How to Make a Coin Disappear

Last Updated: October 29, 2022 References

Many magic tricks involve making a coin disappear. The wide variety of coin vanishing tricks can range from amateur to expert in difficulty. Three easy to perform coin vanishing tricks include the glass trick, the snapping trick, and the rubbing trick. These tricks are simple but effective, and can easily fool your friends and family. They'll be left stunned, with no idea how you performed these simple disappearing acts.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Hiding Coin Glass Trick

1
Gather the things you need. For this trick, you'll need: two pieces of plain paper, a clear glass cup, a pen or pencil, scissors, clear tape, a coin, a table to perform the trick on, and a piece of cloth or fabric.
- Make sure the cloth or fabric you choose is big enough to cover the glass completely when you lay it on top of the glass.
2
Prepare the paper cover for the glass. Place the glass top down on one of the pieces of paper. Use your pencil or pen to draw on the paper, around the top of the cup.

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3
Cut out the shape. Remove the glass from the paper, and then use your scissors to cut out the circle you drew in the paper. Go slowly and cut along the pencil guide as closely as possible.
4
Attach the cover to the glass. Stick small pieces of tape onto the cut out paper circle. Stick the shape onto the top of the cup, so the glass is covered with a piece of plain paper. Trim the edges with scissors so that when the glass is upside down on a bigger piece of the same plain paper, it is not noticeable.
- You only need four small pieces of tape, around the edge of the circle.
5
Check the effect. The upside down glass on the piece of paper should look like a normal glass, with nothing unusual able to be seen from a distance of a few feet.
6
Prepare for the performance. Have with you the other, unaltered sheet of paper, your cloth, your coin, and the glass. Put the sheet of paper on a table. Place the glass with the topside down on the paper.
7
Start the performance. Now is when you gather your audience. Put a coin on the sheet of paper. Tell your audience you will make the coin disappear.
8
Cover the glass. Lay the cloth over the glass so that it's completely covered. The coin should still be visible somewhere else on the piece of paper.
9
Cover the coin. Grab the glass near the bottom of the upside down glass, with the fabric still covering it. Place it so that the glass lies over the coin.
- This is an excellent time to distract the audience with some flourish. Try making an exaggerated gesture over the glass with your other hand as you move it.
10
Remove the cloth. The paper on the bottom of the glass should have covered the coin. Your audience won't know because the paper looks the same. You have made a coin disappear!
- Before you remove the cloth, you can increase the entertainment factor of the trick with some magical flourish. Use a wand, or say some made up magic words. It's up to you, so you can get creative here.
11
Reverse the action. You can do the same thing again to make the coin reappear. Just cover the glass, move it away from the coin, and remove the cloth. Now the coin has reappeared!^{[1]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Disappearing Coin Snap Trick

1
Make sure you know how to snap. If you don't already know how to snap your fingers with one hand, you'll need to learn before learning this trick.
2
Get a loose jacket or shirt. Use an item of clothing with extra room in the wrist. Put the long-sleeve shirt, sweater, or jacket on.
- Make sure whatever long-sleeved article of clothing you wear has long enough sleeves to partially cover your hand.
3
Start your performance. Now is when you gather your audience. Ask your audience for a coin. In case they don't have one, make sure you have one handy.
4
Pull one sleeve down. Discreetly pull or let fall one of your sleeves so that it is slightly covering your hand. Do this to the hand opposite of the one which you can snap best with.
- It'd be wise to do some misdirection at this point, so that the audience doesn't see you purposely letting one of your sleeves cover your hand. Hold the coin in your other hand and wave it around while you talk to the audience, preparing them to see the coin disappear.
5
Turn your hand upwards. Turn the hand with the sleeve partially covering it so that your palm faces upwards. This is the hand that will hold the coin.
6
Place the coin. With your dominant hand, place the coin on your upturned hand. The coin should lie in the center of your palm.
7
Snap the coin into your sleeve. First, snap your hand above the coin a few times, close to the coin but never touching it. On your last snap, make your snapping finger hit the coin so that it flies into your sleeve.
- You'll need to practice this trick a few times by yourself to make sure you can reliably flick the coin into your sleeve.
8
Show how the coin has disappeared. Hold both of your hands with palms facing upward to show the audience how the coin can't be seen. Then turn both hands downwards. You can do this a few times and make a show of it, and the coin will rest in your sleeve as long as you don't tilt your arms too far downward.^{[3]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Rubbing Vanishing Coin Trick

1
Gather your materials. For this trick, you'll need a piece of cloth or other fabric, two coins, and a table to perform the trick on.
2
Prepare the trick. Place one of the coins on the table. Lay the cloth on top of the coin so that the coin is under the center of the cloth. The edge of the cloth needs to be flush with the edge of the table.
- For this trick to work, you'll need to either have something under the table that will muffle the sound of a coin falling, like soft carpet, or a rug, or you'll need to be standing so that the hand not doing the trick can discreetly catch the coin.
3
Start the performance. Now is the time to gather your audience. Ask the audience for a coin to borrow for the trick. If no one has one, use the other coin you brought.
4
Place the coin on the cloth. Put the coin down on the center of the cloth. Try to place it close to where the other coin beneath the cloth is, but don't worry if it's not exact.
5
Pull the coin off the cloth. Start making a rubbing motion with your hand over the coin, so that your hand is making circles just above it. With each circular motion, touch the coin very gently so that your hand pulls it towards the edge of the table a few inches. Continue doing this until the coin falls of the edge.
- If your table isn't over something that will muffle the sound of the coin falling, catch the coin with your other hand. You may need to practice this so that you can do it discreetly.
- While you're pulling the coin off the table with each circular motion, do some misdirection with your other hand and voice to keep the audience from looking too closely at the place the coin originally was.
6
Reveal the other coin. Remove your hand from above the cloth to show how the coin has disappeared. Then pull the cloth off with your other hand to show the coin beneath the cloth. If you caught the coin as it fell with the other hand, do this quickly so that you can pull the cloth off with the coin still hidden in your hand.^{[5]
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Community Q&A

Question

How do I slip a coin into my pocket without being noticed?

Community Answer

All you have to do is distract your audience. The best way to distract them is to add another prop. This way, they will focus on the fake prop rather than the real prop.
Question

Do the coins have to be the same size?

Community Answer

To be more believable to the audience, yes. Unless you want to pretend to make the coin bigger, then different sized coins would work.
Question

How do I do part six?

Community Answer

If you're talking about part 6 of the Rubbing Vanishing Coin Trick, you, pre-show, put another coin underneath the cloth. You hide the other coin, the one that's on the cloth, as you reveal the coin underneath the cloth.