Artifact Coins R2

Have you seen the price of a single Morgan Silver dollar?

A few years ago I paid about $25 per coin and of course I wanted to do 3 Fly, Coins Across and other variants so I ended up shelling out about $100 for 4 Morgan Silver Dollars.  That’s a lot of coin for a coin magic trick and we’re not even talking about the Todd Lassen or Jamie Schoolcraft style.  As of May 2011, a Morgan silver dollar will cost you $35-$50 per coin.

The good news is the creative guys at ellusionist.com produced a new set of artifact coins in both half dollar and silver dollar sizes.

The coins are perfect for the coin magician who is looking for the smoothness (no talking) and antiquity of Barber Half dollars, Walking Liberties or the Morgan Silver dollars without having to shell out  a huge price just to do a coin magic trick!  Another useful feature of the artifact coins are the milled edges that help with the sleight of hand while retaining the benefits of older and softer coins.

Artifact Coins Colors and Sizes

The Artifact Coins come in several sizes and colors:

I’ve been working with both the half dollar sized and the dollar sized coins.  My recommendation is to purchased the dollar sized coins over the half dollar sized coins.  The dollar sized coins are slightly thicker than the usual silver dollar but it matches the overall circumference.  The half dollar sized coins are the size of a half dollar yet are wider than the usual half dollar.   A stack of 3 artifact half dollar coins is the same as 4 regular half dollar coins.  They still function well in coin effects but just be aware of the thickness difference.

The Making of Artifact Coins and Future Gaffs?

If  you head over to the ellustionist post at: http://blog.ellusionist.com/labor-of-love-jason-brumbalow-talks-about-making-of-artifact-coins/, you’ll get  a chance to listen to Jason Brumabalow talk about the artifact coins process.  The exciting part is what is yet to come in terms of custom gaffs featuring the artifact coins.  Shells, Flippers, Triple Threats/3CM possibilities open up to a more affordable and hopefully high quality set of gimmicks.

I like Lassen and Schoolcraft’s work…I just can’t justify spending  $300+ on a coin trick when there are other sleight of hand options available.

What others are saying

There has been actually a lot of discussion on the pros and cons of using artifact coins in your coin work.  Here are just a few posts and comments from popular blogs on magic.

 


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About Andy

+Andy Makar's interest in magic began with the classic Royal Cups and Balls found in a shoebox full of magic in his dad's closet. 30+ years later, he continues to pursue and write about the Art of Magic while playing the part of a superhero to his own kids. He also operates Kapoof Entertainment - a Michigan Magician based entertainment service.

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