by Chris Williams

With a lot of currencies, this will be impossible. Especially for me in the UK. However, with US Magicians, this isn’t too hard. It will require a small gimmick to be made, and an actual switch, but both are simple and perfectly mis-directed. What you will need is a jacket to make the switch easier. A $1 bill, two $5, and a sharpie marker pen.

The marker pen is in your right jacket pocket with one of the $5 bills, which is folded into eights. In your left pocket goes a gimmicked bill. This bill is basically a $1 bill, with a $5 pocket corner covering up the $1 symbol. To make this, you can either photocopy a $5 or just cut one up. You then need to glue two of the corners together around the outside edge of the bill, leaving two sides un-glued meaning it can fit over the corner of another bill. Place the piece on one corner of the $1, covering up the $1 symbol, so it now looks like a $5 bill. Fold this bill into thirds and place it in your left jacket pocket, with the $5 pocket furthest away from the body, the normal $1 side closest to the body.

When you are ready to perform, ask to borrow a $5. Fold the bill up exactly as you have done with the one in your jacket pocket. Now you say you need it signed. Go into both pockets as if trying to find a pen, what you do is get the pen in your right hand, and switch the spectator’s bill with the gimmicked bill in your pocket. Say ‘Ah, here it is’ as you remove both hands from their pockets. The spectator’s eyes won’t be on the bill, but the pen, as this is what you were looking for, its what they will look at. Pass them the pen and unravel the bill, with your right thumb going underneath and covering the $1 symbol up, and the left thumb stays on top, covering the edge of the pocket up on the $5 symbol Unravel the bill and get the spectator to sign the bill in the middle, and then as the bill is pre-folded, just push the right hand half back under the left hand half, so just the $5 symbol third is facing up. Now you fold the bottom out and away from you, folding it up over the pocket corner. Now you will do two things at once. The right hand takes the pocket off and finger palms it as it also moves forward to take the sharpie and pocket it, as the left hand places the bill in the spectators hand. They wont know what to watch, and if you start to take the sharpie before placing the bill in their hand, more attention will be on the sharpie again. Your left thumb throughout taking the pocket off should be covering up the now exposed $1 symbol.

Cover their hand up, explain you will make their signature vanish, and appear on a $1 in your pocket. Snap your fingers and reach into your pocket and pull out the extra $5 bill. Slowly and dramatically open, showing a $5 with no signature, then state you said it would appear on a $1, and this is a $5, so that cant be right. Get the spectator to open their hand and see the $1 with their signature. They will be stunned.

Now, you have several options. You have a unsigned unharmed $5 in your hand, you can write your contact details on this and give it to them, and say you will keep their signature for future references.

Or, you can let them keep the $1. You lose $1 every time like this, but if you are at a paid gig, $1 isn’t very much if it also gets your details out.