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European Coinmagic Symposium Review Vol. 4

Fourteen effects and $35 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Effect/Method/Teaching Quality

Another collection of coin tricks with a bunch of the usual suspects mixed in with some relatively unique effects. Here's what you get:

• Akira Fujii - Before of Jet Coin
• Giacomo Bertini - Cylinder & Chips
• Daryl - The Manly Matrix
• Miguel Angel Gea - Three In One
• Eric Jones - EJ Copper Silver
• Ginjiro - Spellbound
• Auke van Dokkum - Chink a Chink
• Aurelio Paviato - O.C.T.S. an application
• Antony Gerard - Shuffling Down a Different Sidewalk
• Curtis Kam - Box Jumper
• Eric Roumestan - Impossible Coins To Pocket
• Alex Conradi - Chameleon Skin Purse
• Michael Rubinstein - Silver & Lint Final Chapter

For the most part, there's nothing new here. There are a few somewhat unique variations, and a few moves that I think might be worthy of your attention, but again, it's just standard stuff here folks. We also have the same problem with the language barrier as was found in volume 3. Some are in good clear English, others in broken English, others with a voice over in English and others still with subtitles. It makes some of the learning a bit difficult. One other minor point is that many of the performers seem to be assuming a certain skill level and knowledge level.

For example, in Auke Van Dokkum's explanation of Chink a Chink, he rushed through it with no explanation and said, "Normal Chink a Chink . . . no explanation needed." Then he quickly covered his few additions which weren't much. In fact, the entire routine looked like he was doing exactly what he was doing: sliding coins around on the close-up pad in a way that was anything but secret.

Akira Fujii performs a very standard coins across routine with nothing extra added to speak of. It's just a standard handling with a kickback at the end — instead of the fourth (final) coin jumping to the other hand, all of the coins end up in the hand with the fourth coin. Nothing to see here folks, unless you've never seen a coins across routine.

Bertini performs yet another version of John Ramsay's Cylinder & Coins, but Bertini uses poker chips. It made no different in the impact of the routine, and just seemed more of another attempt of a coin man to stake a claim on the Cylinder & Coins landscape.

Daryl's Manly Matrix was pretty much Al Schneider's routine with a couple of added displays that let you show the cards very cleanly and still hide a coin. This move was very good and very clean and is definitely worth a look.

EJ Coper Silver by Eric Jones was a simple, yet effect trick with some good "in the spectator's hands" action. It's clean, simple and easy to do, and due to the nature of the method and the structure of the routine, you are able to let the spectators handle the gimmicks and never even know that the coins are less than honest.

Ginjiro gives us another Spellbound that was more confusing than it was magical. There were a few interesting moves that make for a couple of clean looking changes, but for the most part it seemed like a bunch of meaningless juggling of the coins with no magic happening.

Paviato gives us an application of a clever switch that is very much worth your time. It's a very bold and direct switch that happens in plain view and nobody sees it happen. This has many possibilities. It could be used for switching in and out duplicate coins (as he shows us), gimmicked coins, and more.

Then it's time for a card trick? For some reason, Antony Gerard performs a card trick. It's his handling of what has become known as Virginia City Shuffle. Based on the crediting history he gave, he may be the originator of this version. Either way, the method is clever and simple, though he adds a lot of procedure that convolutes things a little bit. If you're looking for a three card monte style effect with non-gimmicked cards that has a good kicker ending, you might find this of value.

Curtis Kam performed a coin version of Paul Harris's effect, Reset. The method is pretty simple and doable, but you will need an Okito Box and a special kind of leather purse that he admits is hard to find in the U.S.A., but can be found in France.

Roumestan performs a coins to pocket routine. However it requires a special secret pocket to be sewn into your pants pocket. It also uses a jacket-less topit that is built into his suspenders. He never explains or shows how the toppit works or how it's made. So if you want to do this effect, you'll need to make sure you have these extra pieces of clothing, and you'll have to know how to make the toppit. I don't know if these are for sale anywhere.

Next up is Conradi with a clever routine that is all about an invisible purse (i.e., a purse frame). It's got a ton of clever moves that you might find interesting that will conceal a coin as it goes in and out of the purse frame. The moves in this effect are not too difficult and have a lot of potential for some very clean appearances and disappearances of a coin in a purse frame.

Lastly, Rubinstein performs an effect that uses "stuff" that he says he hates about coin magic. He hates "juggling" which is does a little bit of in this routine. He hates multiple changes in a spellbound-style routine, yet he does multiple changes in this spellbound-style routine. The funny things is that he tells us that he hates these things right after he performs the routine. Further, he claims that this routine removes those problems . . . not really. They're still there.

I will say, however that he has a nice premise and some clever moves that fit the premise making this routine pretty to watch at some spots. The methods are, again, standard and doable methods, so if you need a spellbound-style routine that has a beginning, middle and end with a decent premise, then you may appreciate this on.

Ad Copy Integrity

There's nothing to speak of in the written ad copy. However, the video trailer may appear to be slightly misleading when you watch it. It's not, however. The trailer is for both volume 3 and volume 4, so there are clips of performers and performances in the ad trailer that are not necessarily on this DVD. Other than that, there's nothing noteworthy in the ad copy.

Product Quality

Overall, the teaching from each of the performers varies from not-great to really good and everything in between. In some cases, there are still lighting and audio problems. The camera work, however, seemed to be better than volume 3, but still not amazing which does hinder the learning experience.

Final Thoughts

I think that there is more useful material (i.e., methods) in this DVD than the previous one. There are still problems with the production quality, but the learning experience is decent and the methods (for the most part) are standard methods that most coin people know. If you're a beginner in coin magic or a casual performer, there are a couple pieces on here for you (e.g., Eric Jones and Antony Gerard). If you're more of a formal and/or experienced performer that is helpful because a certain level of experience seems to be expected in some of the explanations. This one may be worth your attention for some of the utility moves taught.

Final Verdict:
3 Stars with a Stone Status of gem - little 'g.'