2. SWITCHING A BILL
The methods of substituting a bill of your own for a borrowed one vary according to whether the bill is crumpled or folded. If crumpled into a ball, you secretly palm a crumpled bill in your left hand. Take the borrowed bill in the right hand, crumple it between the fingers, palm it in apparently placing it in the left hand, and show the substitute. This action must take place in turning to the left—to hand the bill to a spectator on that side, or to drop it into a glass on a table at your left. Either the regular palm or the finger palm can be used.
Or again the tourniquet (French drop) can be used. Have the substitute bill palmed in the right hand and take the borrowed bill in the left hand between the tips of the thumb and second finger, palm upwards.
Pretend to take the bill with the right hand, really letting it drop into the left palm, and show the palmed bill in the right hand. In this case the action takes place in handing the bill to someone on your right (Fig. 3).
If, however, you have folded the bill, have the substitute, folded the same way, in the finger palm in the left hand. Show the borrowed bill at the tips of the right thumb and first end second fingers. Bring the hands together so that the tips of the fingers meet in front of you and, at that instant, push the substitute bill forward with the left thumb and pull the borrowed bill back into the finger palm with the right thumb (Fig. 4). Move the left hand away, with the substitute bill in view, and drop the right hand naturally to the side. The move is made in handing the bill to someone on your left.
At times it is necessary to make the switch with one hand. Hold the substitute bill in the finger palm and take the borrowed bill between the thumb and second and third fingers of the same hand. Pull the borrowed bill down over the substitute and push this upwards with the tip of the second finger; as soon as the edges of the bills clear, push the substitute with the tip of the thumb into the position previously occupied by the borrowed bill—that is to say, the two bills change places. Executed with the hand in motion, the substitution is imperceptible (Fig. 5).
A tuck made in either sleeve, in pulling the sleeve back a little, is very useful either for securing a substitute bill or for disposing of one after the substitution.
Another excellent method is to use a thumb tip. Fold the bill as described for the finger palm and put it at the bottom of a drugstore envelope; place this envelope fourth in a packet and a thumb tip in your vest pocket. Ask for the loan of a bill and instruct the owner how to fold it, giving him directions that will result in a package similar to the one in the envelope. While he does this, hand out the three top envelopes of the packet casually, as if merely to show they are quite ordinary, and get the thumb tip on your right thumb. Take the fourth envelope and hold it in your left hand by the sides with the address side towards the audience. Lift the flap, insert your thumb, as if to open out the envelope, and leave the thumb tip inside. Take the folded bill from the spectator, put it into the envelope, really into the thumb tip, and immediately withdraw this on your thumb, holding the envelope so that the substitute bill can be seen inside it.
Place your right hand into your coat pocket and bring out a book of matches, leaving the thumb tip behind; then stop and suggest that the number be recorded by the owner. He does this, replaces the bill in the envelope and retains it in his possession. Since you have memorized the number of your bill you can give a convincing exhibition of mindreading by revealing the number.
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