This is perhaps more of a Money Magic topic but it seems more appropriate here, of course. I even hesitate sharing this, but not quite enough not to.

I've been working on an idea, routine, that explores the very STRANGE places Coins have been. In fact, I'm fascinated by the manners in which we might employ Coins in the realm of the truly Weird.

One might tell the spectator of the strange, resonant properties which OLD coins have (over newer mintage, over people etc.) Coins from the past, like people, have memories. For example - This old mid-Victorian America coin has been drenched in blood by the Gangs of New York, THIS coin was recovered from a Civil War massacre site, THIS one was found on a Napoleonic battlefield, this one was found in the pocket of a beheaded Chinese thief in 1907, this ancient Spanish gold piece was recovered at the bottom of the Sacred Sacrificial Mayan Well at Chitzen Itza, etc. Coins are like psychic vampires. They absorb pain; they can even steal the SOULS of other coins!

Along other bizarre and blasphemous lines, a Magician might wheel a grindstone onstage and explain that coins may be used for OTHER grimmer purposes, "especially by those of us who are immune to normal feelings, like PAIN."
He proceeds to SHARPEN the edges of a coin or more to a a RAZOR SHARP edge. He proves how sharp the coin-razor is by slashing paper, fruit, a mannikin what have you. Then he takes this alarming little weapon to his own flesh, or that of his assistant. Blood flows. Hopefully, a miraculous healing occurs.

Or he might throw a handful of razor-coins like so many throwing knives or Ninja stars.

A lighter idea. After sharpening the coin he might display a specially made ROUND razor. Place the sharpened coin/blade into it and shave off a day or two of stubble (to prove that it is really sharp - of course - a switch is involved here)

Maybe this belongs more-so in the realm of the sideshow, Grand Guignol theatre or S & M parlour.

I admit - a dangerously twisted, somewhat sick and perhaps dark idea, but where else would I post it!

P.S. If Coins can bleed, what color might their blood be? Silvery scarlet? Do coins have little beating hearts and miscoscopic organs? Rounded, fragile spines?

"I will give you the task of the literary man in a phrase. He has got to do simply this - to invent a woderful story, and to tell it in a wonderful manner."

And so Arthur Machen, the brilliant Welsh fantasist, and major influence on H.P. Lovecraft, states in the early paragraphs of the WEIRD-COIN related tale, "Adventure of the Gold Tiberius," in his amazing book - THE THREE IMPOSTERS ( - first published, amidst scandal, by John Lane in 1895 - reprinted by Ballantine in 1972. You CAN find this. )

The above quote certainly states a magician's task as well.

In following my last post here r.e. Coins with strange, dark and potent history - I just re-read the tale and was thrilled that it really conjures up what I was invoking. I quote at some length for your pleasure:

****************************

"'Do you know what you have found?" he said.
'Apparently a gold coin of some antiquity,' said Dyson coolly.

'Quite so, a gold Tiberius. No, that is wrong. You have found THE gold Tiberius. Look at the reverse.'

Dyson looked and saw the coin was stamped with the figure of a faun standing amidst reeds and flowing water. The features, minute as they were, stood out in delicate outline; it was a face lovely and yet terrible, and Dyson thought of the well-known passage of the lad's playmate, gradually growing with the growth and increasing with his stature till the air was filled with the rank fume of the goat.

'Yes,' he said; 'it is a curious coin. Do you know it?'

'I know about it, it is one of the contemporary few historical objects in existence; it is all storied like those jewels we have read of. A whole cycle of legend has gathered round the thing; the tale goes that it formed part of an issue struck by Tiberius to commemerate an inamous excess. You see the legend on the reverse: 'Victoria." It is said that by an extraordinary accident the whole issue was thrown into the melting pot, and that only this one coin escaped. It glints through history and legend, appearing and dissapearing, with intervals of a hundred years in time, and continents in place. It was "discovered" by an italian humanist, and lost and rediscovered. It has not been heard of since 1727, when Sir Joshua Byrde, a Turkey merchant, brought it home from Aleppo, and vanished with it a month after he had shown it to the virtuosi, no man knew or knows where. And here it is!"

