Byoudou-in In Kyoto the building on the 10 Yen Coin
Today I wanted to share some of my thoughts on coin magic, specifically on what kind of coins I use and why. First, however I’ll explain the picture in this blog. Can you find me in the picture? easy? Anyway the building in the background is Byoudou-in which is the coin on the Japanese 10 Yen coin. It is located in Kyoto and is a wonder to see. I wanted a picture for this blog and this one is kind of related to coins.
Anyway back to coins for magic. When I lived in Canada learning magic I always used US 50 cent coins. Why, Well everyone used them and when I read David Roth material and other magicians US 50 cent coins were the norm. Of course they are like almost the perfect coins for coin magic as they shine nice, fit good in the hand, and with the milled edge, easy to manipulate. However I always wanted to use Canadian coins, 1 dollar coins or 2 dollars coins but they just never felt right. I was able to sell to my audiences the reason through routine why I used them and many people in Canada have seen them so I was able to use them without people always thinking they were some kind of tick coins. However, when I started to come to Japan I found I was no able to sell the use of US 50 cent coins well in my show. People always tended to think they were some kind of trick coins no matter my routine. So I switched to Japanese 500 Yen coins. The was the best thing I did. I was able to create routines and I have never been questioned on them being trick coins since I changed. The only time I did was when a magic prop company in Osaka got busted for making trick coins and they were arrested and various kinds of trick coins were exposed on the nightly news. It was funny because I think most people thought it was dumb they arrested guys for making trick coins and even the news reporters seemed weirded out by why making trick coins was a crime and a top story on the news. 500 Yen coins are a nice gold colour, they have a milled edge and are only slightly smaller than US 50 cent coins, so it was easy to adjust to them.
Anyways using local familiar coins as been good for me. When I go back to Canada I use Canadian coins now, I have adapted. From my experience using familiar things like normal coins from the area makes the magic stronger. I haven’t abandoned the US 50 Cent coin for good. I do have one routine that I use it in along with a Chinese coins and a Mexican coin and my routine makes a very good believable reason as to why I am using these 3 coins. So my advice from my own experience is to use coins that from the country you are in, unless you can really routine a good reason as to why you are using unusual coins. This can be done and I have seen it done well many times. What are your thoughts on this? I hope to hear from you!
Aaron