgrade yourself up from intermediate.

https://www.magicana.com/news/blog/giacomo-bertini’s-system-amazement

http://www.magiccastle.com/library/giac ... azement-2/
Too much browsing, too much reading, too much learning, yet NOT MUCH practice ! *sigh*
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mrmagik68
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby mrmagik68 » October 3rd, 2020, 12:40 am

Thank you all for your wonderful responses/suggestions. I actually went with the Rubinstein book and I don't regret it.



Roberto

John Bowden
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby John Bowden » October 3rd, 2020, 9:24 am

Just get both books ............. You deserve them. (Well if you deserve one you must deserve the other also............ my logic.)

Don't compare them to each other as I doubt that either Rubinstein or Giacomo ever wrote them as competition to each other.
They are both well worth having and learning from and I could practically guarantee you won't regret buying the Giacomo book to compliment Rubenstein's excellent volume.

JB

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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby MagicbyAlfred » October 3rd, 2020, 4:17 pm

My uncle Alfred, a fabulous, entertaining amateur magician, and my first inspiration and teacher in magic, joked that he started learning tricks with a single coin because during the depression he (like many people) "didn't have two nickels to rub together." As a matter of fact, the first coin trick I ever learned from him was the old classic where you rub the coin on your elbow and after a couple of unsuccessful tries, it completely disappears. I still sometimes do that trick today when I'm sitting at a table. It may not have the acclaim of Matrix, Coins Across, Coins Through the Table, or 3 Fly, and some magicians might well look down their noses at it. But you know what? It's a darn good trick and a real fooler, that gets a great reaction (although, admittedly, there's a layman every now and then who is familiar with it). It is a complete vanish and there aren't that many coin tricks that can lay claim to that. Incidentally, Vernon said that when you vanish a coin, that should be it; that it should not be brought back, and I agree with that. But that's a whole n'other discussion...

As far as the two books in question, there is undoubtedly much to be learned from both. And, ideally, as John suggests, having both would be the best of both worlds. But, like so much of what we may wish to acquire in life, the trick is having enough -- well --

coin.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 3rd, 2020, 7:50 pm

There's no question that the Rubenstein book will give a lot more to the intermediate coin worker. Bertini's book is a system of sorts, using terribly difficult sleight of hand.
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Re: Rubinstein -OR- Giacomo?

Postby nash » October 13th, 2020, 3:32 pm

I might be biased but Rubenstein's encyclopedia of coin sleights is what I started with. Always a gem. So Rubinstein gets my vote.
Giacomo is def. geared toward the advanced coin worker (in fact, you just reminded me to revisit them again, thanks !)
:)
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