Effect
While explaining an old gambling trick you are a little heavy handed and push a coin INTO a card.
Sleights Hi Ho Silver Double Lift
Preparation
This is the only effect in this booklet that requires a gaff. It’s simple to prepare and you only need do it once - it’s reused every time you perform.
You need to colour photocopy a small coin. Whatever denomination you choose it should be no more than 1.5cms across, fairly small. In the UK, a 10p is perfect. In the US I guess a dime. Colour photocopy it HEADS SIDE DOWN and cut neatly around the print of the coin. Now stick this onto a Double Backed card, which matches the deck you most commonly use. I would suggest a good spray adhesive but you can use a neatly trimmed bit of double stick tape. The photocopied coin should be showing heads. That’s it, job done.
Method
Have your gaff on top of the matching deck, coin side downwards so all looks normal.
Give the spectator a coin to hold that matches your gaff. If you like you can of course ask them if they have one but you run the risk that it may have a mark or have a different image on it. Ask them to hold out the hand that they DON’T write with and place the coin on it making sure its heads side up.
Spread the deck and ask them to choose any card. Place the card face up on top of the deck and get them to sign it. Blow the ink dry, and as you do so secure a Pinkie Break beneath your Double Backer. Lift off the double, holding it in Pinch Grip in the
middle of the long edge.
You will now take the coin back from them and to do this you need to free up your right hand. So, turn your left hand holding the deck palm down ONTO the double, i.e. the double is taken beneath the face-up deck with the left hand palm down. This frees the right hand to take the coin back at its fingertips and bring it towards the deck which is still held vertically. As this happens, your right hand starts to turn palm up. As you rotate the hand and deck back over, the right hand moves so its fingertips are touching the top of the deck, directly on the photocopy. It places the coin flat onto the top surface of the deck as the left hand finishes turning palm up.
Position the coin directly onto the photocopy ensuring it is heads up. The above action ensures the photocopy is hidden throughout; it simply looks like you took the coin and put it on top of the deck. Turning the hand over onto a double like this is an old colour change idea.
“OK, we’ll use the card you picked, the Ace of Hearts. You may be wondering what the coin is for. Well, I don’t know if you know much about gambling, in particular cheating at gambling? An old trick was to press a coin into the back of a card and you left a circular indent. You could not only easily spot this at a distance but it also meant you could actually cut to that card whenever you wish too.”
Keep the deck flat so the coin doesn’t slide around for the moment. Your right hand now moves back to the top of the deck and for a second shields the coin with the backs of its fingers. At the moment this happens you tip the deck slightly towards the right so the coin slides across its surface, falls off the edge and is caught by the left fingers beneath which extend. The coin pretty much automatically falls back under the deck into a Finger Palm position, so the right fingers can come back alongside the edge of the deck. This is Paul Harris’ move “Hi Ho Silver” and is extremely fast, simple and deceptive.
If you feel uneasy letting it slide, the right thumb can give it a little kick towards the edge, this action being shielding by the right fingers.
“Well, I tried it once. I pressed down like this onto the coin so it left a mark on the card, your card in this case - the Ace of Hearts.”
Mime pressing down on the coin with your right hand onto the top of the deck, and then move your right hand away. As you do this move the left hand sideways a little, and then towards the spectator. This movement is important because as long as the deck is moving it’s impossible to see that the coin on top isn’t real. After you have moved it towards them for about a foot, freeze your hand and let them focus on it.
“But I guess I am just too heavy handed because I pressed so hard I actually pushed the coin INTO the card.”
Rub the back of the card with your fingertips and allow them to do this also.
Let this sink in for a moment then continue by asking them to hold both hands out and cup them like a bowl. As they do this turn over a double showing the face of their signed card again. In one action your right hand grabs the deck in Biddle Grip while your left hand presses on the top card with its thumb and peels it off the deck.
The left hand also has the coin in a Finger Palm position but the peeled off card will cover this perfectly. This move shouldn’t be done quickly, just casually appear to pass the deck to the other hand and retain their card. Because of the Double Backer the top of the deck looks normal of course. Table or pocket the deck and as you do so open your left hand out flat to show the card, the coin concealed beneath.
Basic handling for reproduction
After ditching the deck the right hand returns and takes the card as for the classic Matrix position. With thumb on top and fingers beneath, pinning the coin against the underside of the card. The coin should be pinned using only the middle and third fingers, right on its edge so most of it is visible. It must also be located centrally on the card in the same position as the photocopy was on the gaff.
Move the right hand holding the card towards the spectators cupped hands and as you do so turn it palm down to flash the coin. Do this fairly rapidly and as before, as long as the hand is in motion, it’s impossible to tell the coin is now real.
“Fortunately I found that with a nice sharp flick I could dislodge the coin so it wasn’t
stuck inside the card forever.”
Give a quick shake of the card and release the coin so it flies into their cupped hands. Slowly turn the card over and show it is back to normal, then drop it into their hands also to end clean.
Advanced handling
There are lots of options for the reproduction. A more advanced version would be as the right hand comes back and takes the card the left hand turns palm down in a loose fist and Back Clips the coin (or puts it into Tenkai Pinch). Extend your left first finger and tap the card as you say “There’s only one way to get the coin back out of the card….Turn your left hand palm up, which shows it empty, as the coin is Back Clipped, and retake the short end of the card at your fingertips. Hold it above the spectator’s cupped hands and then give it a sharp downwards flick from above with your right hand. At this moment release the coin and it will fall into their hands, a very startling reproduction. Turn the card over and show the back is now normal.
Notes
Almost any small item you can photocopy will work for this routine, although some are a little trickier in terms of aligning the real object with the photocopy. For instance, keys, rings, poker chips, even Polo mints (Lifesavers).
The idea was inspired by a hero of mine, Mr Homer J Simpson. During an episode of The Simpson’s he accidentally pushed a coin inside his hand and then came out with the classic line “Oh no. Not again.”
Paul Harris’ “Hi Ho Silver” can be found on page 157 of The Art of Astonishment - Volume 1.