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CamisBoss Regular user 128 Posts |
Hey fellow magi! I'm studying abroad in Europe and traveling around to a bunch of different countries for a semester. Currently, I'm in Paris, France. I've heard that the French have old silver coins that could be promising for coin manipulation. I'm wondering what French coins might you recommend. Also, what good coin shops are around Paris where I could pick some of these up? Thanks for your help!
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qkeli Special user paris,france 792 Posts |
Hi there,
You can try getting old 10 french coins, there are quite the same size than the us dollar but the weight is heavier I think. You've got several coin shops in the street named "rue de vivienne" in the heart of paris near OPERA; go and try there. Best, kéli |
Michael Rubinstein V.I.P. 4665 Posts |
Old 5 franc coins are the same size as the silver dollar. 10 centisme (excuse the spelling), are like english pennies, and there is a coin made out of a light silver metal (aluminum?), that are the size of half dolars. I think they are 2 Francs. You can get great gaffs from Georges Proust.
S.E.M. (The Sun, the Moon, and the Earth) is a sun and moon routine unlike any other. Limited to 100 sets, here is the promo:
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Lawrence O Inner circle French Riviera 6811 Posts |
The old 10 Franc coins are 37 mm as compared to Morgan dollar which are 38 mm
Get to this site http://www.xavierbelmont.com/ You'll see the coins and Xavier is making flipper and double shell for them. Henry Mayol also has a new shop and he can have very high quality coins made for you at a reasonable price. As Michael indicated, for coins in circulation, you can get to L'Académie de Magie of George Proust or to Magic Dream
Magic is the art of emotionally sharing live impossible situations
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lithyem Veteran user San Diego, CA 306 Posts |
The French 5 Franc coins mentioned above are beautiful.
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Bob Sanders Grammar Supervisor Magic Valley Ranch, Clanton, Alabama 20504 Posts |
Some old French coins are beautiful. However, like the USA smaller coins have taken over. No doubt, coin magic will ultimately have to make changes there.
Bob Sanders Magic By Sander |
othelo68 Regular user North dakota 174 Posts |
I recently found a 1/2 franc coin and its really tiny! smaller then a dime but its magnetic or ferrous rather either way it sticks to a magnet. I don't know maybe useful
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lithyem Veteran user San Diego, CA 306 Posts |
Hi Bob - why do you think coin magic will have to use the newer smaller coins? Coin magicians are still using Morgan dollars from the 1800's!
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Bob Sanders Grammar Supervisor Magic Valley Ranch, Clanton, Alabama 20504 Posts |
Magicians doing magic for other magicians will still often use the collectors' coins. Collectors' items are great to use with other magicians who appreciate them.
For lay audiences, a coin no longer circulated or perhaps even recognized, shouts "Gimmick". If magic is to look impromptu, it needs to use props one would expect to find "impromptu". This is why impromptu dove magic is not often discussed! Yet, we do the same routine using a table napkin and produce a shoe, bottle of salad dressing or cordless phone and it is impromptu. Producing a horseshoe or a black powder pistol would destroy the effect. I like working with the large coins too. Later I moved to casino tokens/coins. Miser's Dream with Visa cards is just not the same. (Now I still use palming coins.) As a marketing professor in the 1980s, I even got an academic paper published about the US government's mistake in scaling down the size of dollar coins. (I was right, for the government it was a huge failure! The public never accepted them as money in the purest definition of the term. The government wants coin dollars because they do not have to back (redeem) coins. It's free money to the goverment!) Enjoy your coin magic. Bob Sanders Magic By Sander PS --- Try Asian Trade Dollars, if you can find them. |
lithyem Veteran user San Diego, CA 306 Posts |
I don't know Bob - I do disagree there. I've never once been questioned on my Morgans being gimmicked. In fact I think the rarity and collector value of them leads people to believe that they would not be gimmicked.
