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Signed Coin in Fruit
By Verne McCarthy
No date Saturday night? Try this: Your friend challenges you to work your wonders with an item of his choosing. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a penny. You instruct him to mark it with an indelible ink pen, or scratch it with a key so that he can identify it in the future. Vanishing the coin, you point to a bowl filled with fruit. You invite him to freely select one of the apples, oranges, or bananas in this bowl and hand it to you. You start to cut his selection in half, then, thinking better of it, hand the knife to your spectator, with instructions to cut the fruit in half. Upon doing so he finds his marked coin inside!
The vanish can be performed in your favorite manner. If you don't have one, try the "Coin Hank". That's a handkerchief with a penny sewn into one corner. Your spectator is invited to hold his penny, under the handkerchief. You simply allow him to hold the one sewn into the hank, palming his.
Prior to starting you took a butter knife and placed a small dab of magician's wax on one side, near the tip of the knife. If you don't have any wax, "Susie Chapstick" is an acceptable substitute. Have the knife laying wax-side down near the bowl of fruit.
While your victim is holding his coin through the handkerchief, have him select one of the fruit. Pick up the knife and casually point the tip of it toward the bowl. The moment his eyes go to the bowl to make his selection, simply reverse the knife, placing the tip with the wax on it in your hand that is concealing the palmed coin. Press it against the wax, and regrip the knife by the handle, being careful to keep the coin side down.
By now the spectator is handing you his selection. Place it on the table, and start to cut through the fruit. Cut just far enough to get near the center of the fruit, then stop yourself saying,
"Cut it in half sideways, right here."
As you slide the knife out of the cut to hand to your spectator, rub the coin off the knife, so that it stays in the fruit. Hand them the knife, saying
"First we need to get rid of this."
Take the hank from him, and hold it above the fruit. Count three and whip it away, showing both sides. His coin has vanished.
He finishes cutting open the fruit, is astonished to find his just vanished coin therein, immediately hires you to go on tour, and invites you to marry his sister.
The hank and wax are available from any reputable dealer (Ahem). Have fun, and I hope his sisters' cute!
Remember, the magic is YOU!
Verne
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