I’m not entertaining for one moment the possibility that there’s any ‘genuine magic’, but there’s one particular trick, often seen on street magic type shows, that’s really got me scratching my head.
The magician walks up to some guy drinking coke from a glass bottle, he asks them for a coin (or in some variations, a ring or other item of jewellery), he bashes this against the side of the bottle and Plink! the item is now inside the bottle.
So; the possibilities:
1: Trick coin with some sort of concealed sprung hinge, so it can be folded and put in the bottle.
2: Trick bottle has a concealed opening (larger than the neck).
3: The participant is in on the act and has switched the bottle or something.
OK, so:
1 can’t be the case when it’s an item belonging to the participant
2 can’t be the case when the bottle is given to the participant to thoroughly examine (after the item has been put inside)
leaving option 3; the participant is the magician’s stooge, but that’s rather disappointing, isn’t it?
I would guess that the magician has a quarter (usually the only one that people think wont fit into a bottle, that is a hinged one. He palms the participants quater and slips his into the opening as he slaps the side of the bottle knocking it in the rest of the way.
Thats how I would do it, although if I was any good at sleight of hand I would be on my way to Vegas to play a little poker, or blackjack.
Well, that was my initial thought, but I’ve seen it done to a single person with a coin, then with the person’s own signet ring (one of those cheesy half sovreign medallion rings; the bottle was handed back to the guy with the ring inside, so he could inspect it.
While I can’t comment on the Medallion Ring, I can comment on the quarter in the bottle trick. I used to have one that I got from a magic supply store. It’s a hinged quarter. It has a microscopic rubber band around the outside edge. You can fold it in half and it will pop right back into shape. The cut is right along the edge of the face, you can’t tell it’s fake by looking at it.
I suppose maybe it was a trick ring too; those sovreign rings are pretty common; maybe the magician singled out someone who was wearing a ring similar to the trick one he had in his pocket(This makes sense actually as you can see those rings a mile off), then made the switch.
I love this type of magic. I hate the David Copperfield-type of magic.
I’m puzzled by David Blaine’s tricks. He’s done the things-in-the-bottle tricks, but the things are items people have signed just moments before or a personal, engraved ring. He’s done a bunch of other amazing things, too, and the closest I get to figuring them out is that the people are in on it. They seem genuine, but, well, I just don’t know. Probably if I knew the tricks of the trade, I’d be slapping my forehead.