My only complaint with the Hopping Halves is the "tinny sound" they make when they touch...any suggestions???

Take more care with your handling so the coins never come in "sharp" contact. If handled in this fashion, your audience will not be expecting the coins to make any kind of sound anyway, so they will dismiss any slight sound that they hear as normal (due to your handling). If you handle the coins aggressively, they will expect a certain amount of noise/talking from the coins, and will therefore key in on the difference between the sound that they've heard all their lives compared with what they are hearing your coins do. All is not lost at this point, but it makes your job a LOT tougher than it need be. So the next time your practicing, think to yourself, "Gentle, light, and slow". Let me know if that helps or not.

I have been doing the Hopping Half for over 20 years. I bought my Johnson coins when they sold for $12.50.
Over the years I have come up with various endings. I'll share one of my favorites.
First off I do not use the half gimmick. I do use all gimmicks that come with the English penny. It makes the routine less redundant.
Acrobatic Coins by Zorak
At the conclusion of the routine when the spectators once again believe you are holding 2 coins or 1 coin (really you have none). Pretend to place the coin(s) into the right cupped fist. Use your empty left hand to gesture (and so doing, exposing an empty hand. Gesturing, tell them how "the coins travel up to your left shoulder," (as you say this the right side is turned to the audience), "across the shoulders"
(Left hand out of view steals Jumbo Copper and Silver from clip or belt), "and down into the hand". The jumbos are edge clipped and the hands come together p as the body faces forward. Pause at this point, don't rush the climax. Explain that they are so well trained that it has given them a Big Head. Clang the coins together.
I have used this routine in my kidshows, for close-up, everywhere. It always gets a gasp of surprise.
visit my website at: kiddiekazam.com

Zorak,

Great closer! I really like the idea of going to jumbos at the end. I was wondering if you had worked out a vanish of jumbos as well. Not that I think it is absolutely necessary, it was just a thought.

I usually try to begin and end an effect on the same note. In other words, if I produce 2 coins from my pocket, I am more comfortable simply placing them back into my pocket upon completion of the effect. However, If I were to produce the coins through plucking them from thin air, that is precisely where I like to put them at the end of that particular type of effect. You get my drift. More of a guideline than an actual "rule" that I follow.

Now, I've said all of that, just to say this: I think that this might be a case where it would be kind of cool to go ahead and have the TRIPLE kicker ending of having the first coins gone, to having the jumbos appear, then having the jumbos disappear in a likewise fashion as the first set.

Actually, now that I write that out and look at it...it does kind of follow my little "guideline". In fact the only part that doesn't is the BEGINNING of the effect (because you pull the coins out of your pocket / coinpurse / whatever to display them, in a very open fashion.

I've played around with this for a while now, and it always boils down to the BEGINNING! I've toyed with using various productions introducing the halves before, but was never satisfied with anything I came up with. Just didn't ultimately seem as strong as an open and fair as possible displaying of the coins to start off with. Especially since the coins ARE gaffed. You don't want people to have ANY suspicion of the coins, themselves. Just going straight into the effect from bringing the coins out of your pocket is weak, and along those same lines of thinking, so is producing the coins from thin air. They NEED to see as much of the coins as possible (without going overboard, obviously ).

I know that your probably thinking, "Well why not use ALL the time in the world to display the coins to your little hearts content, AFTER you've produced the coins from thin air Rob???" Well here's one of those little querky observations that truly define each of us as individuals. This one just happens to be mine. Unless you can actually hand the coins out to spectators after producing them from thin air (or wherever), they can always cling to the notion that you were using trick/magic coins. After all, you pulled them out of NOWHERE! Conversely, casually pulling coins out of your pocket and openly displaying them in your palm, seems natural - so no extra "verification" ever enters their minds.

The coins MUST be totally vanished at the conclusion due to the very nature of the coins and the core of the effect as well, and I've come to believe that the coins MUST be introduced in a casual, natural manner from a pocket at the beginning. If anyone has an opposing view, or has worked out a different introduction of the coins that you feel is pretty cool, I would be very interested.