"Put it in your pocket, Dyson," he said, after a pause. "I would not let anyone have a glimpse of the thing if I were you. I would not talk about it..."

******************************

Lovers of the weird and outre MUST NOT MISS reading Machen. His tale THE GREAT GOD PAN is also a masterpiece of moody, fin du siecle horror.

Note the theme of a magically potent, ancient object drenched with evil. Robert W. Chambers decadent horror yarn THE KING IN YELLOW was another early work with this theme. In that case it was a cursed book (modeled on Huysmans seminal decadent novel Au Rebours (read this - also - amazing - translated as Against Nature or Against the Grain) , also referenced in Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray as a book foul with sin and suchlike.

No doubt such luciously dark literary seeds were planted in the youthful Lovecraft's formative mind - ultimately giving birth to the dreaded Necronomicon and other books I dare not mention here.

Charles,

Some great thinking - let me share some story ideas of mine:

1) The coins left by Jack the Ripper.
2) The coins placed on the eyes of the dead - you could go Classical and talk about the payment to Charon, or more modern and talk about Lincoln's pre-cognitive dream about his assassination.
3) Borges story 'The Zahir' features an object (a coin in this case) that obsessively fascinates a person, even to the point of death.
4) The coins of betrayal - wouldn't necessarily focus on the actual 'thirty pieces of silver', but its a familiar enough image on which we can build.
5) Objects, like coins, which have many owners, can therefore tell many stories. A coin could be used as the framework for a portmanteau show - many stories told about the many people who have owned the coin, and all the time coming back to the coin.
6) The salty sea-dog tale 'Stepping as through a waterfall' from my forthcoming book 'The Garden of the Strange'.
7) What coins represent - how they can be viewed as mortgages of our time. What did a person have to do to obtain this coin? How many hours/minutes/months toil does it represent?

Finally this:

Charles Price and The Philosopher's Stone.

In the story of alchemy, there are many sad events, but one seems to me to be particularly poignant. It concerns a young and brilliant English chemist called Charles Price. In the eighteenth century, much to the consternation of his peers, Price started boasting of his alchemical successes - as you can imagine, in the age of reason and Hume, such talk was about as welcome as Houdini's ghost at a CSICOP cheese and wine party.

Anyway, a committee was sent to Price's house to investigate (actually to dismiss and debunk) the young chemist's claims, and Price welcomed them in. Absolutely calm and composed, he led the committee to his laboratory, where he ground some powder, lit some flames, and generally stirred bubbling things in pots. After a couple of hours of this steadily increasing tedium, Price finally said: 'Now gentleman, your metal, your base metal; for the final procedure, it is absolutely essential that I touch it, however briefly.'
(Cue the sound of skeptical coughing from the committee, and 'We're not falling for THAT one Pricey-boy!')
But Price was insistent. 'I MUST touch the metal, gentlemen - even for but a moment.' But the committee wouldn't budge. They were men of science and had been forewarned about such chicanery - they were not about to be deceived by crude jugglery.
'Very well, gentlemen,' sighed Price. 'You leave me no alternative. If you will excuse me.' And he bowed and left the room.

The committee waited several minutes, during which time they searched, unsuccessfully for Price's notes, when suddenly they heard the sound of breaking glass, coming from the next room. As fast as their gouty legs could take them, they rushed out to investigate, and found an awful, but not entirely unexpected, thing: Price sprawled horribly dead on the floor.
He had, of course, committed suicide, but in a truly terrible manner. A flask of Prussic acid was broken in Price's hands, and there were spills of this liquid, still smoking on his lips...
Eventually they found a note. It read: 'You fools! You utter fools!'

