It is not about what method is being used. It is about how good the method is performed. A lot of magicians can perform old school methods better than new school.

Actually that should have read, "Don't don't use sleeving 'cause it's old school."

"Don't, don't"???

I don't know, jocce, I really like sl*****g. I think it's really slick when used well. I don't use it a lot, but when I do, I love it as it tops off vanishes/reproductions of all kinds with a cherry on top.

*Hey, how was that PM?

Don't over-polish your coins; leave some patina so spectators can tell how many there are (as mentioned by Homer Liwag).

Don't do excessive hand washing (agree with above posters). The best technique I've seen is from Dave Neighbors-- 2 swipes of the hands, and he's done. It's essentially the amount a layman might do when he dusts the dirt off his hands.

Don't end every coin routine with a jumbo coin (Curtis Kam).

Don't always use 4 coins (eg. for Coins Across). (I think you potentially run the danger of being too repetitive. 3 seems to work pretty well, IMHO.)

(A pet peeve that I'm sure some will disagree with: ) Don't pull coins out of your elbows. It makes no sense and generally lacks motivation (the closest I've seen is people's patter saying, "You know how magicians use their sleeves...").

Mb, I totally agree, and meaning got lost in editing my list. Sleeving is goot!
"9. Don't say no to sleeving just because it isn't the latest invention" is what I mean. I added it to my list because I had a discussion with a fellow magician about sleeving, and his opinion was that no one should use sleeving because it's old school and there are better methods available today (like the Raven). I didn't agree with him to say the least.

P.S. That PM was a real nice holiday surprise. I was sure I sent you a reply, but my old computer was acting up a bit in the end, and it passed away around the same time I read your PM so maybe it choked on my reply. Thanx a lot, friend.

Don't TRY TO COPY MICKEY SILVER.

1. Perform without a clear vision of what relationship the performer has to the magic and what relationship the performer has to the audience.

2. Perform a move/method/trick simply because they enjoy the sensations of doing the moves or procedure, unless it's in front of the mirror for self gratification.

3. Buy or fuss over a trick because the item appeals as a puzzle of some sort.

4. Treat their props as something other than its supposed to be in their script.

5. Perform without a script.

6. Expect any director/actor they ask for feedback to give a darn about methodology beyond what flashes or is so obvious as to raise suspicion or to really care that they can't look at the props.

7. Have any attitude about their props as other than what they are purported to be - hey, it's a coin, not a fragile piece of calibrated machinery - let them handle it for Pete's sake.

8. Expect anyone to care how much those strange coins you take from a purse are special to you as they wonder why you carry a purse and imagine what you have under your shirt.

9. Show them what you have under your shirt, unless you or they are really drunk and need to distract them from the mystical inscriptions you had carved into the edges of your coins so they can really vanish and use those extra dimensions the physicists are only now catching on about.

10. Expect others to care that you do or don't have your special coins with you that you won't let them touch since you are so strange as to be carrying a coin collection in what looks like your grandmother's coin purse.

11. Keep Pete in your coin purse or stuffed under a ] = he gets claustrophobic.

1. Don’t do the same effect four times just because you have four coins.

2. Don’t ask questions that you don’t want answered. As in, “So you’re holding onto the copper coin, right?” Also, don't answer questions that nobody asked.

3. Don’t describe everything as if the audience was blind. Unless they are. Or, you’re doing coin tricks on the radio.

4. Don’t do coin tricks on the radio.

5. Don’t refer to yourself as “We”. As in, “We take the coins and put them in my pocket…” Nobody’s putting the coins in your pocket besides you. We're not participating. “We” is only appropriate if you’re royalty or hosting a cooking show.

6. Don’t practice over open toilets, subway gratings, parking lots, or small house pets.

7. Don’t show fear. Audiences can smell fear.

8. Don’t talk yourself out of performing.

9. Don’t forget that there may be people on the other side of that window you’re using for a mirror.

10. Don’t leave home without coins and your copy of The Pocketbook.

Ummm..this has happened to me before...it was a window into an office which I *thought* was empty. Yes she gave me look of bewilderment... I must have looked like some wierd, twitchy, autistic psycho playing with quarter...

LOL! Yeah...I've done this many times.
I just can't pass up a reflective surface.

Don't do card tricks.

Dang straight!

One final note don't believe everything you read here on this thread