I have an old sasco 21 cent trick and it looks/works just fine.Just for the record though,all my other coin tricks are exclusively Johnson products.

Don't forget me my friends

So there are really four that specialize in defacing mon.. er, rather I mean manufacturing coins for magicians? Is Tango any good? Or is their a general consensus that Johnson Products is the best?

Those 4 are generally considered to be more entry level and as such are more common and less expensive.
A big step up would be Roy Kueppers, who usually is considered to occupy the middle tier, with the top tier being Todd Lassen and Jamie Schoolcraft.
Auke van Dokkum is also highly regarded and gets a lot of European business as that is where he is located.
Mark Mason and JB Elite coins fall in there somewhere too.
But of course everyone has their own favorite so their is no definitive "best". It's like comparing BMV and Mercedes, each have their loyal fans.

Having said that all that, they all for the most part produce excellent and very usable gaffs. Usually it's a case of how much you can afford, how long you are willing to wait, and who offers what you need without having to have something custom made.

I can't speak for any of his other gimmicks but the TUC is very nice.

What is a TUC?

That Daff', is The Ultimate Coin! Tango's unique coin/shell combo. It's not just a coin/shell, though. There are some very impressive things this can do. A little out of my price range, though...

And, speaking of Sasco, I just found something. "The 21 Cent Trick". It was in a box of my "found magic". I've been playing with it all morning. It's like the Locking $1.35, only with nickles! Surprisingly good quality.

Doug

Dougini,

I really MISS my locking coin set. I used to carry it in my pocket every single day. Then one day , the coins actually dissapeared. I lost them and I hsve no idea how or where. I turned the house upside down to no avail.

The cool thing about it is, the last silver dollar can be vanished using normal sleights. It never made sense to me to vanish all those coins and not be able to vanish the final dollar! Kind of analogous to torn and restored card effects where you vanish three pieces and lesve a fourth of the card unrestored. Just totally illogical, as Spock would say.

Well, "The 21 Cent Trick" went over great this morning! I showed my building's maintenence guy and his partner. I stashed a penny a nickle and a dime across the room. I did the deed and pointed to the coins across the room.

Sometimes I take magic for granted. I forget sometimes how mind-blowing and bizarre the effect can be on a layman. Yeah, I "act it up" a bit. I tell stories of quantum fields and twisted time-space. That does help.

They're downstairs right now. The guy's partner is still talking and laughing about it. I think it helped when I borrowed the 21 cents from him first and did a simple switch. These people have never seen anything like this.

This particular Sasco set is quite well made. One thing I don't like is there is an "edge" to the nickel once it's together. You can feel it. However, the spectator never gets to examine it. It's so easy to switch out, it's not even an issue.

The only thing is, I wish there was a nickel bang ring. I hate shaking coins in a glass. Somehow, this seems to eventually damage the gaffed coins. Or? My first Scotch & Soda is loose and useless from shaking in a glass. My new one (Vodka & Orange juice) has a bang ring.

Kinda sorry to see this is discontinued. I'd highly recommend this Sasco release!

I'm gonna call 'em...OK, I did. "Leave a message and we'll call ya back..." OK, I did. Now, we'll see what happens. Maybe I can get some answers. Some stuff may not be up to par, but some stuff might be!

After this long, their website is still active and the phone still says "leave a message"...I wonder if that is a good sign. Still, Todd seems to know...so...

OK, I found it! Johnson carries it for $25, and it is worth EVERY PENNY! Here ya go:

http://www.johnsonmagicproducts.com/shop......ts_id=79

Doug

Sounds like you totally metagrobalized them! Ha! That's what makes magic worth doing!

I really like the bigger coins ($2.85 cent trick) But it's proportionately more expensive. That's why it hurt so much when I lost my set.

To change the subject, but years ago, I purchased some expanded shell halves, and I believe, (not positive) it was Johnson, and the outer rim came loose from the thin shell piece. Seems like I bought a couple more with the same problem.

I tried to figure out how to reglue them back on. No success.

Is that a common problem with shell halves? Have you guys experienced the same problem?

I have several "Empire Coin Magic" sets. I don't know if Empire Magic actually manufactures these of if they just put them in their bags. The bags all look the same except for the area where the coin set name is listed. The quality is okay.