Nothing new here, just a culmination of ideas that make up a bigger effect. It is similar to an effect going around a few years back where a coin vanished and appeared on top of a chosen card that was in the middle of the deck. This has been tossing around in my head for many years, and maybe its time to work on getting it ready for performance. It would likely be at the end of a routine as I imagine it would hit really hard.
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A spectator chooses a card and memorizes it. The card is then lost in the deck. A quarter is borrowed and signed with a sharpie by the spectator. The coin is then folded tightly in a sheet of paper, and then the paper is lit on fire and the coin has vanished. The magician spreads the deck to show a visible coin-shaped bump in the middle of their chosen card. The magician starts to rip open the card and the coin inside is their signed coin.
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Again, nothing new in the methods, you likely can figure it out. The turning point of the trick, and hopefully the most visually "magic" part of the trick is the image of the coin-shaped bump in their chosen card. I hope it would be such a surreal and ridiculous image because, in their mind, it could not possibly be their coin, inside their card. This image should cause them to seriously doubt the reality they are seeing. Something akin to a M.C. Escher drawing. I imagine the effect on the spectator will last a lifetime just because of that image, and also because of the signed coin that they will frame with a picture of me, of course.

A big difficulty is making the coin vanish. Wrapping it in flash paper allows for a nice visual of fire and a slight element of danger, compared to a simple vanish in the hands. But, having to pull out paper and a lighter just to vanish a coin is kind of cumbersome. Any suggestions on making the coin vanish cleanly and visually? Would placing the folded paper on the deck and then lighting it work well? That way it could seem like it melts or vaporizes inside the chosen card.

Something else to consider is having the spectator sign their chosen card. This is possible, but I think the visual of showing the chosen card freely before it is replaced in the deck is important for the contrasting visual of the pregnant card later. With this method, its either sign the card but be conservative with the handling, or don't sign the card and be free with the handling. I think the signed coin is plenty, but I could be wrong.

A last concern is the gaff. There is one way to make a card have a coin-shaped belly and it is pretty obvious. This is how I have made trial gaffs. But, this method of making the gaff requires a risky coin switch later. What are some ways to possibly avoid the switch and so make the final stage of the trick a breeze? I have thought of setting up a way of loading but haven't tried it. I think it would reduce the freedom of handling at the reveal of the coin inside the card as well.

What do you think? Has it been done before? If not,

Copyright Will Lane 2018

Oops, just did some more searching. I'm not the first one to think of this (I didn't really think I was). Still, trying to figure out ideas. I think I've figured out how the sale version (C2C by John-Webb Carter) works.