Michael Rubinstein

Michael Rubinstein
Born	January 11, 1956 New York City, New York

Michael Rubinstein (b. 1956) began working in New York as a veterinarian while still publishing coin magic in various books and magazines.

Biography

Michael Rubinstein, was born in New York in 1956. He became interested in magic when his aunt bought him some magic tricks at the age of nine, but didn't become serious until after someone showed him how to do the French Drop at age fifteen. He got his parents to buy him the Modern Coin Magic book for his birthday and after reading the book cover to cover he began developing his own moves and techniques.

In 1977, Rubinstein moved to Italy to study Veterinary Medicine. It was there that he hooked up with the Italian Magic Organization, and began lecturing, and developing many of the retention techniques that have since defined his style. Rubinstein won first place in the International Magic Congress Close up Competition in Bologna Italy in 1983 (the most important competition in Europe in an off FISM year), and repeated his success by winning first place at the International Close up Competition in St. Vincent in 1984. In 1985 Rubinstein produced the Master Coin Technique video series in Germany, which was later turned into the Encyclopedia of Coin Sleights, sold by L&L. Many famous magicians, like Reed McClintock and Giacomo Bertini, got their start in coin magic by studying these videos. In 1986 with Videonics, Rubinstein released his Knockout Coin Magic video series, which were the first videos to release unpublished material to magic audiences.

After a brief hiatus from magic, Rubinstein came back with a vengeance, forming the The York Coin Magic Seminar with David Roth, Geoff Latta, and Mike Gallo. Their 16 volume 17 disc DVD set, the New York Coin Magic Seminar DVD series, is the biggest collection of coin magic ever produced on DVD, and contains additional contributions from Kainoa Harbottle, Giacomo Bertini, Scotty York, Bob Fitch, Al Schneider, Eric Jones, Bill Citino, Marc DeSouza, Eric DeCamps, Doug Brewer, Vic Trabucco, Scott Robinson, and Dan Watkins. It has been called by Bill Wells the video Bobo for the 21st century.

Dr. Rubinstein has also published his magical creations in Apocalypse, Richard's Almanac, Magic Magazine, Genii, Looking Glass, Ruminations, Best of Friends II, and Spectacle, and has appeared on the Coinvention DVD, LVMI 2003 DVD, and the European Coin Magic Symposium DVD set.

Dr. Rubinstein was the guest of Honor at the Second European Coin Magic Symposium, held in Milan, Italy, in 2011. Dr. Michael Rubinstein currently lives in New York with his wife Karen, son Matthew, and 4 cats.

Books

• Intermediate and Advanced Coin Technique, in English, Italian, and French (1982) .
• Creative Coin Magic Lecture Notes 1 (1982)
• Creative Coin Magic Lecture Notes 2 (1983)
• Creative Coin Magic Lecture Notes 3 (1985)
• Coinvention Lecture Notes (2003)
• Secret Stuff Notes (2005)

Awards

• First place in close-up at the International Magic Congress in Bologna Italy (1983)
• First place in close-up at the International Magic Congress in St. Vincent (1984).
• Guest of Honor at the 2nd European Coin Magic Symposium in Milan, Italy (2011)

References

www.newyorkcoinmagic.net

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