Now, news of this spread around the scientific community ('a brilliant young chemist led astray by the occult'). And, as is the curious way of men, many of Price's peers saw fit to attend his funeral, mainly to tut and to frown. And even of Price's few remaining friends, none of them knew his secret. The secret that lay with him there in the grave. For as the ancients knew, and Charles Price knew, and now only a few, the material that transforms (and is itself transformed) is the very person of the alchemist him/herself. The elixir is within, if we would but know it.

And there in Price's coffin, touched by five foot eight of Philosopher's Stone, lay the coins that kept shut his unseeing eyes: coins that had once been simple pennies, which now, had there been but light to see, would have shone strangely, like two disks of the purest gold.

Regards,

Caleb Strange.

Bravo, Caleb. A "great and terrible" coin trick. I thank you both for your efforts, coin magicians seem to be sorely in need of new perspectives on the objects of their manipulations.

I have been using and developing coin presentations that answer the "why" rather than the "how" for quite some time. The hard part is to do it outside of the story format. While there's nothing wrong with that, it's not the synergy I'm looking for. I don't want to lose the visual impact or the direct grace of coin magic, but I do want it to mean something.

I'd love to hear your thoughts before closing any doors with mine. I will note that I have used an historical approach successfully in the table hopping environment. I have found that if you're planning on presenting the production of three silver dollars, it's more impressive if you pause after each, making each an event. So, I produce the first coin with this line "That's a silver dollar from 1986, about the time of the wild west. Jessie James himself may have carried this coin before it made its way to us, tonight."

Sometimes, when I hand the coin out to be examined with this line, people are so taken by the idea that it takes several moments to get back on track. The challange then is to make the subsequent productions equally impressive.

Suppose when you make a silver dollar appear, you are actually reachng back in time to get it. While this usually has no ramifications, the production of this particular coin prevented John Wilkes Booth from being able to purchase his pistol...would Lincoln still appear the same on a penny?

Some great ideas guys. Ever since Mr. Townsend posted that bit about what hankerchief's bleed, it got me thinking, apparently like Mr. Schneider here, about what coins bleed. Seems like it would be fairly easy to visually melt a coin into some sort of silvery, tranlucent, substance, but the problem is what is that substance? Finding something non-toxic, and that didn't make an awful mess, is going to be difficult.

I also agree here with Mr. Kam. Undoubtedly, much of this is good stories, but we need to be careful not to take away from some of the qualities that make us love coin magic, like simplicity, and practicality.

With this in mind, I can think of a half a dozen 'bizzare' stories for coins, off the top of my head. Tales of early forgerers being thrown from the walls of Roman London, chests of haunted gold, yes, wrecked galleons, and such play very well, especially when you live an hour or two from some of the most famous treasure ports of the exploration age. (Portabello, Nobre de Dios).

But what fits? I have used the Wild West theme, recently, during the drunken marti gras party here I needed something quick and visual, and *loud*, so I brought out a bang wand, and shot holes through silver dollars for the assembled crowds. Everyone's seen the gringo's shooting at silver dollars, so it worked well. But, what else? Gadabout coin type things play well to coins that have been through some extrodinary experience together, perhaps they were the savings of some two unfortunate lovers, who died protecting their life's fortune (silver dollars and things used to be worth a lot more, lol)...Matrix routines have the same properties, about coming together, and bonds of fellowship, in fact that's my current presentation angle for the sympathetic coins.

Most my ideas on the subject however are limted because of walk around, or table contraints. Perhaps, many of the ideas here would play better in one of Caleb's bizzare theatres...but still, and interesting thread.

Curtis,

Many thanks for your kind words - I appreciate them very much. I know what you mean about wanting to work outside the story framework. One of my own experiments in this direction was to think less in terms of manipulating coins, but rather (bright half dollars glinting in candle-light) to think in terms of manipulating light.

Of course, it's easier to set-up this premise with a little story, but, once established, even the simplest matrix routine (for instance) can acquire deeper meaning.

