Many of us have been using the US coins for our close up performances. I am currently toying with the idea of using Euro coins.

May I know which Euro coins are similar or same size as the US dollars and half dollars? Are they easy to handle? And is it easy to get them?

Thanks in advance for your info.

I had a 2 euros okito coin box
its a little smaller that the half dollar
its like my "500 pesos" coin from my country
if you wanna see the size, and compare, check my tribute to Juan Tamariz right here
http://vimeo.com/groups/coinvanish/videos/3979998

Diameter of a 2 Euro coin is only 2,4 cm versus 3 cm ín American 1/2. the 2 Euro coins are a little bit thicker than Halfdollars.
Don`t know wether your bank can get them for you. If you just want to look at one, pm me.
Regards from Germany
Detlef

Its smaller. Its like our malaysian 20cent coin

They work nicely

Living in Europe I perform very often with Euro coins. My favourite is the 2-euro coin, followed by the 50-cent one. BUT in no way do they compare to the US Half-dollar coin. Euro coins are small, thick and heavy. I'll use them if I'm not carrying my halves with me.

My two-cents

Phedon

To answer to question JamesTong, there is the 2 euros coin which is most commonly used by magicians performing in euros. As someone already mentionned, it is thick, heavy and quite small, to the point that even in close-up work the visiblity becomes a problem. The problem is that there is no real big coin in euro that is also common to people.

This is why I use Dollars & Halves for all my close-up work, although I live in France.

However, you might be interested to know that the french governement released some large size euros in silver and gold for collecting purposes (even if the money can be spent), but it fit our magician needs.

You can see those coins here (in french but there are pictures, so you get the idea):

http://www.laposte.fr/presse_communiques......250.html

The 5 euros coin is the same size as a Half Dollar, and is silver.
The 15 euros coin is a little smaller than a Dollar and is silver too.

These coins are distributed by the french mail company if you want to get some, and you should be able to get them at their value price (so the 5 euros coins should cost something like 6 dollars). I know they have been released last august and that they come in limited quantity.

They also plan to release some 25, 100 and 250 euros coins, some in gold. I don't know their size.

You might also want to check other countries using this currency, as they might have their own collecting coins, but I suspect that if they do they are quite the same. I'm thinking about Germany in particular.

I may also add that if you plan to use euros because it is common to the people where you perform, in my opinion by using these "collectors" euros you are loosing the "common" feature.

A big 'Thank You' to Pablo_Amira, Detlef, h_A_Z, sacerdote dpn bpsco, phedonbilek, and Gahrsim for the info.

Is the 2 euros coins the biggest size available?

I was asking this question because I thought I saw some photos of euros coins that look like they are the same size with the dollars and half dollars. I could be mistaken. Could they be palming coins that look like euros coins? Are there such palming coins?

Thanks, Gahrsim, for the link to the silver coins. Those look interesting. Are they only available in France?

The 2 euros coin is definitely the biggest size available in euros, appart from the collectors euros coins I told you about.

I'm not sure whether or not they are available in France only but I guess so, as they are specificaly minted by the French Government (or more accurately "La Monnaie de Paris", which is a sub-organization dedicated to money).

Know, from what you are writing, it seems that the look of the coin is your main criteria. In this case, you might want to check the UK 2 pounds coin, as the look is very close to the 2 euros coin ( the coin look even better in my opinion), and most important, its size is much closer to the one of a half dollar, so it's much easier to palm, and more visible at the same time.

Gahrsim, Thanks for the info on the UK 2 pounds coin too. I will take a look at them.

Basically the places I am performing in now, may not know the differences between the coins from various countries. I just like to create a theme around coins throughout the world and perform routines around that theme.

To perform those routines (quite standard routines, actually) I need to know a couple of things ...

* the size of the coins (dollars and half dollars sizes are ideal for my hands for palming)

* are the coins easier to palm

* are there gaffs available for those coins without having to custom make them.

Those 5 and 15 euros also interest me. They are useful for my patter. I hope I can source for them easily.

Thanks for the help, Gahrsim.

Ok, to answer your questions:

-The 2 euros coin is much smaller than a half dollar, quite thick. You can palm it, but it is quite hard to do it securely (at least for me), and the edge are not milled. My opinion: useful when you want to do something with borrowed money, like pen thru coin or C/S transpo in their hand, but very impractical in a lot of effect, not to mention serious visibility issues.

-The 2 pounds coin is larger than the 2 euros coin but smaller than a half dollar. It is quite thick too but you can quite securely palm it and do a coin across routine, the coin is visible. My opinion: good ratio borrowed money/Handling/Look of the coin.

There are industrially made gaffs available for both these coins, from shop located in countries where the currency is used:

Euros: a large variety of magic shops carry some gaffs in euros. Tango is a good supplier of gaffs in euros.

2 pounds: any UK online magic shop. Try http://www.cards4magic.co.uk/ or http://www.worldmagicshop.co.uk/

After further search, a lot of european countries have their own collector euros, among them austria, germany, italy, spain...

Speaking for the french ones, they are only available through the national mail company "La Poste"..so your best bet would be to ask them if they could send you some coins. Be careful though, as it is actual currency there might be some legislations issues...

Thanks, Gahrsim. You gave me all the answers I need. Really appreciate it. A BIG 'Thank You' again.

Gahrsim didn't mention the 5 Swiss Franc coin which is also of a fairly large size and is commonly in circulation. They are not Euros as such but they are European coins and, worldwide, Switzerland smells like good money. I didn't say clean (even if some is laundry money), I said good!...

Also Xavier Belmont is gaffing old French beautiful silver coins (more elegant than a Barber or a Morgan and even than the nice American "Freedom" one IMHO) which are similar in size to the American coins (37 mm for the 10 FF coin and 41 mm for the 50 FF coin)