Fingertips Coins Across

Fingertips Coins Across is a coin routine, created by Jonathan Townsend and later popularized by Chris Kenner as "Three Fly". Coins appear to magically jump from one hand to the other while the hands are held at shoulder width apart.

This effectively brought the standard Coins Across from a close-up routine, with spectators looking down at the table, to a stand up environment.

Versions have been developed for both gimmicked and ungimmicked coins.

History

In the mid 1970s Townsend showed some novel ideas with coins which he used in several Coins Across routines. He dropped out of the magic scene in New York City in 1981.

In 1987 at the Vernon event in NYC Townsend demonstrated and explained a routine to Chris Kenner and Bob Kohler who went on to further develop and publish their own versions. Kenner's handling was published in a booklet called "3 Fly" (1991), as "Three Fly" in Magic Man Examiner (1991) and in Totally Out of Control (1992) under the title "Menage et Trois."

Genii published an article in the September 2006 issue which explains much of the history and his creative process developing the routine he showed to Kenner and Kohler in 1987. The article also mentions a book manuscript written by Townsend, "In Plain View", on the topic of coin magic of the same style as the Fingertip (or Visual) Coins Across routine.

Variations

• Scottish Fly by R. Paul Wilson in Genii 1999 July
• Ulti­mate Three Fly by Bob Kohler (2000)
• Menage Et Trois by Eric Jones (2008)