Taking this further, I have performed (usually for children) a routine using luminous plastic stars, in UV light. (I used to have a little space-themed Hallowe'en show.) Again, I set the situation up with a short story - but that's just garrulous me ! I'm confident such a routine could be performed, with great beauty and charm, in deep and utterly spellbound silence.

Regards,

Caleb Strange.

There is no escape from story format.

What you do becomes part of the story they tell themselves. And the story they will tell others.

Story telling can become story showing. Or better yet, just character interaction where the story is made evident to the audience. Show instead of tell can serve as a credo.

Yes.

Jonathan is right. No escaping story. Even in the example I gave above, there was a narrative of sorts - a sequence of events, that communicated meaning even in their silence.

But as he reminds us, sometimes stories can be shown, rather than told.

Caleb Strange.

Check out "Nightmare Coins" by Doc Hilford. Great stuff, and commercial,too.
Cheers,
J.Warrens

What wonderful ideas, gentlemen. Here follows more lengthy Coin Arcana. Mr. Townsend's comment, "Show instead of tell can serve as a credo" seems so very true to me in many walks of life. I work, often, as a screenwriter and this is just about my #1 rule. The visual, the action, "speaks" louder than words which explain. To smell an old book, to eat a crisp, fresh apple beats reading old text on the internet or looking at a glossy photo of fruit. Sometimes this is a subtle difference, but crucial.

Now - onto a few recent interesting ODD COIN LORE finds and facts. For Coin Workers, a very fine source for old and new coin info might be the various Coin Collector magazines available at large newstands. I'd be wary of some of the hard sell offers of "lost hordes unearthed" but these are still fun, drool-worthy reads. I think Coin Shops and Shows are still a more trustworthy bet. (..and swap meets where there is often a Coin guy...I just bought a very magical looking 2nd Century Roman coin depicting TRAJAN (Marcus Ulpius Trajunus 98-117 AD) at a local flea-market for ten dollars. Just holding it is a thrill. The dealer was delighted to share inspiring history behind that coin. )You can find reproductions of odd coins, medals and other neat potential magic items in these mags. . It even occurred to me that there must even be uses for the hundreds of color images of exotic coins in these zines. You could cut them out, glue or manipulate these realistic looking paper disc-shaped objevts in some creative manner. Do a "coin fold" in a folded coin, in a coin, in a coin - like a Barbershop mirror, ad infinitum....

Of bizarrist interest is an article in the May 2004 issue of COINage (pg. 28) entitled "Lies and Legends" by Jon Blackwell. This is a fascinating article about "Myths About Our Coins and Currency." There is an emphasis on the URBAN LEGEND...that will send your mind reeling r.e. intriguing scenarios for all manner of magic-making. Here are just a few tid-bits:

"A Coin placed on railroad tracks will derail a train"

(You could show a flattened penny and explain that two kids derailed a train in 1947 killing 372 passengers. Hence, this penny has been aquired from a certain anonymous macabre collector of items with tragic pasts. It positively resonates sorrow and the darkest of powers...")

"Sucking on a cent will enable a drunk driver to beat a Breathalyzer test."

Q. David Bowers, a coin dealer and well-known numismatic writer states "Coins have been the platform for many tall tales."

We learn that "coins were passed down from generation to generation as good luck charms." (more on this in a minute) ..."Remembering the Salem Witchcraft trials of 1692, many a writer would later claim that the coins were bent in the belief this would repel witches. (Coins from that era were muchg flatter and more malleable than today.)"

More myths are told about Indian Head Cents (a U.S. Government engraver modeled the face after his daughter whose name was Penny.) and there are two or three frightening, bizarre prophesies centered around the Kennedy half dollar.

