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    Vanish by Thread Behind Hand

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    Zipaquira Comunicacion
    The document traces the history and development of a coin vanish technique using a thread. It describes early versions from the late 19th/early 20th century involving threads run along the hand or thumb. Frank Ducrot introduced an "over-the-hand" approach in 1904 using a suction cup. Later versions anchored the thread. John Cornelius's "Fickle Nickel" from 1972 is a widely used modern version, though credit is given to an earlier handling by Arthur Sanders from the 1920s described by Terje Nordnes in 1938.

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    Vanish by Thread Behind Hand

    Uploaded by

    Zipaquira Comunicacion
    71 views2 pages
    The document traces the history and development of a coin vanish technique using a thread. It describes early versions from the late 19th/early 20th century involving threads run along the hand or thumb. Frank Ducrot introduced an "over-the-hand" approach in 1904 using a suction cup. Later versions anchored the thread. John Cornelius's "Fickle Nickel" from 1972 is a widely used modern version, though credit is given to an earlier handling by Arthur Sanders from the 1920s described by Terje Nordnes in 1938.

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    Vanish by Thread behind Hand

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    The document traces the history and development of a coin vanish technique using a thread. It describes early versions from the late 19th/early 20th century involving threads run along the hand or thumb. Frank Ducrot introduced an "over-the-hand" approach in 1904 using a suction cup. Later versions anchored the thread. John Cornelius's "Fickle Nickel" from 1972 is a widely used modern version, though credit is given to an earlier handling by Arthur Sanders from the 1920s described by Terje Nordnes in 1938.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    71 views2 pages

    Vanish by Thread Behind Hand

    Uploaded by

    Zipaquira Comunicacion
    The document traces the history and development of a coin vanish technique using a thread. It describes early versions from the late 19th/early 20th century involving threads run along the hand or thumb. Frank Ducrot introduced an "over-the-hand" approach in 1904 using a suction cup. Later versions anchored the thread. John Cornelius's "Fickle Nickel" from 1972 is a widely used modern version, though credit is given to an earlier handling by Arthur Sanders from the 1920s described by Terje Nordnes in 1938.

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    Vanish by Thread behind Hand

    Several different thread setups have been developed over the years to accomplish
    the same core function. W.H.J. Shaw described one such system in Magic Up to
    Date; or, Shaw's Magical Instructor, 1896, p. 71. In it, a thread was run along the
    back of the performer's hand, up the sleeve and down into the vest. By having
    coins drilled through their edges, they could run up and down the thread as
    needed. Adding slack to the thread allowed the stack of coins to swing around to
    the palm of the hand for their appearance, and the reverse for their vanish.

    A much simplified version appeared without a byline in Tricks, Vol. 1 No. 1, June
    1901, p. 3. A penny with a hole drilled into its edge was strung with a loop of light-
    colored thread that hung around the magician's thumb. To effect the vanish, the
    coin wasn't hung over the back of the hand—as would be later developed—but
    instead, the penny was allowed to fall between the first and second fingers where
    it would dangle undetected.

    The over-the-hand approach was introduced by Frank Ducrot in Mahatma, Vol. 7


    No. 7, Jan. 1904, p. 77. Drucot's gimmick was made more versatile than the
    permanently threaded penny by using a suction cup that would allow a ball to be
    attached and detached when needed. Connecting the ball to the cup allowed the
    performer to flip the ball over the back of the hand where it would hide from view.
    C. H. Tickell later changed the gimmick to a thread anchored to the performer
    in The Magical Bulletin, Vol. 10 No. 8, Mar. 1923, p. 117. This anchored approach
    would be reinvented several times over the next half century.

    John Cornelius's “Fickle Nickel” is the most used and best-known version of this
    vanish. In The Award-Winning Magic of John Cornelius by Lance Pierce, 2001, p.
    146, the date of invention is given as 1972. The trick was marketed c. early 1977;
    see Genii, Vol. 41 No. 2, Feb. 1977, p. 76. Cornelius and Pierce mention that, after
    the marketing of “Fickle Nickel”, it was learned that Ronnie Gann had come up
    with a similar handling in 1968, “Dime on My Hands”; see The Linking Ring, Vol.
    53 No. 4, Apr. 1973, p. 121. Subsequently, when Cornelius learned of Gann's
    work, he listed Gann as co-inventor of “Fickle Nickel”.

    In his book, Cornelius mentions an even earlier handling based on the same idea.
    This was described by T(erje) Nordnes of Norway in Magie, Vol. 21 No. 1, Jan.
    1938, p. 23. However, Nordnes publicly gave credit for the vanish to his friend
    Arthur Sanders, also from Norway. The vanish was published again, in the
    Norwegian journal Magiens Verden, Vol. 2 No. 14 (misnumbered as No. 12), Dec.
    1947, p. 7, where it is titled “Sanders Mynt-Trick” (Sanders's Coin Trick).

    In MAGIC, Vol. 23 No. 11, July 2014, p. 36, it is stated that Nordnes was taught
    this coin vanish by Swedish magician Zandor, who invented it in the 1920s. The
    name is incorrect and probably comes from misinformation published in the
    Norwegian magic book Mystikk som underholdning, 2000, p. 36, where Sanders is
    misspelled Sandor(s). It is also reported that Nordnes published the vanish in a
    German journal, Der Zauberkunstler, in the early 1930s. (Cornelius and Pierce
    mention 1933 as the year of Nordnes's invention or publication of the trick.) This
    citation seems to be an error, as no such journal is known to have been published
    in Germany during that time. The January 1938 issue of the German
    magazine Magie cited above is what was probably being remembered. In any
    event, credit for this coin vanish using a thread goes to Arthur Sanders.

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