Hey all, another question about this classic palm. I can place the coin into classic palm. My problem now comes when I need to do a retention. 4 coins in my right hand, toss them into my left, retaining one on classic palm. I can’t grip the coin while turning my hand over. All coins fall out.



I have been watching and practicing the Jay Sankey video, Revolutionary Coin Magic, and when he does it, the coin remains in the dead center of his palm.



I can do it this way too but this looks really un-natural. I was always under the impression that the classic palm is done a little lower, more towards the wrist.



Any advice on how to grip the coin while doing a retention? If I want to palm a coin, should I do it in the same way every time?



I just ordered David Roth’s video Expert Coin magic...will this also help answer my questions?

There are numerous variations when it comes to the so-called "Classic" palm.



Further, when palming 'several' coins, and then retaining 'one', you can read different approaches, but in the end, I think that whatever method 'you' are most comfortable with, is the one you will end up using.



This is because coins will vary in size, plus people all have different sized hands, each having it's own unique skin texture (some oily, some dry) thus, each person must approach coinwork a little different.



I should also add that this can be said of 'card work' as well.

Not everyone's hands are the same -- obviously.

So just because one person can do it, doesn't mean that everyone can do it.

If your classic palm is difficult to impossible to do or looks unnatural, then scrap it.

Go with a finger palm or something else that will do the work.

cheers,

Peter Marucci

showtimecol@aol.com

Try using the Benzais Friction Palm (not really a PALM at all, but that's what it's called). One source for info is Kaufman's "Expert Coin Magic". The nice thing about the Benzais move is that the retained coin ends in perfect position to then classic palm on the offbeat.



Regards,

Thomas Wayne

Hi,
concerning the classic palm and keeping the coin in the palm when you pass the rest into the other hand, it's probably hypothenar trouble. The hypothenar is the muscle on the little finger's side of the palm and if you don't do a lot of heavy work you probably haven't developed it enough to hold the coin in classic palm when your hand rotates. The solution is to exercise your little finger more, which will build up this muscle. I had the same trouble for the first three months of the classic palm until I built up a decent hypothenar. A clear indicator is that your little finger porbably crimps in whenever you palm: this should disappear with practice. Anyway, David Stone's web site will tell you more about exercising the hypothenar. Let me know how it goes...

You might try to find the nice Harvey Rosenthal technique to put one coin of a group into classic palm after they have been displayed in a line from the fingertips toward the palm. The technique is somewhere on my Knockout Coin Magic tapes (I can't remember which trick), and Harvey's one man issue of Epilogue.

I have big hands and do lots of work with my hands. But for the life of me I cannot do a classic palm. My hand is just not build for it. So, thank heavens for double sided scotch tape.

I must admit I can sympathise with you and I imagine that there are hands that can't classic palm. What I did initially was work with large coins that were easier to grip and gradually the muscle built up. The funny thing now though is that if you actually compare my left and right palm, you can clearly see the muscle build up - so I'm now working on my left hand so that they look symetrical and I can do the moves with both hands. Stone recommends among other things lifting key rings with your pinky to build up the tone and I can assure you it works in most cases.

Probably I should also say that of the five or six palms I can do (beginning performer with only a few gigs to my credit I'm afraid) I found the classic palm by far the hardest to get down pat. It takes ages to get a good classic palm. After two years, I think I've just got a reasonable one: but I went from nothing to a stage where I can now classic palm four coins - so I'd be inclined to try the hypothenar exercises.

Of course, there is scotch tape...

If you look in Bullseye coin tricks (1942) Pgs. 7&8 In a Trick call passes-passes coins.
You will see that Marlo had the Friction pass
in print 20 years or so before Benzais did! He did give not it a name but it's the same move. Thanks.

Best David Neighbors
The Coinjurer

The Marlo/Benzais friction move is great. I think it looks alot cleaner cause of all the movements that take place. Everything is totally natural because you are tossing the 4(3)coins into your hand instead of holding them in your palm up right hand and sorting them out and then turning the hand over to dump them into the left hand.

I just found out that the benzais friction pass was a marlo thing about 3 months ago.

try gripping the coin in classic palm BEFORE you rotate your palm down.

you wrote that you can't "grip" the coin "while" turning your hand over.

what about "before" you turn your hand over?
grip the coin (with the others right there too), turn your hand, the gripped one stays.

after some practice you will automagically start to grip the coin later in the move and soon enough, you'll be gripping during "while" you turn your hand over.

so just figure out where that coin needs to go such that you can "grip" it while your hand is palm up, and when you turn your hand palm down it stays.

Don't laugh; Scotch Tape has been used effectively in a variety of coin routines. Check out "A Scotch Brand of Magic", a 1967 publication by Joseph White which focuses on tape-assisted palming.

CardTrix,
Thomas Wayne is right. The Friction Palm will solve your problems. Since you are going to buy the David Roth Videos, there is good news for you: Roth teaches the move on Volume 1 of the "Expert Coin Magic Made Easy"-Series.

Another option (found somewhere in Bobo, I believe) is as follows:

- display stack of coins on the tips of the left fingers.
- lift (very slightly) the top three coins with the right hand.
- move the three coins toward the left palm (fourth coin hidden by the right fingers)
- press the fourth coin into the right palm with the left fingertips.
- close the left hand around its three coins.

The original "show" is very clean, and with a bit of practice, the move can be made indetectably.

regards, Doug