We even learn what really would happen if you were hit by a cent that was dropped from the top of the Empire State Building. I quote: "Dennis Thompson, the head of safety testing for NASA's Zero Gravity Research Center in Cleveland, wrote in 1996 that he has conducted experiments with coins falling long distances. "The impact might sting pretty good but there wouldn't be any penetration or severe damage."

For your info: - A great and vast urban legend archive that is a gold mine of bizzarre ideas in many categories is here:

http://www.snopes.com/

LASTLY - just found the beguiling little tome COIN DIVINATION by popular, long term occult writer Raymond Buckland.(Llewellyn Publications - 2000.) Lots of interesting Coin and (occult) Magic lore here. "Using just one coin, an unknown person discovered a wonderful way to arrive at a decision when faced with a choice between two things. This is almost certainly the simplest form of divination!" The history of Gypsy Coin fortune telling is explored. Buckland ( a Romany Gypsy) reveals ways of using a coin as the planchette of a talking board (ouija), of using a coin with a deck of cards for prophecy, using 5 coins for numerology, coins used for Astrological readings, We find out that coins can be used in a similar manner to Tarot Cards or dominoes. Of course, he covers the I Ching and various interpretations. Even if you don't worship the god Pan, Cthulhu, Aiwass, welcome the Sun at dawn or evoke your personal power animal (!) you might enjoy this. Whatever the case, I smiled when I read the following:

"The first thing necessary is to consecrate the coins. In magic, what is said and done is most powerful when it comes from the heart. It should be what is most appropriate for you, as an individual, which means not simply mouthing something that was written by someone else, perhaps hundreds of years ago in very different circumstances...."

"You may say out loud (or simply concentrate in your mind) the following:

'These coins are the tools which I will use to divine the forces at work about me. Let them be filled with positive energies, that they will not lead me astray but will point me in the appropriate direction, to achieve that which I desire.'

Dip your fingers in the water and sprinkle the coins, letting the drips of water fall on both sides of every one of them. Then hold them in the smoke of the incense.......Hold the coins to your heart for a moment, feeling their energies blend with your own, then replace them on the alter."

Indeed.

I believe that the interfacing alternate worlds of Magic, Magick, sleight of hand, sleight of mouth and sleight of mind - and Mysticism can, at times, be integrated without one mocking or belittling the other. By maintaining respect for both arts. By doing your research, also....However, I leave this bumpy path up to the individual.

(Which is not to say - It's also equally OK to come across as a clever, extremely dextrous guy without a single drop of "Hocus Pocus!")


Charles S

Thank you Charles,

for a wealth of information. This thread just keeps getting more bizarre and dangerous.


In what would be a strange coincidence in any other forum, but is de rigeur here, I was just thinking about urban legends involving coins. In particular, the legend about the coin that saved someone's life by stopping a bullet. I've heard it told about western gunslingers, Chicago mobsters, soldiers, and crooked gamblers, (and what if it was the same coin?) and I have wondered whether there is any truth to any of these stories.

Anybody know?

I am struck by Sawa's introductory remarks along these lines: "I once heard a story about a gunfighter whose life was saved when a silver dollar in his pocket stopped a bullet. Ever since then, I always keep a silver dollar here...."
Does anybody know?

Cy,

That was very interesting. I wonder, though, if he was said to carry the coin in his pants pocket, what sort of shot could it have stopped that "saved his life"? Are we talking about the vagaries of Civil War era medicine, or is there some way in which a shot in the leg can be considered lethal?

And where can I find me a girl who will give me a $20 gold piece, just for good luck?

I remember reading somewhere that if you are shot in the thigh, there is a chance the bullet deflects off of your thigh bone, and straight upwards, causing serious injury or death...

I don't know if it's true (and wouldn't really want to find out), but it sounds possible, enough to use in a presentation.

Liam.

My knowledge of anatomy is rather patchy, but I'm pretty sure that the femoral artery runs close to the surface of the upper thigh (in fact, you could probably reach it with that razor-edged coin, if you worked at it). From what I've read, that's a serious artery; if a bullet snagged that sucker you could bleed out in only a few minutes.

