In 2011, Eric produced 1 magic video clip each day for 365 days!  Talk about commitment to a project!

Here is one coin magic trick video:

You can watch his channel at:

www.youtube.com/LeclericShow

Thanks for the contributions. The survey is now closed and I’m compiling the results and will send them out to the contributors.

Original Post

Image courtesy of 401K

In the corporate world, websites like glassdoor.com or monster.com provide salary ranges by profession and location.
For our magic market, there isn’t an index or any market research that indicates the average rate for specific magic markets.
My goal is to fix that and provide a resource for magicians.

I put together a short survey that we can use to create a market report for rates across our market segments.
Now before everyone starts worrying about a local competitor stealing their pricing strategy, let me assure you the survey is anonymous.
All responses will be aggregated and summarized.

However, if you wish to receive a copy of the survey results, please enter your email address in the survey.

In the spirit of magicians helping magicians, I think this will be a valuable report.

Please take the survey at:

http://www.coinmagictricksblog.com/salarysurvey

If you have any questions, please let me know!

The usual answer is find junk silver that have smooth, worn finishes that allow coins to slide together soundlessly. Finding 4 coins that meet this criteria is easier said than found after having dug in enough junk silver buckets at coin shows.

Fortunately Brad Morgan has released an excellent Soft Coins tutorial using a few basic items around the house and few products you can order for a few dollars.

Making Coins Soft from Brad Morgan on Vimeo.

Materials Needed to Make Soft Coins Required Materials

• 320 grit sand paper
• Lid that fits two Morgan silver dollars
• Dremel Tool
• Dremel Wire Brush Bit (Included in above kit)
• Polishing Dremel Bit (Included in above kit)
• Safety Glasses
• Blacken-It Product from A-West
• Patina-It from A-West
• Work Surface Mat

I’m looking forward to making my set!  I’ve got far too many Kennedy Half Dollars that need a good polish and softening!

Thanks Brad!

Here are a few examples:

Another submission by Dennis:

The magician shows 2 playing cards on the font and back.  After placing the cards together, the magician tips them downwards and a coin appears between them.

Performer: Dennis

Coin Magic Trick : Heads or Tails Performance

Heads or Tails Explanation

Marion and several others at the Coin Magic Forum in the Magic Cafe’ share the philosophy of Magicians Helping Magicians.  With that giving spirit in mind, here is the explanation to the Heads or Tails Copper Silver effect.

Head or Tails Bonus View

About Marion Boykin

Marion has a wealth of coin magic knowledge and he has been very generous contributing to the Coin Magic Tricks Blog.  If you’d like to learn more on his approach to Coin Magic, I recommend checking out his coin magic video series at VinnyMarini.com.  He has over 20 different videos and has some unique applications to coin sleights including the Tenkai Pinch. I’m a fan of his Tenkai Pennies PHD!

(I’ll see if I can get him to let me post a demo of that one here too!)

The bent coin or bent penny is a staple right from Bobo’s Coin Magic.  I’ve always liked the trick for its simplicity.  I remember when I was 14 and learned it in Bobo’s Coin Magic , I struggled a bit with the Bobo switch as I was reading it verbatim from the book.  Heck year’s later starting with the coin finger palmed or doing a simple change over pass seems much simpler.  But I digress…

While searching the web, I came across another Secrets Revealed show from Magic Place.com

In this coin magic tutorial, Luke Dancy hosts a clip from Paul Harris’ Art of Astonishment series featuring the Muscle Bend – his take on the Bent Penny.

Learn the Muscle Bend

Learn The Bent Penny – Muscle bend version

You can check out Magic Place’s Muscle Bend at:

http://magicplace.com/mbn/show/secrets-revealed/secrets-revealed-paul-harris-muscle-bend

Take a look at it and see if it fits your own style.  I like how in the Muscle Bend, Paul skips any switch and goes right into the assumption the penny is already in the hand.  However, I’ll have to play with the Muscle Bend approach to see what the reactions are like.  The only premise I can see when presenting this effect is to do it as a tongue-in-cheek “look how well I’ve been working out” routine.  After all, what’s the point of putting a penny in the crook of your arm?

What’s your approach to the Bent Penny?

When I usually present the Bent Penny, I start with the premise of a “challenge” effect where I try to sneak the coin out of their hand.

I’ll post the handling in another blog post.  For now, I’d like to hear your approach.  Comment on the blog comment section below!

With just a few days to go before good ol’ Santa Clause arrives, I’m placing an urgent call to the North Pole to ensure these are added to the Christmas list.  I reviewed Metal previously in my Metal by Eric Jones review and I’m looking forward to reviewing Metal 2 and Metal 3 soon.

The Metal Coin Magic Trilogy includes:

Metal

• Concealments and Productions
• Vanishes
• Utilities
• Sleeving
• Routines
• Tips
• Flourishes

Metal 2

• Imagination
• Impossible Production
• Dean Dill’s No Extras
• Jones C/S
• Coin on Shoulder
• G.O.D.H.A.N.D
• Body Loading Sequence
• Professional Advice

Metal 3

• EJ Copper Silver
• Tap Change
• 2 Coin Production & Vanish
• Submerged
• Ode to Latta
• Pac Man Production
• Glitch Change
• 3 Coin Vanish
• Flash Coins Re-Lit

From the Ellusionist Blog:

If you don’t want to wait for the review, you can purchase Metal 2 and Metal 3 below:

• Metal 2 Commanding Coin Magic by Eric Jones
• Metal 3 Guide to Gaffed Coin Magic by Eric Jones

I also posted a brief write up on Artifact Coins that compliment Metal 1, Metal 2 and Metal 3.