The Traveling Centavos

Reprinted through the courtesy of The Sphinx Publishing Corporation After returning to the States from a trip below the border I found I had a pocket full of Mexican coins, among them several 20 Centavo Pieces. A handmade, leather dice cup was also brought back. Playing around with the 20 Centavo Pieces and the dice cup, the following routine was born.

A 20 Centavo Piece is a copper coin about midway between the size of a quarter and a half dollar, but I see no reason why quarters or half dollars cannot be used. In an emergency an opaque plastic or metal tumbler, as used in bathrooms, will serve instead of the leather cup.

Effect

On the table in front of the performer is a dice cup. Showing his hands empty, the performer picks up the cup and dumps a few coins onto his right hand. The coins are placed on the table-there are four.

The dice cup is shown empty and the right hand picks up a coin and makes a tossing motion toward the cup. The coin is heard to arrive in the cup. This is continued until all four coins pass one at a time into the cup. The passage of each coin is accomplished by a different move.