This is another of the tricks dependent on the novel application of the
black art principle.
For programme purposes the trick may, if preferred, be entitled “The
Erratic Shilling.” Its effect may be broadly described as follows:
A marked shilling, lent by some member of the company, after being
professedly magnetised or mesmerised by rubbing, is laid upon a black
velvet mat and covered with a playing card, face down. Two other cards
are laid (also faces down), one on each side of the first, at a few
inches distance from it, and the audience are given to understand that
the rubbing has imparted to the coin the power to travel from card to
card at command, and indeed sometimes of its own accord. When the card
which covered the coin is lifted, this is found to be the case. The
shilling is no longer where first seen, but is found to have placed
itself under one of the other two cards. The spectators may be invited to
say under which of the cards they would like the coin to pass, when it
will place itself accordingly. The coin may be identified by the owner
in the course of the trick, as well as at its close.
The requirements for the trick are as follows: