4. THE PASSAGE OF FOUR COINS FROM A HAT INTO A GLASS
Effect. Similar to that of the preceding experiment but more striking. There are two methods: one by pure skill; the other by means of a simple accessory.
1st Method. A hat, a glass, and four coins—half dollars preferably—are required and all of them may be borrowed, the only preparation being the palming beforehand of a fifth coin in the right hand.
Place the hat, glass, and coins on the table; pick up the coins with the right hand and drop them into the hat, counting them one by one. Grasp the glass by the rim with the tips of the right thumb and fingers so that the palm overarches its mouth. Dip the left hand into the hat, pick up the four coins, show them and jingle them in the hand; then place the hand in the hat, drop three coins only, and retain one coin in the finger palm. At once grasp the hat by the brim, the fingers inside pressing the stolen coin against the side of the hat.
Face the spectators, holding the hat in the left hand and the glass in the right, the arms outstretched. Announce that one coin is to pass from the hat to the glass. Give the mystic command; shake the hat, making the coins jingle; follow the supposed passage of one coin with your eyes; and let the palmed coin fall into the glass.
Place the glass with the coin in it on the table and with the left hand turn the three coins out of the hat into the right hand. Count them and jingle them in the hand, getting one coin into position in the regular palm; thrust the hand into the hat, let two coins fall, and retain one in the palm. Seize the glass with this hand as before, stretch the hands wide apart, and order a second coin to pass. Jingle the two coins in the hat, follow the supposed flight of a coin to the glass with your eyes, and let the palmed coin fall into the glass.
There are now two coins in the hat and two in the glass; you have one secretly in the left hand, held against the side of the hat. Place the glass down and take the two coins out of the hat with the right hand. Show them and drop one coin into the hat, letting the hand go just out of sight in the hat in the action. Show the second coin and repeat exactly the same action of dropping it into the hat, but really palm it and at the same moment drop the coin from the left hand. Take the glass in the right hand and follow the same procedure as before for the passage of the third coin, letting the palmed coin drop into the glass.
Place the glass with the three coins on the table; thrust the right hand into the hat; take one of the two coins, quickly slipping it under the fingers of the left hand, and bring the other out openly at the tips of the fingers. Show the inside of the hat empty by raising it and turning it over with the left hand.
Pretend to drop the coin from the right hand as before, palming it and with a finger of the left hand giving the side of the hat a fillip to imitate the sound of a coin falling into the hat.
Order the fourth coin to pass, and let the palmed coin fall into the glass from the palm of the hand. Turn the hat over and show it empty. Pour the coins from the glass onto the table; at the same moment slide the coin hidden by the left fingers under the sweatband of the hat, and lay it mouth downwards on the table. Count the coins and incidentally show both hands empty. The coin can be secretly removed when returning the hat to its owner.
2d Method. In this ease the extra coin is attached to a thread which runs from the armhole down the left sleeve; the length of the thread is such that when the arm is stretched to its full length the coin rests in the palm of the hand, but that when the arm is bent and held near to the body the coin will fall about six inches below the hand. It will be understood, therefore, that this attached coin can be let drop freely into a hat held in the left hand close to the body and that the mere action of extending the arm will cause the coin to be drawn up into the hand holding the hat, thus causing its disappearance. This is the principle on which the trick depends.
As in the first method, you borrow a hat, a glass, and four coins. Place the hat and the glass on the table. Pick up the first coin and apparently place it in the left hand, counting “One”; really palm the coin in the right hand and show the attached coin in the left hand. Actually place the remaining three coins, one by one, into the left hand, counting “Two, three, four” and keeping the back of the right hand to the front throughout to conceal the palmed coin. Hold the hat under the left hand, the left arm bent and close to the body, and drop the four coins into it. Then take the hat with the left hand by the brim, the fingers inside, the thumb outside.
Pick up the glass with the right hand by the rim, as already explained. Jingle the coins in the hat and stretch the left arm out, thereby causing the attached coin to mount to the fingers of the left hand, which press it to the side of the hat and conceal it. Order the first coin to pass from the hat to the glass, use the same pantomimic action, and let the coin fall from the right hand into the glass. Turn the hat over and let three coins fall on the table.
Repeat exactly the same procedure for the remaining coins, the right hand palming one coin and the left hand showing the attached coin in its place. When the extra coin has been drawn up into the fingers for the last time, break the thread; then slip the coin under the sweatband and finish as in the first method.
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