5. THE COIN AND ORANGES
Effect. A borrowed and marked coin is passed into the middle of two oranges in succession.
Articles required. Two oranges, two half dollars, a plate, a table knife, a napkin, and a penknife.
Preparation. Make a bold mark, a cross for example, on one of the coins with the penknife and make an exact duplication of this mark on the other coin.
Cut a slit, large enough for the insertion of a half dollar, in each of the two oranges and push one of the marked coins into the slit in one of the oranges. Put the fruit and the table knife on a plate and set the plate on your table— the slits in the oranges to the rear, of course. Place the napkin alongside and put the second marked coin and the penknife in your right trousers pocket.
Routine. Begin by borrowing a half dollar; take it in your right hand and, while showing it to everyone, let it be seen that your hands are otherwise empty. Hand the coin back to the owner, asking him to mark it so that he can identify it easily.
Thrust your right hand into your trousers pocket and bring out the penknife. Open a blade and hand the knife also to the owner, remarking casually, “Just scratch a mark on the coin, a square, a cross . . . anything you like so that you will know it again.” Take both coin and penknife with the right hand; put the coin in your left hand, at the same time noting the mark; then place the knife in your trousers pocket and at the same time finger palm the duplicate coin.
Take the borrowed coin at the tips of the right thumb and fingers and move the hand upwards toward your eyes as if to examine the mark closely, at the same time executing the one-hand change. If the spectator has reacted to your suggestion and has scratched a cross on the coin, remark, “I see you have marked it with a cross. An easy way of signing your name.” If, however, a mark of another kind has been made, content yourself with saying that the coin has been plainly marked.
Hold the substitute coin at the tips of the thumb and fingers, the palm of the hand to the front and visible, the bent fingers concealing the borrowed coin, and give this substitute coin to a spectator at a little distance; ask him to note the mark carefully so that he, too, will be able to identify the coin. Return to your table and under cover of your body, keeping the elbows pressed to the sides, push the borrowed coin into the slit in the second orange. At once pick up the table knife and, with this in your right hand, turn to the spectators.
Point to the oranges with the knife and have the owner of the coin choose one, the right or the left. Using the old equivoque, you make the choice settle on the orange which has the borrowed coin in it. Push the point of the table knife into the slit and carry the orange, thus impaled, to the owner of the coin and ask him to hold it in full view.
Go to the second spectator; take your substitute coin from him; lay it on the palm of the left hand, asking him to take a final look at the mark. Then apparently pick it up with your right hand, really palming it in the left hand; rub it with the fingers for a moment or two; and pretend to throw it toward the orange. Take the plate off the table with the right hand, putting the second orange aside for the moment; pick up the napkin with your left hand, and go to the owner of the coin.
Have him out the orange in half and take out his coin himself. When he has identified his mark, take the coin from him and, in wiping it with the napkin, change it for the palmed coin in your left hand as you go to the second spectator. Ask him to identify the mark also, which, of course, he does in good faith. In the meantime you have slipped the borrowed coin into your right trousers pocket with the napkin.
Pretend to overhear a request to do the trick again and acquiesce readily. Thrust the knife into the second orange, give it to the second spectator to hold, and take the coin from him. Show it and apparently put it in your left hand, really palming it in the right hand. Move the right hand toward the left shoulder and take advantage of this action to drop the palmed coin in the outside left coat pocket; then pull the left sleeve up a little.
Pretend to throw the coin at the orange, and show both hands empty on all sides. Let the spectator cut the orange, take out and identify the coin; this he does readily enough, since it has the same mark as the coin he saw before.
In the meantime you have taken the napkin from your pocket and have palmed the borrowed coin. Take the substitute coin; exchange it for the borrowed coin in the act of wiping it with the napkin; and finally return it to the owner, who once more identifies it as his property.
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