Hi! I just got completely groced by Paul Wilson. Anyway the routine has lots of sequences where you have to slide the coins across each other. How do I get the coins from talking? They are very audible. Thanks a lot!

Are you using smooth (i.e. old and worn-down) coins? Your local coin shop will have old Morgans in the "junk silver" box, and those are perfect for 3 fly routines.

-- Frank

Dollar coins are too big as 50 cent pieces barely fit my hands. Thanks for the suggestion though. I have Kennedy halves... should I just sandpaper them?

Hey,
My hands are tiny. Not that size matters all that much. I find that dollars are easier for 3 fly than halves. Work with the dollars and the halves will seem like quarters in your hands.

Brian

It's just I can't finger palm a dollar because it's too big, and there is lots of finger paliming in this. I can try it though....

taking sandpaper to coins usually leaves sharp rims and edges to make noise. old worn coins are much better. try barber half dollars or even quarters if your hands are REALLY small.

The guy who started the whold field used well worn English Half Crowns.

lots to find in good coin shops. just try NOT to annoy the shopkeeper by doing sleights in the shop

which one are the barber halves? I only know of Kennedys, Franklins and walking liberty, thanks

An idea is to take them to a jeweler and ask him/her if they can buff the coins down a bit. Doesn't cost much (if anything, based on the effect you perform for him/her, hint, hint)
Jason

Oh, by the way, I forgot to put I've been trying the routine with kennedy halves and sacagawea coins.

Barbers look like miniature Morgans. When you go to the coin shop, just ask for them (again, in the junk silver box).

Barbers are pretty small for 3-fly though. And for me, smaller coins are actually harder to do the routine with, as they don't sit close enough to the fingertips. You may actually find it easier with the larger coins.


-- Frank

As some may know, I've been doing coins for 25 years.
And after my first year of floundering... working on the Ramsay material.

Old coins are worn in a different way than sanded coins. The edges are rounded and the faces are WORN smooth and pitted. Such is what makes them 'soft' as David Roth coined the phrase.

Please go to a coin shop and play with the SCRAP COINS
and see for yourself.

Ok, I guess I'll try it with dollar coins. Are ikes okay? I don't have enough money to get some of the more expensive ones. thanks

There was an old vaudeville magician named Art Lyle. He was also a watchmaker. Art was retired and ran a little novelty and magic shop in the city I grew up in. In fact, he was my first mentor. He wrote articles for Hugards and the Phoenix, as well as Genii. He was a great coin man, and turned me on to Bobo, and taught me a lot of other things. I remember seeing him do the most amazing coin vanish ever. He spread a handkerchief over his left hand, put four silver dollars in the center of it, turned his fist palm down, and gathered the corners with his right hand. He held the handkerchief like a bag from the four corners in his right hand, and bounced the coins inside it up and down on his palm up left hand. Then, he dropped all but one corner and shook the handkerchief out with his right hand and all the coins were - GONE! Both hands empty, and no coins anywhere! At least, that's how I remember it...

Anyway, Art introduced me to sleight of hand, cards and coins, Erdnase and Bobo. I was a good student, and he was a great mentor. We got to know each other pretty well, and he got to know my father, who used to drop me off at the shop on Saturday mornings. When he found out that my Dad worked in a machine shop, he asked a favor. Could my Dad make an aluminum block, rectangular in shape, with four holes, each bored out half the depth of a silver dollar, and the exact diameter? My Dad was happy to oblige, and I wondered what it was for. I soon found out. It was to make "soft" coins. This was well before the term had been coined by David Roth, mind you. Art gave me a set of his coins, and I had them for many years. What happened to them is a story unto itself.

The idea is that, as a jeweler, Art had a buffing wheel, and plenty of Jewelers' Rouge. Jewelers' Rouge is an abrasive that is used to shine metal by applying it to the buffing wheel and then polishing the scratches out of the metal, jewelry, coins, or whatever. So, with four coins in the holder I described, it was easy to hold them, and fast. He could buff four coins at a time without worrying about his fingers next to the wheel, or dropping the coins, or having to do them one at a time. He would polish up the coins, then he sewed a soft chamois bag with individual sleeves for each coin, to keep them from getting scrathed on other objects. These were the best coins for manipulation that I have ever used. Quiet, solid silver, so they sounded great, brilliant finish from the buffing, what more could you ask for? So, if you are looking for good coins for manipulation, buy the junk coins people have suggested, from your local coin dealer, then have a block made and ask your local jeweler to buff them up for you! Or, better yet, do what I did. Buy a buffing wheel and some rouge and do it yourself...

Best, PSC