Coin Magic - in Literature

In Literature

Canadian novelist Robertson Davies devotes a good part of his Deptford Trilogy to the art of coin magic. All three novels follow in part or wholly the career of a fictitious magician, Magnus Eisengrim, who was abducted as a boy by a traveling circus and learned his craft while concealed in a papier-mâché automaton. The descriptions of coin magic throughout are remarkable for their clarity. The final novel in the series in particular World of Wonders details his life and career, and is considered by many to be one of the best literary depictions of a coin magic virtuoso.

In the Neil Gaiman novel American Gods, the main character, Shadow, is an experienced coin magician, and many different tricks and aspects of coin magic are discussed in the book.

In the Dean Koontz novel From the Corner of His Eye, a police officer uses coin magic to interrogate suspects.

Thieves, wizards, and jesters, in historical and fantasy literature are often depicted as being skilled in legerdemain, and are often depicted doing standard coin magic. Rolling a coin across the knuckles is a popular image. Silk in David Eddings's Belgariad, and Mat Cauthon and Thom Merrilin in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, do this frequently. Johnny Depp's whimsical character Jack Sparrow coin walks in the end of Pirates of the Caribbean. Also, Vila Restal in the BBC science fiction television program Blake's 7 mixed his skills as a thief with such tricks.