How to do the coin through a handkerchief

Hold a coin at your fingertips, drape a handkerchief over it, and secretly pinch a small fold of cloth behind the coin. When you lift the front of the handkerchief back to show the coin and then drop both edges forward together, the coin ends up outside the cloth while still looking covered. Twist the handkerchief, and the coin seems to push its way through the centre. No gimmicks, and you can borrow both items.

What does the audience see?

You hold up a coin and cover it with an ordinary handkerchief. You lift the cloth to show the coin is still underneath, then cover it again. You twist the handkerchief around the coin until its outline shows through the fabric. Slowly, the coin appears to squeeze through the centre of the cloth and drops into your hand. The handkerchief has no hole.

What do you need?

• A coin. A large coin is easiest to see and to grip.
• A handkerchief or neckerchief. Thin cotton or silk works best, large enough to drape well over your hand. A borrowed one is even better.

How do you do it, step by step?

1. Show the coin. Hold it upright between your right thumb and first finger, with your other fingers curled in.
2. Cover it. With your left hand, spread the handkerchief over your right hand so the coin sits under its centre. One corner should hang down in front of your hand and the opposite corner rest back over your right forearm.
3. Make the secret fold. With your left hand, adjust the coin through the cloth as if you are settling it in place. As you do, your right thumb secretly pinches a small fold of the handkerchief and holds it against the back of the coin.
4. Show the coin is still there. Lift the front corner and lay it back over your arm, so the coin is seen at your fingertips. Keep holding the fold with your thumb.
5. Cover it again, the sneaky way. Lift both corners off your arm together and let them fall forward. It looks as if the coin has simply been covered again, but because of the fold it is now behind the cloth, outside the handkerchief.
6. Twist. With your left hand, gather the hanging cloth below the coin and give it a few twists, so the shape of the coin shows clearly through the fabric.
7. The penetration. Slowly pull down on the twisted cloth while you push the coin upwards. The coin appears to squeeze out through the centre of the handkerchief.
8. Show it clean. Hand out the coin, then shake out the handkerchief to show there is no hole.

With practice you can flip the corners off your arm with a small swing of the right hand, which looks more natural than lifting them with the other hand.

Why does it work?

The whole secret is the little fold held by your thumb. When you lift the front corner back, the audience sees the coin, which convinces them it is under the cloth. When both corners drop forward together, the fold means the cloth now hangs in front of the coin instead of over it. From the front nothing has changed, so nobody suspects the coin was outside the handkerchief before the twist even began.

How can you present it better?

• Use a spectator. Invite someone to hold the twisted end and pull gently while you push the coin through. The magic seems to happen in their hands.
• Go slowly at the end. The visual moment is the coin emerging. Let it squeeze through gradually rather than popping out.
• Borrow everything. A borrowed coin and a borrowed handkerchief make the trick feel completely impromptu.
• Practise in a mirror. Check that the fold is never visible and that the second covering looks the same as the first.

Where does the trick come from?

Coins have been passing through handkerchiefs in conjuring books for a long time. Based on our research, the earliest mention we’ve found of a coin pulled through a handkerchief is Professor Hoffmann in Modern Magic, 1876, which describes how “To pull Four Florins or Half-crowns through a Handkerchief” (p. 168), alongside other coin-and-handkerchief tricks.

What helps you take it further?

• Modern Magic by Professor Hoffmann, free from our public-domain library. It covers sleight of hand with coins (palming, passes and changes), coin tricks without apparatus and a chapter of tricks with handkerchiefs.
• Modern Coin Manipulation by T. Nelson Downs, also free. His 1900 classic on palms, passes, vanishes and the Miser’s Dream.
• Devils Hank by TCC, a high-quality gimmick handkerchief designed to make objects such as rings, bills and watches vanish or appear.

Next, learn the French drop, the classic palm and coin through the table, and browse our ungimmicked coins and silks.

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