By C. H. Shortt
The coin is held in the finger tips of the hand. The various stages of the movement are illustrated. When the moves are mastered the performer can test his efficiency before a mirror, as usual.
By closing the hand as shown, the coin is left lightly held on the knuckle. Now the hand is turned over, and opened simultaneously, and coin has vanished.
You proceed to stroke the empty left hand from the wrist to the finger tips, using the fingers of the right. As soon as these fingers pass off the left hand, you turn over the right, and pass it backwards beneath the left, and as it reaches the coin the latter is released.
The left hand is quickly turned back upwards, as the coin is finger palmed by the right hand. Held now between the roots of the two middle fingers, and the next joint, and with that hand partially closed (palm facing audience) you can indicate with the first finger that the coin is neither on the back nor front of the left hand.
You may now produce coin from wherever desired.
The coin is displayed, held between the first and second finger tips. The fingers curl into the palm. The thumb moves down, the coin going over it.
The thumb moves up, the first finger sliding off the coin. With the coin gripped between the base of the thumb and first finger, the fingers straighten.
The tip of the thumb moves back over the top of the first finger as the hand opens. The other hand circles the palming hand, front to back.
The coin is released and drops into the circling hand where it is finger palmed. The empty palming hand is lowered, the finger palm hand completes its circle and points down at the empty palm.
The fingers press down on the palm, at the same time the coin is released. The coin appears to be drawn up out of the empty palm.
Performance Notes
When originally published in 'The Magic Wand,' London, November, 1914, C. H. Shortt's description began, "The accompanying coin move was shown to me by Henri Herrmann thirty-seven years ago, and I now enclose copy from my notes at that time." As for Henri (or Henry) Herrmann, he is recorded as performing in London in the mid-1800s, billed as 'The Original German Prestidigitateur,' according to Sidney Clarke in his 'The Annals Of Conjuring.'
While this back clip thumb palm is easy to do, the handling from that point on must be done without hesitation. The opposite hand, passing in front of and behind the palming hand must not pause as the coin drops into it. Additionally, the coin should be reproduced before the spectators have gotten over the vanish.
A later and more difficult application of dropping a small object and catching it unseen is the passing of a wand around a closed hand and in the process moving a small ball from one hand to the other.
