I found a link to the book you mentioned Noland. Grand finale! : silk at your fingertips. It was published in 1940. Amazon has a 1952 copy starting at $35 http://www.amazon.com/Grand-finale-Silk-......007HECPU

Not having the copy of it, I can't confirm if he used a TT to vanish a silk. It would have to be very small or a diamond cut to fit. The list of tricks in this link does show the use of TT, but of course we don't how it is used. The book looks good as there seems to be good effects in it. http://magicref.tripod.com/books/chaninjackgrandfinale.htm

Years ago I played with an idea of using a small portion of it in the TT after making a larger one disappear in a pull. But, with the diamond cuts and the larger TT's it is not necessary.

This link gives a free preview of the book of ten pages. In it Chanin talks about a production with a silk from a TT. It's not too far a jump to assume that you might have made it disappear as well. http://96.125.177.171/store/pc/Grand-Fin......jRfx4pcQ

We are getting closer thanks to Noland. And if he remembers that the book did have the vanish, then it seems we might have a winner. However, if anyone does get this book, it does seem like a gem.

Chanin's book details both the appearance and VANISH of the silk using a TT. The vanish is described as follows: "Once more the right hand pushes the silk into the closed left hand, actually into the thumb tip, which was placed in the left hand, during the action. See Figure 6 (figure not reproduced). The right hand comes away bringing the thumb tip with the silk. Left hand move to the left above shoulder height. Once more the attention is taken away from the right hand. Make a few passes with the right hand over the left. The silk has vanished. Now show right hand empty as in Figure 7 (figure not reproduced) by momentarily pointing thumb with the tip of thumb towards audience. The audience will observe that the hand is completely empty, since the point of the thumb strikes their eye and it will be impossible for them to see anything on the thumb."

Chanin not only did the trick before Capehart, but the details of the move are correct. He knew how to handle the TT. There might be others before him, but so far it seems that Chanin was the first.

Now, did everyone get their ideas from Chanin or did this lay dormant for thirty years? These are the questions I am playing with as I am collecting info. Thanks Noland for filling the blanks. This is great stuff.

It's possible that Chanin's method was the inspiration as this is a very good book on silks. I doubt that this book would have just vanished. I'm sure someone in the 70s had the book and realized that the new Vernet TT would work better. Someone started the trend because it seemed that's when everyone was vanishing silk hankies.

Thanks Noland! I KNEW Jack Chanin (met him in '53 at an MAES convention in Lancaster, PA.) Later, we were fellow members (with Dick Jarrow, Karrell Fox, Duke Stern, Doc Mossey, Jay Marshall, of THE SECRET SIX. I tell the story of the Secret Six in my book.

Jack was a MAGICIAN! I vividly remember he and I sitting in the green room at an MAES convention. We had a session on the C&R Rope. I learned more VALUABLE information in that hour, than at a hundred lectures!

Interestingly enough, we never discussed his silk act, and I never saw him do it, nor do I have a copy of his book.

However, I do not doubt, for a minute, that he would have used a TT for the vanish. He would have most likely used some sort of homemade TT (Jack was FAMOUS for that! or, he may have used a P&L GOBLIN TT.

Yes, I believe that the OP misunderstood Capeheart, or possibly, Chris THOUGHT that he had been the first.

Hell! After Bobo showed it to me in '75, I used it all over the U.S. in school shows, and in my lecture. --I never claimed to be the originator, I just passed it on, as I had s few lines that "sold" it. The lines were nothing fantastic, but I never said, "Here I have a red silk!"

I know this is an old thread, but Chatterbox brought it up at lunch the other day and it got me thinking..
In the first issue of Chap's Scrapbook, July 1938, Mr. Chapman has a trick called Purse Mys'try.
He has a sticker signed and placed on a silk. The silk is then vanished with a TT and reproduced from a change purse.

So at least since 1938 Frank Chapman was vanishing silks.

My copy of Chanin's "Silk at your fingertips" in which Chanin describes his thumb tip vanish of a silk was published in 1952. It was a re-publication of the original book. I don't know the publication date of the original book, but the forward to the original book was re-published in the 1952 edition. The forward was written by Frank Lane and is dated November 23, 1939, which is very close to the date of the Chapman book (July 1938). Presumably, since Chanin had a whole silk act built around his use of the thumb tip, he had been performing the routine for some time before the publication of his book. So it is possible that he developed a thumb tip vanish of a silk before Chapman, but of course this is all speculation. I wonder if Chapman and Chanin knew each other at that time and shared their magic ideas?

Chapman makes no claim to being the originator.
I think most probably thought of it as a utility device for vanishing, so claiming to be the first to vanish X in the TT seemed silly.