(Man, I should've never taken a vacation from work - I've got WAAAAAYYYY to much free time on my hands. )

I have the Johnson Hopping Halves and don't use them for this routine. Though they are a great value for the fact that you get a sun/moon and two expanded shells out of it. The shells work great for coins through table and coins across routine and I use the sun/moon for Mark Jenest's "shell-less" Hopping Halves routine. The Café's own Peter Marucci also has a gaffles Hopping Halves Routine.

What I like about Jenest's approach is he does the routine by asking the spectator if they would mind seeing a trick he just learned. The presentation is just as magical with no shells talking in your pocket but the coins come back as a result of your mistakes. It's on his "Miracles While U Wait Video" which has several other very good close-up routines.

Carl Andrew's and Pete Marucci also have good Scotch and Soda routines that do not utilize the normal coin set so they're instantly resetable.

I take them out of a coin purse (Goshman type) and begin the routine. Each time I remove a coin and drop it in my right jacket pocket. I ask the kids if they would like to see the coin fly invisibly or visiblly back into my left hand. They will usually reply "invisibly". This also gets them use to you turning slightly to the left. I open my hand, " Oops,
it already happened. I'll do it again in slow motion"
This time the silver coin is dropped in to the same pocket. I pinch the material of the jacket pocket and pretend to remove an invisible coin. "It"(?) is tossed into the air, we follows its invisible flight and the left hand does a catching motion, (all this is done in slow motion). The coins are shown, holding them up for display, one in each hand.
The last coin(s) is placed into the pocket (the steal is made). Conclude with the Jumbo coins.
I'm currently working on the thing from the Garrett Thomas video, where he appears to place a jumbo coin int a small coin purse. It is convincing. There is no reason why you couldn't use both coins.
By the way if you don't have the Garrett Thomas video, do yourself a favor and get it!
check out my website at : kiddiekazam.com

I guess I read this incorrectly. As I see it, you're proving your spectators right every time except at the final vanish. "What's left? The silver coin? Actually, you're right, and the other one's back too!" If you have a number of people guessing different ones (silver, copper, both) they're ALL proved right. That was how I originally interpreted the effect and it went over great with audiences.

I have both items and I like them both. I have the Half-Dollar version of Buttercoin as it is bigger than a UK 10p. It is easier for me to palm Half Dollars rather than small 10p's. My favourite routine is the buttercoin thru glass table top.
My favourite gimmicked coin though is Eddie Gibson's £1/1p coin unique. The action happens in front of people's eyes and blows them away.

Regards Nitram

I do my own un-gimmicked version of the hopping halves the patter which is "training the hand to be a time machine"

"Not many people know this but with a bit of training you can turn your hand into a basic time machine, for instance if I take these two coins one copper one silver and place them on my palm up hand. then what I'm going to do is place one of the coins into my pocket like this..... then if you press on the back of my hand it resets the time machine and the coin appears back in the hand"

To finish I don't get the spectator to touch the back of my hand saying " If I don't get you to touch the back of my hand the time machine doesn't reset. Well actually it does reset, but back to before I had any coins in my hand!"

I use borrowed coins which I pick up off a table and put them in to my hand initially. The climax comes when after opening the hand empty when the coins are found back on the table, see Chris Korn's video from international magic for the handling on this.

Hope this story line gives you some ideas
Regards

Chris

I hate to play devil's advocate, but I basically use the original story line and people love it. In fact, it's one of my most requested effects. Maybe it's my presentation? I think that basically people know it's all a joke and if your patter is delivered tongue in cheek, you're not going to insult anyone.

I'm hearing so many bad things about the Butter Coin, which is a shame, because from the demo video, I was ready to plunk down the cash right then and there! Well, if anyone wants to get rid of their's cheap, I'll pay a few bucks just to try it out! (wink wink)