Читать книгу Modern Coin Magic - J. B. Bobo - Страница 29

PAUL MORRIS

Here is a subtle sleight which should find many uses in performing such tricks as Four Coins to a Glass (Chapter VIII), Coins Through the Table, and numerous other effects.

Suppose you have a number of half dollars in your right hand and wish to retain one concealed in that hand as you place the others into the left. The Paul Morris Bottom Steal (with coins!—not cards) accomplishes this in an ingenious manner without any telltale movement whatsoever.

The method: After showing some coins and calling attention to their number, square them into a stack and hold them by their opposite edges between the tips of the right second finger and thumb—the back of the hand toward the spectators and the flat surface of the coins parallel with the floor, Fig. 1. The hands should be held about waist high, the left being palm up a few inches away and in position to receive the coins, Fig. 2. Move the hands toward each other casually. The right hand is about to place the coins in the palm of the left hand. Take a look at Fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows the performer’s view of the action.

As the stack of coins moves toward the left palm the two middle fingers of that hand come in contact with the bottom coin and it remains balanced on their tips hidden from the spectators’ view by the right fingers. Fig. 5 shows the spectators’ view, while Fig. 6 depicts the action as seen by the performer. As the right hand deposits the stack of coins in the left palm the left middle fingers push upward and press the stolen coin into the right palm, Fig. 7.

The action of sliding off the bottom coin from the stack and pressing it into the right palm is completely hidden by the right fingers which are held close together. Now separate the hands. Allow the spectators to get a brief view of the coins lying in the left hand, then close the fingers over them. In a perfectly natural manner you have placed a stack of coins in your left hand but in this action you have stolen a coin, which is now hidden in your right palm. No visible movement of the right hand is necessary to retain the coin as that hand reaches for a glass tumbler and picks it up by its brim. The glass is held between the fingers and thumb of the palm down hand in such a manner that the coin, when released from the palm, will fall into the glass.

Hold the hands some distance apart, make a tossing motion with the left hand toward the glass and release the coin in the right palm, permitting it to fall into the glass. Open the left hand and show one coin missing. The move can be repeated to cause a second coin to pass into the glass but the third and remaining coins should be caused to pass into the glass by employing different sleights.

This steal is so natural it can be executed in perfect safety at very close range. You may stand face to face with a spectator and execute the sleight without him being aware of anything unusual taking place. After becoming proficient with the sleight you will find that you can even curl back the forefinger to give a view of the coins from above. Even though you may permit the top of the stack to be seen the steal cannot be detected because the chicanery takes place underneath the stack while the spectators can only see the top of the stack. As far as they are concerned, nothing is hidden—they can see everything as the coins are placed in the left hand. Yet the sleight takes place without their knowing it!