Cheers,

Cy.

Charles schneider wrote:


That is a good one, especially since James Barton Longacre did not have a daughter named Penny. He did have one named Sarah.

I think that myth is supposed to explain why we call once cent coins "pennies," but that actually goes back to the English term for their large copper cents.

MrCyNic wrote:
Curtis, here's a link you might find interesting:

[outdated link]

********************************

And here is a link to ACTUAL photographs of that very special coin:

http://www.coinresource.com/guide/exhibit/hunley_pr.htm

and this CleanTech site goes into even more detail on the wreck, the coin and industrial, precision and deep sea cleaning technology. (whew)

http://www.cleantechcentral.com/Magazine......03/1.asp

The Day the Music Died:

On the table are three picture frames with pictures of three deceased singers.

"People of a certain age remember when Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper, three fledgling rock and roll stars on the cusp of their careers were killed in a plane crash. Fewer still remember the circumstances that led to why Richie Valens was on that plane."

"It was a bitterly cold February morning when the Big Bopper's charted plane was ready to take off. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and the pilot were in the plane. Richie Valens, who had never been in a small plane, wanted to be onboard. Tommy Allsup, one of Holly's band members flipped a quarter to see who would get the last seat. Ritchie called heads and won the toss."

"The plane took off in the blinding snow storm and then crashed in a corn field a few miles away."

"This quarter was taken from the body of Richie Valens. I acquired it for a considerable sum. Go ahead, take a look at it."

After retrieving the coin:

"Let's recreate the scene. I'll be Richie and have heads, and you'll be Tommy Allsup and have tails."

Flip the coin and show heads. Suddenly the picture frame containing Valen's picture falls over.

Pause a beat.

"By the way, did you know,the one who lost the flip, Tommy Allsup, later opened his own club appropriately named "Head's Up"?

"On that note, reflect how chance can determine your fate."

humbly submitted,
Dave

Dave,

I liked that very much. Succinct, evocative, and imbued with meaning. I particularly liked the ambiguity of the phrase 'Heads Up' - an embedded command that sharply focussed my attention, and added to the appropriately thoughtful and reflective mood at the end of the story.

Actually, for me, this story obeys what I call 'The Marucci Rule' - by that I mean it is more than strong enough to be told without props. It has a magic beyond the moves.

Many thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Caleb Strange.

Caleb,

Thanks for the praise.
I try to follow the maxim: "Brevity is the soul of wit."

The "Head's Up" club was a nice, nuanced twist that I was searching for when I was noodling about the story.

By the way, is there a date set for "The Garden of the Strange"?

Dave,

You're very welcome. Thanks again for sharing.

As for 'The G of S', the hold-up is to sort out credits etc., which we want to get right. I hope to have more definite news soon.

Regards,

Caleb Strange.

Why settle for a pocket or two full of those smirk-worthy tiny, Italian. British or Italian leather coin-purses when you can be light years ahead of - (or in another universe altogether) - the other outre magi as follows:.

If you want a truly unique coin purse you might consider one of these.

http://www.roopooco.com/coinpurse.htm

Spooky. Yes. Mysterious. Yes. Bizarre. No doubt. Dangeous. Surely. Politically incorrect, disturbing, grotesque and hideous beyond belief? Absolutely. But hey - they probably grow more supple, mellow and rich in hue with age and excessive handling. Plus - you can also pull out a custom wrought Tadpole Thaler!

Animal lovers (like yours truly) take note - They do state at the site that:

" The cane toad is an out-of-balance, introduced species which is in plague proportions throughout the state of Queensland and our leathers come from an eradication program."

Not even sure if you can legally purchase these via U.S. mail...but the site is worth a look - if simply fto add a ghastly
gasp of horror to your bizarre day!

C.S.

