Hello All- I've been studying coin magic for quite some time. As I have mentioned in other posts, it took me two years to perfect my classic palm. In David Stone's Vids. he palms four half dollars. I can only palm three. The fourth ALWAYS falls. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.-Lee.

If the 4th is falling out slide the stack a little more into your palm (away from the wrist) where you have more meat to your hand. Just make sure you still use the same palming muscles.

Or you could switch to thinner coins like Barber Halves.

Or you could switch to cards. I can palm a whole bunch using cards.

do the thumb palm, unless the trick requires the classic palm. either way works =)

-Chris

Unless you are trying to pick up another coin with the hand you are holding out. You're pick up will look very odd with your thumb frozen to the side of your hand.

The simple fact is there is not many sleights that can subsitute for a good classic palm WHEN the classic palm is needed. The classic palm gives you full motion of your fingers and thumb to manipulate other objects. The palm is well suited to using coins on a close up pad, or with spectator's hands, or any time spectators are looking downward at your hands and your hands are turned down.

Curtis Kam makes a good point in the "Is the Classic Palm going out of Style" thread: That the use of the classic palm declines as you bring the magic up to chest level. With your hands at chest level you are much more apt to flash a coin held in classic palm. The finger palm becomes the primary concealment.

Unfortunately, classic palming four coins only comes with practice.

But you can 'step' the coins. (The four coins are on top of one another, but one is offcenter from the one underneath it.)

This makes it a lot easier to hold out more coins.

Some coin magicians call this cheating, but the only people who care are magicians. I'm pretty sure muggles are not going to care much if the stck is together or stepped.

When you step coins it makes it harder to release each coin one at a time by relaxing the palm muscle, that is the only disadvantage to what you say James.

I don't know but it seems to me that the distance between palming three coins and four coins is not that great. I seem to remember working a long time to acquire a good, convincing and natural classic palm and next working on multiple coins and releasing them one at a time. I wonder if Leefoley3 is having a particular problem with multiple coin palm, e.g. releasing them or is it just the number. Does anyone else have a problem with palming 4 coins versus 3?

Ok, I must be dislexic, because I find it the opposite Dan, I find it easier to drop coins from the stepped multiple classic palm, then the traditional.

Yes Dan i have to agree with James it is mush easier to drop coins from the stepped multiple classic palm to the traditional.

It depends on which way you are stepping them. I assumed that since James said it makes it easier to hold more coins to step them he was stepping the coins so that the coins more toward the hand are being held in by the coin below it. You can basically just palm one coin and have all the rest sit between this one coin and your hand stepped.

Now if you step the coins the other way so that the coin below it is not helping to hold the coin in, then I can't see how this is any easier than just palming the stack. In either case (stack or stepped this way) you have to have palm muscles holding each coin.

Thanks for all the great input everyone. I really appreciate all of your suggestions and opinions. I'll keep on practicing and I will get it. Thanks again for the boost.