To start, it is not necessary to use seven coins in this trick. It is perfectly
possible to do the trick with either three coins or five. Seven coins are
most effective but sometimes I like to do the trick with borrowed coins
and it is not always easy to find seven half-dollars. Half-dollars, I hadn't
got around to mentioning, are the best size coins to use.
Here is the effect. The magician counts out seven coins--or five, or three,
at any rate an odd number of coins--on to the hand of a spectator. He
then puts out his left hand and asks that four coins be counted upon his
left palm. When that is done he puts out his right hand and has the
remaining three coins put, one at a time, on that palm. He then calls
attention to the fact that he has four coins on his left palm and three on
his right.
He takes one away from his left hand and drops it with the rest
in his right. He closes both hands into fists and calls attention once more
to the number of coins in each hand. Now he has the four in the right
and only the three in the left. He jingles the coins and asks the
spectators how many coins in each hand. No matter what they say, he
opens his right hand to show that he has all seven coins in that hand,
and then opens his left to show it empty. Then, if the coins are borrowed
he hands back the money.
The comedy in the trick depends upon the magician's trying seemingly
to get the audience confused as to which hand has the odd coin. Getting
them worried over the location of that one coin is the business which
gives the magician a chance to steal the three coins without their being
any the wiser.
There is nothing to get ready and all that you have to have is the
knowledge of the routine and the way to transfer the coins. Remember
you can borrow the money--anyway you can try. If you can't, you can
always use palming coins. As a trick by itself it is good, particularly
because you can do it any time--any where, and as a part of the miser's
dream, or some other coin routine, it is also good.
When you start in the first business of four coins on the left hand and
three on the right, it is just to get the people thinking about their being a
different number of coins in the two hands. When the thumb and first
finger of the right hand--the other three fingers are closed to hold the
three coins in that hand--go over to the left hand to pick up the coin,
everyone's eyes follow that coin.
The moment that the right hand moves away from the left, the left hand
is closed and turned over back up. On this turnover, and the closing and
turnover are one move, the fingertips slide the coins to the heel of the
palm, so that they extend down edgeways between the tips of the
fingers and the palm. In other words, the edges of the coins point
towards the floor and stick out of the closed fist.
The right hand is then turned palm up and the third, fourth, and little
fingers opened. The fourth coin is then dropped from between the
thumb and first finger so that it falls on the rest. This is a perfectly
natural move, even if it doesn't read like it. The right hand is then closed
and the fist turned over, as had been done with the left hand. Both
hands are now closed and are back up.
Then the magician goes on talking about where the coins are--how many
in each hand. His right hand moves toward the left in talking and he
points either with the first finger, which he opens, or with the thumb.
Sometimes I do it one way, sometimes the other. Then he announces
the number of coins in the right hand. In doing that his left hand moves
over to the right and it looks like the right hand moved at the same
speed away from the left. Actually the hands meet, and in a sort of
rolling motion, so that the coins sticking out of the left hand are caught
in the same grip by the fingers of the right hand.
The left hand then
points with the extended first finger, or the thumb, at the right hand, as
the magician tells the number of coins in the right hand. The changeover
is really easy to do when you get the timing down and the patter
timed to go with the moves. The sleight itself is easy.
At this point the coins stick down below the right hand; that is the extra
three coins do, the other four are still in the right fist. The magician then
starts to shake the coins and on the first shake the right hand opens
enough to get the outside coins in the hand with the others. Both hands
are shaken at the same time and the audience believe that they hear
coins in each hand.
Once again the hands are held still and the spectators asked to name the number of coins in each hand. When they have finished the magician says, "Chams cha la ta ax ba, which means I hope you like this trick. Come my boy hold out your hand. And here are seven coins--and here absolutely nothing." Of course, as has been suggested, the magician also talks during the rest of the trick. He says: "Listen to the money jingle," when he shakes the coins. He also tells the number of coins in each hand several times to build up the idea that he is going to have something happen to that odd coin. He never suggests that idea, but the audience don't need the suggestion for they will get the idea all by themselves.
I have a lot of bigger tricks which haven't made the impression that this one has made on audiences. It fools people and they like it and what more do you want in a trick.
