COLLECTION LIQUIDATION --
I am helping a magic friend sell most of his collection, (and I already had a ton of magic I was trying to get listed!) so I am putting his Collection items in this separate eBay store category, and I will probably not be saying too much about the items. I will give a few good photos, and I will give a quick assessment of the item.
If you know your magic, you will recognize many items and know they are a great deal here. Or if you don't know the item, you may have to do a bit of online research to find out about it. Or you can just trust my honest (though quick) assessment of any item -- I always endeavor to tell you the good and the bad of anything I sell.
Message me if you are seriously considering buying something , and want a bit more info on it. Happy to help.
And keep checking the "COLLECTION LIQUIDATION" category of my ebay store, as I will be adding more items all the time!
I first saw Larry Becker's "Coin Purse" on his videotape that he made for Steven's Greater Magic Video Library series. Among the many excellent routines on that tape (now DVD) was a close-up coin date prediction -- six half dollars are dumped out of a leather coin purse. Becker writes a prediction on a billet and drops it into the purse. The six coins are mixed by the spectator and she chooses one freely and drops it into the purse with the prediction. Now the other five coins on the table are examined by the spectator, who verifies that they all have different dates. The purse is opened, and the prediction and coin dumped into the spectator's hand -- the purse is seen completely empty, by the way. The date on the coin is read by the spectator -- yet another different date from the rest of the coins, and yet, when she opens the prediction billet, it has the very same date as the chosen coin. Very puzzling, clean, and effective, and easy thanks to the Becker Coin purse.
(Pull out your GMVL Becker dvd and watch the routine. If you do not have the Becker dvd, check our other listings, as I may have one still available for sale!)
With the advent of the US State Quarters program, you can now increase the number of coins to about a dozen, and predict which State the spectator will freely choose! That is how I use my own Becker Coin purse now.
But you can also use it without coins. In his 1992 book, Stunners, Becker detailed a number of other ways to use the Coin Purse. Give six different people each a billet, and have each person write the name of an animal. The spectators' billets are fairly mixed by a spectator, and one is freely chosen and dropped into the purse with your prediction. After a bit of clairvoyant divination, you announce the animal is a LION. Dump out the (otherwise empty) purse into a spectator's hand, and she opens the billet to verify that, yes, it is a Lion.
You get the idea. NOTE: the instruction sheet provided details Becker's original handling tips for the Coin Purse. It does NOT include any routines. But once you see the simple, but diabolical, nature of the Coin Purse, you will think of many ways to use it (or at least, you will see how the two routines described above can be accomplished)
NOTE: deck of cards and coins that are shown in the photos are NOT included -- just there to give you a quick sense of the size of this purse.
Original Becker Purses were made back in the 1980's, and are very hard to come by. In the early 2000's, Becker granted manufacturing rights to another company, and this purse is from the small run of Coin Purses made at that time. The purse is made of real leather, super soft and beautiful, with metal spring-snap closure
PLEASE READ CONDITION NOTES BELOW
CONDITION NOTES: previously owned, but in like new condition. apparently unused, and includes a transcription of Becker's original instruction sheet. Instructions do not teach any routines, just how to use the purse properly for switching objects imperceptibly.
Apologies to International bidders, but the US Postal service has raised rates on January 27th this year, particularly for International shipments. Our shipping charges have been adjusted to reflect this. We are still committed to keeping shipping costs as low as possible, and will always combine multiple ebay wins into a single shipment to save you postage costs!)