Scientific & Bizarre Motivations for Coins Across

TIME TRAVEL THEORY MOTIVATION

(This would have to be explained with the utmost seriousness. Also – the following 3 story/theories would have to be distilled to a brief finely honed essence lest the audience react to you as they would a dull schoolteacher! I leave that to you.)

The Oxford English Dictionary defines time as "a limited stretch or space of continued existence, as the interval between two successive events" (Show both hands successively)

In the past it was felt that enormous power requirements were necessary for time travel. But a new theoretical black hole containment device, which could provide the solution. Of course, we must start with a prototype using smaller objects. Like COINS. Less risky than using living subjects. Who wants to end up like Jeff Goldblum in the FLY?

(Side bar: This could result in a Mutant/ warped or Inside Out coin! Put a Fly in the hand or other object – butterfly - and the other hand melds the shiny disk into a hairy insect coin (See Roth’s Rubber Coin for this Fusion idea explored) Perhaps with a butterfly – a Winged Monarch Coin flies away miraculously!)

Scattered throughout the world are objects that could not possibly belong to the time period in which they were found. A human footprint contemporary with the dinosaurs? The skeletal remains of men and women long before humanity appeared on the planet? At Aats Bay in the southeast to the Zyzek-twina River near the Seward Peninsula, in Alaska an international team of scientists found a most peculiar COIN, partially eaten away by acids - and made of unfamiliar metals, dated, incredibly, 3476 A.D. was found in the digestive tract of a woolly mammoth. Time travel is not only theoretically possible, but that the future generations may already be engaged in it."

The magi might explain the time travel dilemma – with a twist. "There are problems. The commonest are the so-called paradoxes. For example, if a coin could travel through time, imagine what would happen to a coin if it traveled back in time and fell into the melting pot or was rejected at "birth." In theory the coin will therefore never be created, so the journey could never have been made in the first place; but if the journey occurred then the lazy guy at the mint would still have been born which means the once-thought-lost & melted coin would still have been minted and could make the journey ... and so on and so on. This is a paradox.

The Magician can "resolve" the paradox with 2 explanations – both resulting in the coin visually traveling across:

"There are two possibilities to resolve this paradox. The first is that the past is totally defined, i.e. everything that has happened or must happen, including the coin ALMOST melting, but surviving, cannot be altered and nothing will change the course of history. In other words, the COIN will experience endless "mishaps" on the "conveyer belt," standards checking procedures, and, yet, will never achieve dismal coin-death, thus keeping time (or at least Visual Coins Across events) intact."

"The second possibility is more complex and involves the quantum rules which govern the subatomic level of the universe. Put simply, when the time-travelling coin is accidentally melted or rejected by the standards procedure it immediately creates a new quantum universe, in essence a parallel universe where the coin stamping machine, & even, perhaps, the inventor thereof, never existed, back in time ad infinitum two hundred years or more B.C to that sad place where our lovely coins are never born. Sniff. Sob. The original universe still remains. But, tragically, we still use SALT or shells for trade. Stephen Hawking believes he can explain the origin of our universe in a variation of this parallel-worlds theme.

***********************************************

RADIO WAVES/ TELEPORTATION MOTIVATION

Coins have been determined to emit micro-audio transmissions, even while sitting still. Like the low frequency sounds heard only by dogs and other creatures with acute hearing.

The metallic nature of coins has been proven to serve as actual radio transmitters. One shipwrecked scientist actually used the few Coins he had to build a primitive Ham-radio device and was able to signal an S.O.S. ultimately being rescued. Television and VISUAL stimuli work in the same manner. State-of-the art transmitters in an Australian lab ACTUALLY "teleported" a small object three and a half feet last year. This is not science fiction anymore. It is FACT. I now quote verbatim from a recent Press release by one Dave Murphy:

"The Department of Defense announced Monday that research scientists at the Massachusetts Institution of Technology have successfully tested the first quantum teleportation. Two white mice, weighing between 87 and 90 grams each, received clear bills of health after they were simultaneously converted to photons of light and then transported 13.7 meters through a hydrogen gas tube. They were interstitially reconstituted within 10 seconds and exhibited physical movement 17 seconds later.

