Nickels To Dimes is one of the easiest, yet most astounding, coin tricks that every magician should have, it's that good! And Shrinking Nickels takes that classic trick one step further!
Make a stack of nickels shrink into tiny nickels! Or change a stack of nickels into a stack of dimes! Or make the stack of nickels disappear! Or pass right through a solid table! Many effects are possible!
Made of brass for years of use. Comes with instructions, brass cap and tiny nickels. Sorry, replacement tiny nickels are not available separately. Gimmick and cap are made of brass for years of trouble-free use. Miniature coins are 1/5 size replicas of US nickels.
History and Trivia
Prior to introduction of the "nickel", five-cent pieces were made of silver and were called half-dimes. After the Civil War, silver was in short supply, so the coin was changed to a copper/nickel alloy. Thus the term "nickel" came to be used.
As of December 2006, the market value of the metal used to mint a US nickel coin is actually more than 5 cents, the face value of the coin.
Is it illegal to use real US coins to make magic tricks?
According to the U.S. Treasury F.A.Q., the answer is- No. It is only illegal to alter a US coin with the intention of spending it as if it were a coin of a different value.
From the website: "Section 331 of Title 18 of the United States code provides criminal penalties for anyone who 'fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the Mints of the United States.' This statute means that you may be violating the law if you change the appearance of the coin and fraudulently represent it [in a monetary transaction in trade for goods or services] to be other than the altered coin that it is. As a matter of policy, the U.S. Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent."
Shrinking Nickels
