How to do the elbow coin vanish

You rub a coin into your elbow, it slips and falls, you pick it up and keep rubbing, and then the coin is gone. The secret is that the coin never goes back to the rubbing hand. The hand near your face keeps it, and drops it down your collar while everyone watches your elbow. It needs one coin, a table and a little practice with a fake pass from hand to hand.

What does the audience see?

You sit at a table and tell your friends you can rub a coin straight into your arm. You start rubbing a coin against your elbow. It slips out of your fingers and lands on the table, so you laugh it off, pick it up and try again. A few more rubs, and you open your hand. The coin has gone. Your other hand is empty too.

It’s a handy impromptu trick because it needs nothing you don’t already have. If you like coin magic with no preparation, try the coin vanish with a pencil or the French drop.

What do you need?

• One coin. A quarter or any coin that is easy to pick up from a table.
• A table to rest your elbow on.
• A shirt with a collar or loose neckline, so the coin can drop inside it without a sound.

How do you get into position?

These steps assume you are right-handed. Swap the hands if you are left-handed.

1. Rest your left elbow on the table and bend the arm so your left hand is up near your chin and collar.
2. Hold the coin in your right hand and rub it against your left elbow or the back of your left forearm with your fingertips.

This position matters. Your left hand looks like it is just resting by your face, but it is close to your collar the whole time.

How do you do the trick?

1. Rub and “drop” the coin. After a few rubs, let the coin fall onto the table as if it slipped. Make a small joke about coins being slippery.
2. Pick it up with your left hand. Bring your left hand down from your chin and pick up the coin.
3. Fake the pass. Pretend to hand the coin back to your right hand, but keep it in your left. This false transfer is the one move you need to practise. Your right hand closes as if it holds the coin.
4. Return to position. Your left hand goes back up near your chin, with the coin hidden in it. Your right hand goes back to rubbing your elbow as if nothing has changed.
5. Ditch the coin. While everyone watches your right hand rubbing, let the coin drop from your left hand into your collar or over your shoulder. If it falls behind you, make sure the floor won’t make a noise.
6. Show the vanish. Stop rubbing and open your right hand. The coin has gone. If someone asks about your other hand, you can show that empty too.

How do you make it stronger?

• Sell the drop. The trick depends on the fall looking like an accident. Keep your reaction small and natural.
• Watch your elbow, not your left hand. As a suggestion, keep your own eyes on the rubbing hand. Where you look is where your audience looks.
• Practise the fake pass in a mirror. Make it look exactly like a real hand-off, at the same speed, every time.
• Talk while you rub. Chat and make eye contact. A little conversation keeps attention on you rather than on your hands.
• Bring it back if you like. You can end on the vanish, or later produce the coin from your hair or from someone’s clothing.

What helps you take it further?

• Modern Coin Manipulation by T. Nelson Downs (1900), free from our public-domain library. The 197-page classic covers palms, passes and vanishes, including single-coin vanishes and the sleeve vanish.
• Catch from Vanishing Inc. A gimmick with no moving parts that lets a coin vanish from your hand and come back. It works with small pocket change like quarters, even borrowed coins, and comes with a 35-minute video tutorial.

For practice, a good-quality coin helps. Browse our ungimmicked coins, then try the coin through a handkerchief or coin through the table.

Frequently asked questions