or French Drop (literally, the Swivel or Twist). Although it is seldom seen today it is good when properly executed.
With the left hand palm upward, hold a half dollar by its edges between the tips of the left fingers and thumb, tilting the rear of the coin up slightly so its face can be seen by the spectators, Fig. 1.
Bring the palm down right hand over the coin, the thumb going underneath it and between the left thumb and fingers. Lift up and close the right hand, pretending to take the coin away from the left, but allow the coin to make a half turn forward as it slides down to the base of the second and third fingers of the left hand where it is finger palmed, Fig. 2.
Keep the left fingers together during this action or the coin may be glimpsed by the onlookers. Move the closed right hand to the right and downward and turn it fingers uppermost, keeping your attention fixed on it. Turn the left hand back toward the spectators and point to the closed right hand as it “crumbles” the coin away. Open the right hand and show it empty.
This sleight is especially useful in vanishing a small number of coins, and the action is exactly the same as for one, the coins being held in a stack with each flat on top of the other. When the coins fall into the left hand they make a jingle which sounds as if they actually had been taken in the right hand.
Whether you are going to vanish one or several coins you should first actually take the coin(s) in the right hand using the French Drop moves, then place the coin(s) on the table momentarily, pull back the sleeves, pick them up and in apparently repeating the moves, execute the sleight. The action appears the same and the illusion is convincing.
The French Drop can also be employed to exchange one coin for another. To use it for this purpose, have a coin hidden in your right finger palm as you show another in your left hand. Bring the right hand over and pretend to take the coin, but execute the sleight and retain it in the left hand as the right hand closes and moves away with its coin. The moves can be used as a color change (by employing a copper and a silver coin) or simply to secretly exchange a borrowed coin for one of your own.
A group of silver coins can be made to change to copper by employing these moves. The possibilities are numerous.
THE REVERSE FRENCH DROP
DR. E. M. ROBERTS
I have given this vanish the above name because the moves resemble the regular French Drop, only they are reversed. Actually this is not so, but I seem to get this impression. Anyway, every trick must have some sort of a name, and this is as good as any. It was devised by Dr. E. M. Roberts of Amarillo, Texas.
Balance a half dollar on the balls of the two middle fingers of the right hand as you exhibit it all around. Turn slightly to the left and drop the right thumb on top of the coin, then hold the left hand in a cupped position above the coin, Fig. 1.
Cover the coin with the left hand as in Fig. 2, the left fingers grasping the right thumb. Next, lower the two middle fingers of the right hand away from the thumb, keeping the coin on the tips of these two fingers, Fig. 3. The closed left hand then moves backward off the extended right thumb, supposedly taking the coin. (The coin balanced on the tips of the two middle fingers remains hidden from the spectators’ view by the back of the right hand.) Then the two middle fingers press the coin into the right palm, Fig. 4, where it is retained as that hand makes a few passes over the closed left hand. (See Figs. 5 and 6, which are the rear and spectators’ view, respectively.) Finally the left hand is opened to show the coin gone.
A feint should be made first, by actually taking the coin in the left hand using the moves described above, then in apparently repeating the moves execute the sleight and vanish the coin as described.
To make this a complete vanish drop the right hand to the side and sleeve the coin using the Dr. Roberts’ Method as described in Chapter VII.
THE ELUSIVE SILVER DOLLAR
AL SAAL
A silver dollar or a coin of similar size is recommended for this sleight, but some will find that a half dollar will work just as well.
Stand with your right side toward the spectators as you display the coin in the right hand. It is lying near the tips of the two middle fingers in position for back palming. Turn the left hand palm down in a cupped position over the tips of the right fingers and, as you pretend to take the coin in the left hand, back palm it in the right. This is accomplished under cover of the left hand, Fig. 1. Move the closed left hand away, and after a brief pause, open it to show it empty, then turn the palm of the left hand toward the spectators. Move the right fingers back of the left hand, and under cover of that hand bring the coin to the front of the two middle fingers as you move the right thumb to the rear of the left hand, then balance the coin on the tip of the right thumb. During this transfer the right hand turns over so its back is toward the audience. The left hand is palm out with its fingers horizontal, while the fingers of the right point upward, but only for a moment, however, because the coin is then clipped between the first and second fingers of the left hand, Fig. 2. Now turn the right hand palm toward the audience, keeping the fingers of the two hands in the same relative positions. Then all in one movement reverse the left hand, bend the second, third and fourth fingers of the right hand inward as it turns over, and clip the coin from the left hand to the second finger and thumb of the right hand and immediately transfer it to thumb palm position. Move the left hand away from the right and show it empty once more. Reproduce the coin in your favorite manner.
The effect is not easy to learn quickly. It will be necessary to spend some time on each phase of the trick, paying particular attention to angles and timing. Execute the moves slowly at first, striving for correctness. The fingers must be trained to do their part without fumbling!
THE WRIST WATCH VANISH
ROYAL H. BRIN, JR.
No, the wrist watch doesn’t vanish, but it is used to vanish a coin. Several tricks in print have employed a wrist watch as a hiding-place for a coin but none has seemed quite satisfactory, as the handling has been awkward and unnatural.