Dr. Richard Heisenberg directed the initial experiments and was present for the successful test, conducted in the presence of media and peer review committees. Many of the MIT team members were uncertain if the animals would actually survive the proton-hydrogen transport.

Much of the scientists incertitude began with Werner Heisenberg, Richard's namesake, who was the first scientist to realize that certain pairs of measurements have an intrinsic uncertainty associated with them. For instance, if you have a very good idea of where something is located, then, to a certain degree, you must have a poor idea of how fast it is moving or in what direction. Now referred to as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, in effect, the principle states that within the principles of quantum mechanics one can't measure both the direction and speed of a moving object.

The Defense Department project at MIT will eventually be used to create battlefield teleportation devices that will enable soldiers to transport using quantum-based interstitial conversion. Experts report that this device, should it prove safe and reliable for human travel, would replace traditional battlefield vehicles, including ground-based and airborne assets."

*********************************************

DIABOLICAL MOTIVATION For Coins Across

The Left Hand has long been held as the Hand of Darkness –
In the Middle Ages it was the thief’s LEFT HAND that was cut off as punishment. Witches have always known that the LEFT HAND of a dead thief makes a far more powerful HAND–OF-GLORY candle to keep your enemy at bay.

Apparently inanimate objects have been proven by MIT to have frequencies measurable on sub-atomic levels. Some might even interpret this to be non-human intelligence or emotions. Certainly plants respond to music, and even certain metals appear to be swayed by scientific forces. Thus, even coins are, theoretically, drawn to the "light" – or the "dark’ (if they are bad coins with bloody histories. These coins found blood-spattered by my grandfather on Clark Street, Chicago, at the St. Valentine’s day Massacre site refuse to enter the right hand. Same with these coins stolen from the Titanic wreck. Bad vibes to steal the coins of the restless, traumatic oceanic dead. Same with these which I….err…a "friend" stole from a Church donation box, However, these "Good Coins," which are pure and freshly minted are pure as gold. You almost see their little silver halos…I even dipped them in holy water to keep the "clean.") So please witness, on a miniature level, a battle betwixt good & evil. I beg you to leave your skepticism at the door (tip of the hat to Mssr. Andruzzi)

Enough of this sleight-of-imnd! My fingers are bloody.

Charles S.

Addendum:

I should augment the above coins-across business with the idea that some sort of scientific looking device might be the other element, besides the scientific jargon, to serve as a method of motivating audience "suspension of disbelief."
This could be -

1)
a pretty realistic looking hi-tech looking BOX or machine with various readouts - even SOUNDS. (Which increase in volue - iic the heartbeat...etc) Placed close-by and build up in the viewer's mind quite dramatically. "Don't touch it! Stand back.' Will all folks wearing pacemakers please exit immediately!" Danger stickers, BioHazard symbols etc..

2)

Or - an augmented WRISTWATCH, which "emits the inaudible-to-human-ears PULSES required for the following miracle. That makes less absurdly clunky props to carry with you spotaneously....

3)

" I've paid an underground surgeon in Europe - with dubious credentials - a small fortune to surgically IMPLANT this experimental device into my hands. In point of fact, this has turned my hands into short distance teleportation devices.
I'll do ANYTHING in the name of Science - or Magic!
Even use myself as a human Guinea Pig - and look - it worked!

(Show scars if you have them! or create with Collodian. Mehron's is the best - This clear solution wrinkles the skin as it dries, making a scar effect. Peel off to remove. or use remover. PLEASE - Be careful with this stuff.!)

Good to see other folks taking this sort of path in coin magic. What really counts is what speaks to you. Be it a voice in the dark, a movie in your mind, or a physics lecture you recall from school.