Borrowed Coin Bend Trick Tutorial

This short and sweet trick tutorial is packed with valuable insights and principles. It's also a rant about how weird it is that magicians get coins signed. It's bizarre; why would anyone ever sign a coin?

Now, I understand why a magician might encourage a spectator to sign a deck, though it's usually unnecessary. With a card to an impossible location, you might want a way to confirm the card that vanished is the same as the one that appeared on the other side of the room. Or that the fixed card is the same as the one you restored.

It makes sense to do so on one level because it's your card, and it's easy to find an identical playing card from another deck, plus THE ONLY EXPLANATION FOR BOTH OF THESE EXAMPLES IS THAT YOU SWITCHED THE CARD.

Whereas, with a coin bend, if the only possible explanation is that you switched the coin, then I'd argue you're not performing the trick very well. It would be best if you timestamped the moment the coin bends such that people don't believe a switch occurred. There are excellent ways to make the coin appear to bend, which you can use. Or you can use a physical, mental or audio stamp to cement the moment the magic takes place.

I've written about timestamping before, and it's great.

So here's my next thought for you.

If you believe 100% that your spectators trust and believe the coin is bending at the moment that you say it is bending, and if you believe they think so because you're a terrific performer. Then why on earth are you getting it signed? Because having the coin signed is nothing but restrictive at this point. It doesn't enhance the effect because you say they believe the coin is bending at the magic moment. So all the signing of the coin does is restrict your choice of method – you must misdirect and bend the coin for real using a bending device. Gross.

So here's an option to consider once you free yourself from this archaic belief, everything needs to be signed. Something you only believe because magic brands tell you you should. Something they tell you you should because if the coin is signed, magicians are more likely to buy the product as it'll be harder to figure out by watching the trailer repeatedly.

Free Coin Bend

How it looks: The magician borrows a quarter, and they place it fairly in the palm of the spectator. Everyone can see the coin is clearly completely flat. The magician will never touch the coin or the spectator again.

Then the magician gestures for the spectator to close their hand. They ask them to imagine the coin warming up in their hand and starting to bend and to squeeze hard on it to transfer as much energy into the coin's metal. When the spectator opens their hand, the coin is impossibly bent and left like this forever.

How it works: It's a shimmed expanded coin shell with a bet coin below it. If you place the bent coin inside the shell such that the bend of the coin is facing down, you can place it into the palm of a spectator's hand without them feeling it. The bend is somewhat shallow, and the palm is naturally concave in its centre.

A good note is that if you pinch the coin shell on either narrow edge with your finger and thumb when you place it down, then you can hide the small curved section below within the pads of your thumb and finger. It looks surprisingly natural.

Next, all you need is a Raven, or my personal favourite, a magnet within a watch strap/band. As you gesture for them to close their hand, you cover their hand momentarily. During this time, the shimmed expanded shell will be collected by the magnet on your watch or the Raven gimmick.

That's it. That's the trick.

The truth is, nothing will beat a few simple coin switches, but this is an excellent "TV method" for what is an enjoyable and audience-connecting effect.