Magic Trick: To Pass a Coin Through a Hat

As generally exhibited this is a very old trick, but the following method will be new to most of our readers. The performer borrows eight or ten half-dollars, and places them in a row on a table, preferably one with a marble top. One of the audience is asked to choose one and mark it, and afterward to pass it to several others, with the request that they examine it carefully and also mark it. In the meanwhile the performer is blindfolded. The coins then are put into a hat and shaken up, but when the performer puts his hand into the hat, he at once brings out the marked coin. The secret is that the coin selected in passing from one to the other becomes quite warm and is easily found, the others being, comparatively, cold. In this form the trick is rather flat, but it may be made quite mysterious. When the performer finds the coin he palms it, and then pretending that the trick has failed, takes his hand out. In doing this, under cover of the hat, which is in his left hand, he pushes the coin between the outside of the hat and the silk band that is usually around it, where it will be perfectly secure. In an offhand manner, but without calling attention to it, he manages to show that his hands are empty. He holds the hat with both hands, fingers inside and the thumbs outside, as shown in Fig. 99. "Let us see whether we can shake the coin through the hat," he says. He shakes it up and down and at the same time his thumbs press the hat in, near where the coin is concealed. The piece of money will quickly be released and fall to the floor, giving the impression that it has passed through the hat. The illusion is all that can be desired.