|
|
Go to page [Previous] 1~2 | ||||||||||
Father Photius Grammar Host El Paso, TX (Formerly Amarillo) 17161 Posts |
Yes if he will do an apprenticeship as a machinist, and work as a journeyman for a few years, then take a couple of years learning the tricks of the trade to do magic stuff with it. In the interim, and considering the time and money spent, you could buy it all and still have a good hunk of change left over.
I don't begrudge the time it takes one of these guys to make a gaff, nor do I begrudge the prices they charge. If you want one of their gaffs you pay their price, regardless of who else is out there. Like going to the butcher and saying Hey, McVenny down the street only charges 1.25 a lb for pork chops your's are 2.75 a lb. And the butcher says "well then go buy it from McVenny". And you say "McVenny doesn't have any, he is out", and the Butcher says, "Well when I don't have any and I'm out they are only 60 cents a lb." You pay the price the man you want it from charges or you go somewhere else. Plain and simple.
"Now here's the man with the 25 cent hands, that two bit magician..."
|
|||||||||
Thomas Wayne Inner circle Alaska 1977 Posts |
Coin Silver is not pure silver. To salvage scrap silver and machine shavings ("swarf") you will have to pay a minimum assay fee no matter how much scrap coin silver you bring in. After that, the cost of refining will be deducted from the below-spot rate so that the refiner can make money too.
I currently have about 8 lbs of scrap coin silver and am just about to the point where it will be slightly profitable to have it refined. You're going to have to ruin a lot of coins to get over that bar. TW
MOST magicians: "Here's a quarter, it's gone, you're an idiot, it's back, you're a jerk, show's over." Jerry Seinfeld
|
|||||||||
gaddy Inner circle Agent of Chaos 3526 Posts |
It's unfortunate that so much of the great skill it takes to produce certain magic items is just simply disappearing --and that which is left must charge such exorbitant rates for items that were so easily available in the past.
Ah well, such is life.
*due to the editorial policies here, words on this site attributed to me cannot necessarily be held to be my own.*
|
|||||||||
Sammy J. Inner circle Castle Rock, Colorado 1786 Posts |
I think that anyone who does superb work deserves to be compensated accordingly. I don't own any of Jamie's stuff, but if the need arises for coins of that nature, I won't hesitate to invest in them. In all the magic items I have purchased, my main regrets have been slanted toward the cheap stuff I am embarressed to have ever purchased.
Sammy
Sammy J. Teague
|
|||||||||
joseph Eternal Order Please ignore my 17407 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-10-16 18:56, rutabaga wrote: Or maybe using washers the same color and size...The hole is already there.. ..
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." (Einstein)...
|
|||||||||
Thomas Wayne Inner circle Alaska 1977 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-10-31 18:50, gaddy wrote: "Exorbitant" is an unfair characterization in my opinion, as the word itself suggests an unfairly high price. The best craftsmen in the world are entitled to charge what the market will bear for their sweat and blood. And, as most intelligent people know, the marketplace will eliminate those businesses that charge too high a price for the value they offer. Your concern for the shrinking field of skilled craftsmen in the magic industry seems compelling, however the cause of that shrinkage is revealed in the rest of your statement. You feel that the prices for high-quality apparatus are "exorbitant", which suggests that such prices are somehow unfair or unreasonable. They're not, but the idea that high quality can be had for cheap money is the very thing that drives many skilled fabricators to other fields of endeavor. I have accumulated, over three decades, a shop full of equipment that can produce incredibly precise and intricate work; I have also acquired the necessary skills to use that equipment to manufacturer, literally, anything I want. I determine my prices based on material cost and time required to get the job done - but I also determine my prices on my ability to create things that YOU can't. If you don't like that, or can't afford it then that is simply too bad. John Ruskin, in an essay often quoted in business schools, wrote: "There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person's lawful prey." Ruskin went on to write: Quote:
Amateur magicians seem to have a long history of wanting "something for nothing", whether it is simply the secret to an effect, or even the apparatus itself. Most professionals - the good ones, at least - know that a quality piece of apparatus will last a very long time and not fail when it's needed the most. They seem to know the most important tenant of all regarding apparatus: you get what you pay for. Thomas Wayne
MOST magicians: "Here's a quarter, it's gone, you're an idiot, it's back, you're a jerk, show's over." Jerry Seinfeld
|
|||||||||
Douglas Lippert Inner circle E Pluribus Unum 2343 Posts |
Wayne,
You do know forums like this are mostly filled with hobby magicians?
Douglas Lippert
Former I.B.M. Ring #8 Secretary |
|||||||||
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Trick coin trickery » » The Craft of Gaffs... (0 Likes) | ||||||||||
Go to page [Previous] 1~2 |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.03 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |