If there ever was a magical “DIY hack”, then it is this one here. John Ramsay’s “Cylinder and Coins” trick is a classic and a very strong effect. I always wanted to do it, but then there were two obstacles: The expensive and hard to get stack of silver dollars and the use of the cork disc, which didn’t make sense for my style of performance. Here is another suggestion. Camilo Vázquez’s “Montecarlo Act” gave me the inspiration for this.
I use Casino Roulette Jetons (not Poker chips), a roll of bills and a little white ball (small latex ball) which represents a“souvenir from Monte Carlo” – the roulette wheel ball. Advantage of the latex ball is it can easily be palmed and does’t make any noise when dropped into the tube and onto the gimmick.
The hollowing of the Jetons might be a bit of trouble, but then I did it with some basic tools. A 20 mm “Forstner drill” did the work. Rude and rough, but it works. The glued stack should be spray painted flat black on the underside to prevent flashing between the fingers when palmed. This tip stems from Giacomo Bertini, who has his stacks set-up in the same way.
For the “bill tube”, I used two bills and glued them into proper shape with UHU glue stick. This sort of stiffens them when completely dry. Around these I wrapped normal bills and fixed them with a rubber band. So I have a “semi-stiff” tube and do not ruin the real bills. The rubber bands around keep it all in perfect shape. The rubber bands also make the pick-up easier and give you a good orientation where the stack is.
See how easily it could be constructed:
All this together makes for a very nice presentation that actually makes sense. And it didn’t cost hundreds of Dollars like the silver coin version …