How to vanish a coin with a pencil

In this two-part trick, you try to make a coin vanish by tapping it with a pencil, and the pencil vanishes instead. While everyone laughs at the pencil tucked behind your ear, the coin vanishes for real. Part one needs no skill at all. Part two uses one basic coin sleight, the French drop.

What does the audience see?

You hold a coin on your open palm and announce that three taps of a pencil will make it disappear. One, two, three: the coin is still there, but the pencil is gone. You turn your head to show it behind your ear, and the room laughs at the “mistake”. Then you say you’ll try again without the pencil, take the coin in your other hand and open it. Now the coin is gone too.

It works because the first vanish is a joke the audience is in on, and the second one catches them while they’re still enjoying it.

What do you need?

• A pencil or pen. A borrowed one is even better.
• A coin you can hide in a loose fist. A large coin from our replica coins range is easier to see from the back of a room.
• An audience in front of you, not to the side where your ear is.

How do you make the pencil vanish?

1. Set the scene. Stand side-on so the ear you’ll use faces away from the audience. Place the coin on the palm of the hand nearest them. Point at it with the pencil and say you will tap it three times to make it vanish.
2. Swing big. Raise the pencil up beside your head, then bring it down to tap the coin. Count “one” out loud. Each time you raise the pencil, it comes close to your face.
3. Repeat. Do the same swing for “two”. Keep the rhythm steady so the audience settles into it.
4. Leave it behind. On the third upswing, tuck the pencil behind your ear and bring your empty hand straight down to tap the coin on “three”.
5. Act surprised. Look at your empty hand, then slowly turn your body and point at your ear to show where the pencil went.

The rhythm does the work. After two identical swings, the audience is watching the coin, not the hand going up.

How do you make the coin vanish next?

The turn to show the pencil is your moment. Everyone is looking at your ear and laughing, so nobody is thinking about the coin.

1. Get ready during the laugh. Hold the coin by its edges at the fingertips of the hand it has been sitting on, ready for a French drop.
2. Do the French drop. With your now-empty pencil hand, appear to take the coin while it really falls into the fingers of the first hand. Our guide to how to do the French drop teaches the move step by step.
3. Watch the closed fist. Say you’ll try again without the pencil. Keep your eyes on the fist that “has” the coin, and let the hand really holding it relax and drop to your side.
4. Reveal. Give the fist a small squeeze and open it slowly. The coin is gone. Later, when nobody is looking at you, slip the coin into a pocket.

Where does this trick come from?

We couldn’t find a reliable source that names who first put a pencil vanish and a coin vanish together, so we won’t guess. The French drop has a long paper trail: Professor Hoffmann teaches it in Modern Magic (1876) under its French name, “Le Tourniquet”. Our French drop guide has more on its history.

How do you make it look better?

• Commit to the joke. The bigger and sillier your three swings, the more natural it looks when the pencil goes missing.
• Don’t rush the turn. Turning slowly to show your ear gives the laugh time to build and gives you time to get the coin ready.
• Talk to someone, not to your hands. Look at a person as you count. Their eyes follow yours.
• Practise in a mirror. Check the angle of your ear from where the audience will stand.

What are the common mistakes?

• The wrong side. If anyone can see the ear you’re using, they’ll see the pencil go there. This trick needs everyone on one side of you.
• Uneven swings. If the third swing is faster or shorter than the first two, people notice something changed.
• Revealing the pencil too fast. Show your empty hand first, then the ear. The pause is what makes it funny.
• Skipping French drop practice. Part two only lands if the drop looks relaxed. Practise it on its own until it does.

If you enjoy coin magic, try coin through the table next.

What helps you take it further?

• Coin to Pen by Zee. A download teaching a coin that vanishes into a pen and then falls out of the cap into your spectator’s hand. All you need is a coin and a pen, with no gimmicks, and it also includes Zee’s Blow Vanish.
• How To Do Coin Magic by Zee. A video course on coin magic that takes you from beginner to expert, as a digital download and online streaming video.

Frequently asked questions