#4 Coin in Paper

It’s the tiniest escape in the history of magic. A coin is wrapped in a piece of paper, then it is taped shut. With a simple wave of your magic wand, Houdini the Coin is gone!!

I was in a Cambridge, Ontario restaurant recently doing close up magic when I walked up to a table and someone said: “Not another card trick!” Luckily, I don’t just carry cards when I’m doing Strolling Magic.

They say that variety is the spice of life and that “someone” wanted something different. And I had that exact scenario in mind, when I started creating Steverino’s Magic School. I am giving you a variety of effects as well as a variety of props with each new trick that I post. So far, you are working with cards, tissue, rope and now a coin. As well, each “effect” is different: a “psychic” card trick, a tissue “restoration”, a rope “penetration” and now a coin “escape.”

So as you learn more and more tricks, you’ll be ready to stroll from table to table and have a different effect and props which should keep everyone interested, excited and amazed.

For this one, have a coin in your pocket and a dozen pieces of paper and you’re ready to go. Also, you can pre-fold the papers so you don’t have to concentrate too hard on that during the performance. Just bring out the coin and piece of paper – you can even have people examine them, then tell a great story and astound them. Remember to turn the paper and coin around as you do the folding to add a little confusion as to which is the front and back of the little envelope you are creating.

AND DON”T PANIC when the coin won’t fall out of the paper into your hand. I say that because I remember it happening to me. The idea I came up with to deal with that possibility is a little misdirection until the coin does slip into your hand. As you turn the paper over, you squeeze the paper to create the indent of the coin, but what you are really doing is making several up and down motions, which will help release the coin that may get wedged in the paper. It will fall into your hand after a couple of up and down moves. To help avoid this, don’t fold the sides of the paper in too tight against the side of the coin or pre-fold the papers, as I mentioned earlier.

Once the coin is in your hand, hold it in finger palm (with your ring and baby fingers) and focus the audience’s attention but pointing out the shape of the coin, telling them it will remain there until the escape. At this point, you can get your wand if you want to, but I like making it seem more impossible by adding some tape over the flap. Just be sure you don’t push on the paper indent where the coin is supposed to be.

Now go in your pocket and get a magic wand and ditch the coin or if you don’t have a wand go into your pocket to get some invisible magic dust. Wave your wand or sprinkle some magic dust over the paper and then, rip up the paper and let the pieces fall onto the table.

Now, here is an added bonus to the Coin in Paper trick, just for you who are reading this!! The way I ended the trick in the video is that Houdini the Coin is gone. If you like, you can have Houdini the Coin reappear anywhere you want to.

There are two choices here. First, if you use your own coin, then you can have a matching one hidden somewhere before you start, which you bring out at the end. A good spot is in a deck of cards sitting near the spectators the whole time you were doing Coin in Paper.

If the coin is borrowed or signed by your spectator, you will need to bring that exact coin back. The thing you don’t want to do is just reach into the same spot where you ditched it, because the thinking audience member will realize that you put the coin there when you were getting the wand earlier. They still won’t know how you got it out of the taped up paper, but you don’t want your audience to have any idea how your magic works, because as soon as they get even an inkling, then what you did is less magical.

So, reach into your pocket again and bring out your magic wand as well as the secretly hidden coin, move the wand into your other hand and then reach for a cloth or cup with the hand holding the hidden coin. Finally, wave the wand over the cloth or cup and show that Houdini, the Coin escaped from the taped paper and has reappeared in the cup or under the cloth a foot away from the paper prison!! Good trick!!

And it will be an even better piece of magic if you do it over and over again by yourself as you look in the mirror to perfect it…because practice makes MAGIC!
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Steve Baker is a magician located in the GTA residing North of Orangeville, near Flesherton, Ontario.
 
Since 1997, Steve has entertained adults and children at private functions and large public venues to amaze them with sleight of hand, strolling magic tricks, mentalism and fun characters from Scarborough to Tobermory and from Hamilton to Brockville in Ontari-ari-ari-o, Canada.