this faced card:
4. Press the third phalange of the right second finger flat against the face card of the right packet. Draw this face card outwards an eighth of an inch with this finger and then swing it a quarter of an inch to the right into a diagonal position. Let the inner end of this card drop slightly and place the tip of the right thumb against its inner left corner, the opposite diagonal corner being held against the second joint of the third finger, Fig. 2.
5. Turn the faced card on the left packet face down by pushing it off the deck with the left thumb as before and striking it with the left side of the right packet, which moves over the left packet in the action. When the right hand packet is directly over the left hand packet release the card gripped by the right thumb, thus secretly placing an indifferent card on top of the card just shown.
6. Thumb off the top card of the left packet onto the table. To the spectators it is the card which just before was turned face upwards upon the left hand packet. Actually it is an indifferent card, the chosen card remaining on the top of the packet.
This sleight can be used very effectively as a finale to the trick known as The Ambitious Card. After having shown that the card continually returns to the top of the pack, undercut half the deck retaining the upper half in the left hand. Turn the top card of this packet with the right hand packet as explained above, then execute the tip-over change and thumb off the indifferent card onto the table.
Turn the chosen card face up again and continue the action for as many times as you think desirable, finally spreading the cards on the table and the pack face upwards to prove that no duplicate cards are being used. Smartly done the effect will be found all that one could wish.
THE PUSH-IN CHANGE
This card change, though well known to most conjurers, is still one of the best available when its one weakness is recognized and corrected.
The change is this: The operator makes a double lift and shows the second card, let us say the ten of hearts, above which is the ten of spades. The two cards are taken as one and thrust, face downwards, halfway into the outer end of the deck. With the aid of the left forefinger the ten of hearts is thrust flush into the pack, the upper card remaining projecting from the end. This card is then removed and dropped upon the table.
Since the onlookers believe that only one card is used, and this card apparently always remains in sight, they are willing to concede that the tabled card is the ten of hearts, whereas actually it is the ten of spades.
Using the method generally employed, too many of the spectators see the lower card sliding into the pack, for an overlap of only a fraction of an inch is instantly noticeable. The following method eliminates this flaw in an otherwise excellent sleight.
1. Make a double lift, taking the two cards, perfectly squared, at the outer right corner between the right thumb on the top and the second finger at the face. Rest the tip of the first finger at the edge of the outer end to aid in holding the two cards in alignment.
2. Show the face of the lower card and thrust both cards into the outer end of the pack, which is held in the left hand as for dealing, the left thumb riffling open a break at its side for the convenient entry of the two cards as you shift the pack to the left finger tips.
3. Retaining your grip of the two cards at the right outer corner, thrust the two cards into the deck until only three-quarters of an inch protrudes from its outer end, Fig. 1.
4. With the right thumb push the top card outward and to the left, at the same moment drawing the lower card a little to the right with the tip of the second finger, both digits acting at the same moment in a sliding motion one against the other. In Fig. 2 the right fingers have been re-moved, showing the relative position of the cards. The fleshy ball of the right thumb rests on and conceals the outer right corner of the lower card and the edges of the lower card cannot be seen from the end or the left side since it has been drawn inward and to the right.
5. Engage the outer end of the lower card with the tip of the left forefinger, which can be done cleanly since the upper card now projects beyond it, and push the lower card flush into the deck. The card protruding from the pack, the original upper card, can now be employed in any way required for the purpose of the trick.
It is hardly necessary to point out that the sleight can be performed with the cards face upwards or face downwards; with face-up cards and a face-down deck; or face-down cards and a face-up deck.{4}
THE DROP SWITCH
A subtle and easy method of obtaining possession of a freely selected card is the following:
1. Hold the pack in the left hand as for dealing. Have a spectator insert the joker crosswise at any point in the outer end of the deck.
2. Place the right hand over the deck, the thumb at the inner end, and with the second finger at the outer end lift all the cards above the inserted joker. Show the face of the upper packet—say, the ace of diamonds.
3. Allow this card to drop off the right thumb at the inner end.
4. Move the inner end of the upper packet to the right, the cards pivoting on the right second finger. When this packet extends diagonally over the lower packet as. in Fig. 1, remove the right hand. All the cards of the upper packet have thus been moved to the right except the ace of diamonds.
5. Grasp the upper packet and the joker between the right second finger below and the thumb above, carrying them away and placing them to one side on the table. Retain the ace of diamonds at the top of the lower packet by curling the left little finger around the right side of the lower half of the pack.
6. The ace of diamonds, supposedly the face card of the tabled packet, now reposes at the top of the left hand packet, ready to be dealt with as the operator pleases.
CHAPTER 9. CRIMPS
THE REGULAR CRIMP
In this case the crimp is made in the outer right corner of a chosen card when it is returned to the pack by the spectator and the cards have been spread between the hands in readiness to receive it.
When the card has been pushed in amongst the others, press the tip of the left second finger upwards against its face at the outer right corner (the top index corner); in the act of closing the spread with the right hand, strike the tip of the right second finger against this index corner and crimp it downwards over the tip of the left second finger, Fig. 1.
Square the pack in the left hand, take it by the outer left corner and hand it to the spectator for shuffling. This action reverses the pack end for end, bringing the crimp to the side away from the spectator and, therefore, it cannot be noticed by him when he makes an overhand shuffle. After the shuffle place the pack in the left hand vertically, back outwards, Fig. 2, and the crimp will be found at the upper inner corner.
