Although Triad Coins has been out for a while now, this is the first time we’ve had a chance to look at it. I must admit that I have a bit of an aspirational attitude to coin magic. I feel like magic with coins ought to be amongst the most powerful – since it looks so impromptu – and the subject matter (money!) so obviously connects with everyone. So I was very keen to have a look at Triad Coins since the trailer really does look so beautiful. Here’s our review…
What do you get?
I’ll be honest, Triad Coins had me at the packaging! The very special set of coins comes in a custom made perspex case which feels very well made. The gaffs are very nicely made. You receive (as the advertising tells you – so I’m not doing any exposure here!) a shell coin and insert and an expanded shell which all nest together beautifully.
When the shell is nested with the insert it looks brilliant. There’s a small tell-tale ridge when the expanded shell is on top – but in normal usage this is going to be all but invisitble to any spectator. The idea of a triple shell coin is not new (apparently it was first in print in 1922!) – but Joshua Jay’s contribution seems to be to nest the two shells in opposite directions which have some handling advantages.
The teaching
With the coins you receive a link to online instructions. These only run to 16 minutes and I would call them adequate rather than excellent. Explanations are clear – but only some of the shots are from the performer’s perspective. I always find coin magic easier to learn from that view – my head struggles to cope with seeing the action in reverse.
The basic routine is pretty straightforward – though the simple coin sleights are not taught in any detail – you may need to consult Bobo – or a standard coin DVD if you aren’t already familiar. The routine covers the production and then vanish of the 3 coins.
The vanishing sequence, in particular, is very clean indeed. There’s some really nice work on the vanish of the final coin which is extremely clean and not too difficult to execute.
The video also teaches a 3 fly type routine which is made very easy with the gaffs. But if I’m honest, I’m not sure the use of the gaffs massively improves the overall effect. There are some cracking pure sleight of hand versions if you want to perform 3 fly – in other words I wouldn’t buy Triad Coins if I only wanted to perform a 3 Fly.
What do we think?
This seems to be a good value set for what you receive – and the gaffs could be used in other routines easily. We looked at the US Half Dollar version and this size of coin works nicely. The UK coins are 10ps which might feel a trifle small for this kind of effect.
It is a very beautiful and clean looking vanishing sequence and the well-made coins do much of the work for you. So we would recommend this. But if you are a complete novice in the field of coin magic you may want to purchase an additional resource to cover some of the basic moves in more detail.
Triad Coins are available from the Merchant of Magic for £55.99 (at the time of writing). I’ve linked to the version in UK coins – but they are also available in 50 euros or half dollar (which we reviewed).
Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.
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