Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Fallen Angel By Poison

Pre-Review 'Disclosure'/'Disclaimer':

Ok many of you probably know that Jay Sankey and I are good friends and that we've worked together on a project or two in the past, and we also are consultants to one another.

I get feedback from him on my stuff, and he gets feedback from me on a lot of his stuff. Additionally, I do not receive any sort of compensation whatsoever for reviewing or 'pitching' his products (I was not involved in this particular project).

I tell you that up front just to sort of clear the air and to let you know that when I give Jay feedback, I'm brutally honest with him. I tell him if I think he has a crappy idea or a good idea. He wouldn't have it any other way, nor would I. So I want to make it clear that Jay's products get the same level of scrutiny as any other products I review.

On to the review:

Back in the good ol' days when Florescent was cool, leg warmers were manly and wearing an earring meant you were gay, Jay Sankey released a product called Smashed.

With this 1980's release, you received a sheet of instructions and a machined coin. This was an instant classic back then and has been in or the foundation of many working pro's routines.

Last year Jay released it with his new flavor of educating the magic world: The gimmick and a full-length Instructional DVD rather than just a sheet of instructions. Trust me when I say this one is a Gem!

First let me say that for $25.00 to $30.00 (depending on where you shop), the coin alone is worth the price, not to mention the killer ideas on the DVD. Jay covers everything from how to hold the pencil - he even includes a pencil with the DVD - to concealing the gimmick, to loading the gimmick and unloading the gimmick. He covers how to have the coin marked, have the spectator visibly push the pencil through the coin which can be immediately examined.

There is a whole section on ringing in and out the gimmick, 'borrowing' the quarter from the audience. There is a coin switching technique that was so brilliant and so simple that I can't believe I never thought of it before. It went immediately into my repertoire. It is, hands down, THE BEST way to switch a borrowed coin for a gimmicked coin. It's clean and invisible.

You get 70 minutes worth of instruction from Jay along with the machined coin and a pencil - the pencil is not gimmicked. I found a few items on the DVD that I will use outside of the context of Smashed. There are several Smashed handlings offered plus a plethora of ideas that will be useful in other areas of your magic. Please get this one if you do any kind of coin magic or street magic at all . . . Definite Gem!

You can purchase Smashed with either an American, Canadian, or UK coin.

Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars with a Stone Status of GEM!