I do work with quarters (flippers, shells) but I always get more mileage from the old coins. They have a history to them that the new coins do not. They allow for incredibly interesting patter about the properties, the silver, the time period. Perhaps I'm a romantic in that sense but I feel why use mundane props unless that adds to the effect - and vice versa, no reason to use big 100 year old coins if you are trying to appear on-the-spot. My routining and presentation leans more toward visual storytelling with these beautiful old coins and I know they add value as they are characters themselves in the story. If I do a one coin routine and the coin disappears and reappears here and there then have the coin looked at by a spectator and proceed to turn it into 2 then 3 then dump them all into a spectators hand nobody cries gimmick. I also try hard not to allow that thought to be needed by a spectator - through clean sleight of hand and routining. Just my 2 cents Bob Best, Michael |
Bob Sanders Grammar Supervisor Magic Valley Ranch, Clanton, Alabama 20504 Posts |
Michael,
In polite company, they are never going to SAY a word. But they are not stupid, just polite. They understand the wisdom of just moving on. I certainly agree that the skills needed are not reduced by using coins in current circulation. But the collector coins do not focus on that skill. They take from that recognition of skill and draw the focus to the term "different" from what is normally used. "Why won't this work with the coins in my pocket?" We have all heard the advice, “Don’t run if they are not chasing you”. Why invite the chase if there is any chance that you could not pass the test? A gimmicked coin stands a chance of failing the test. Being an unusual coin that is gimmicked certainly warrants even closer examination than usual. (There are more skilled machinists than skilled magicians!) When the history and uniqueness of the collector coin is made part of the story, it certainly can add to the act. However, I have very rarely ever seen that done in my 48 years of magic and over 50 years of professional show business. That is an additional skill. Reality is tough for me to deal with too. That's why my collector coins are not for sale either. How I got some of them is even more valued than what they are. But I only use them with other magicians, not paying audiences! One size does not fit all. Bob Sanders Magic By Sander PS --- You should see some of the beautiful toys (custom coins) in Lawrence O's collection. I need to find a way to get him to put me in his will! Suggestions? |
rannie Inner circle 4375 Posts |
Quote:
On 2009-09-28 12:22, lithyem wrote: So that's what it is....I have those coins in copper. I use it for my spellbound routine when I use my Morgans. Beautiful coin indeed!
"If you can't teach an old dog new tricks, trick the old dog to learn."
-Rannie Raymundo- aka The Boss aka The Manila Enforcer www.rannieraymundo.com www.tapm.proboards80.net |
lithyem Veteran user San Diego, CA 306 Posts |
Who says I use gimmicked coins? True I have been known to - but I often just carry a few straight Morgans or Francs. I'll drop them into your hand when I'm done. I use the big coins because they are more visible - people do not assume you can hide 4 big coins in your hand without them seeing - the vanish and appearances are far more startling with big silver - and they provoke conversation. Most people assume you can hide a quarter but the people who's hands I've dropped big morgans into are generally flabbergasted by the size and weight of them. To each his own.
Hey Rannie - where did you get Copper francs!! Michael |
rannie Inner circle 4375 Posts |
A cousin of mine was a coin collector. I only have one. Can you tell me where I can get more of these coins?
"If you can't teach an old dog new tricks, trick the old dog to learn."
-Rannie Raymundo- aka The Boss aka The Manila Enforcer www.rannieraymundo.com www.tapm.proboards80.net |
lithyem Veteran user San Diego, CA 306 Posts |
Hey Rannie - I've never seen one in copper but I'd love to find one or two myself. If you find a source let me know?
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
Once upon a time when coinage held the value of the currency it stated, ie just under an ounce of silver was a dollar and just under an ounce of gold was twenty dollars, coins were what they were.
Today things are different and very few people living can actually remember getting a silver dollar for a week's pay. Old coins were nice. Today coins only represent value rather than hold value. Poker chips might be a step in the direction folks are looking. As are those special minted coins. You can find out about France's currency online at the wiki - here's a start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_franc
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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lithyem Veteran user San Diego, CA 306 Posts |
Thanks Jonathan - I looked far and wide for a copper version of the Franc pictured above but cannot find one. I do see that a 5 Franc was minted in Copper - most likely not in the same design as the silver though. Would be nice to have a perfect spellbound with identical coins in copper/silver but I'm sure it was never minted that way.
Old coins are certainly nice. They have such rich history - who held them, who earned them... poker chips lend a gambling bent I feel, whether or not the patter suggests it by the nature of the prop. Responding to Bob above - I'd LOVE to see an impromptu dove act! haha Michael |
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