This is a little device on the same principle as the well-known flat
card-box, but adapted for use with coins, and with an addition which
largely increases its utility inasmuch as it will not only enable
the performer to “change” or “vanish,” but to get instant and secret
possession of a coin placed in it.
The box (see Fig. 14) is of ebonized wood, unpolished, and in size about
three inches square. It consists of two parts (_a_ and _b_), which are
alike in size and appearance, so that either half may be regarded as
“box” and either as “lid,” at pleasure, according as the one or the other
is made uppermost, no difference being perceptible between them. In the
centre of each half is a circular well, not quite two inches in diameter.
Used with the box is a thin disc of wood corresponding to that of which
the box is made. This is of such diameter as to fall easily from the one
well into the other, according to the way in which the box is turned, but
on the other hand fits so closely within that its presence or absence
is not perceptible to sight. If a coin be laid in the box upon the disc
and the box is then closed and turned over, the disc settles down over
the coin in the opposite half, either leaving the box apparently empty
or exhibiting in place of the original coin a substitute with which the
opposite side of the box has been previously loaded.
[Illustration: FIG. 14]
Thus far, as the reader will doubtless have perceived, the effect
produced (save that a coin instead of a card is dealt with) is precisely
the same as in the case of the card-box. But the “mascot” has a
speciality of its own, in the fact that in that half of the box marked
_a_ (see Fig. 14) a horizontal slot is cut on the side opposite to
the hinge, just long enough and wide enough to allow the passage of a
half-crown. The wood being dead black, this small opening is invisible
save to close inspection, which the box is never called upon to undergo.
When it is desired to gain secret possession of a coin lent by one of the
company, the lender is invited to place it himself in the box, held open
bookwise as in Fig. 14, the side _b_ of the box having been previously
loaded with a duplicate coin.
The lender of the coin may place it in whichever side of the box he
pleases, but the manner of closing the box will vary accordingly. If he
places it in the side _a_, the opposite (or loaded) side is treated as
the lid and turned down over _a_. In this case, the coin being already
in the slotted half, no turn-over of the box is necessary, the performer
having merely to allow the coin to slip out into his hand. In the
opposite case, viz., that of the coin being placed in _b_, _a_ is treated
as the lid, and the coin being in this case _above_ the disc the box must
be turned over before it can be extracted. If preferred the performer can
hold the box so that the coin will naturally be placed in _b_, but in
this case the turn-over is unavoidable.
When the box is again opened, the duplicate coin is revealed in place of
the original, which is meanwhile dealt with as may be necessary for the
purpose of the trick. After the borrowed coin has been extracted, the
further fall of the disc closes the slot, and bars any possibility of the
substitute coin escaping in the same way.
The following will be found an easy way of working the exchange.
“For the purpose of my next experiment,” says the performer, “I shall
have to ask the loan of a half-crown; marked in such a way that you can
be sure of knowing it again. I should like one, if possible, that has
seen some service, for a coin in the course of circulation imbibes a
certain amount of magnetic fluid from each person who handles it; and
this renders a well-worn coin more susceptible to magical influences than
a new one.”
The reason alleged for asking the loan of an old coin is of course
“spoof,” but there _is_ a reason; and it is two-fold. In the first place
it ensures your getting a coin tolerably like your own; which you have
chosen in accordance with that description, and which you have marked
after some commonplace fashion, say with a cross scratched upon one of
its faces. Secondly, a well-worn coin, having lost the sharp edge which
is caused by the milling in a new one, passes the more easily through the
slot, which for obvious reasons is kept as narrow as possible.
Performer, advancing toward the person offering the coin, continues:
“I don’t want even to touch the coin myself till the very last moment,
so I will ask you meanwhile to put it in this little box. I believe it
was built for a watch-case, but as I don’t happen to need one, I use it
to hold my money, when I have any, or when I can get somebody to lend me
some.”
The box is held open bookwise, as above mentioned, and closed according
to circumstances, in one or the other of the two ways described.
“I will now ask some gentleman to take charge of the coin in the box. Who
will do so? You will, Sir? Thank you. But stay! I think I heard somebody
say (it was only said in a whisper but I heard it) ‘I don’t believe the
half crown is in the box.’ It is very sad to find people so suspicious,
especially when I take such pains to prove that there is ‘no deception.’
But the gentleman was wrong, you see.” (He opens box, and shows the
substitute coin.) “Here it is. Take it out, sir, and keep it in your own
hands till I ask you for it again.”
During the delivery of the patter the borrowed coin has been extracted,
and the coin exhibited in the box and handed for safe-keeping is, of
course, the substitute. The box, as being no longer needed, is laid
without remark upon the table, and the trick proceeds, after whatever may
have been its intended fashion.