The grip

Hold your left hand palm up, fingers together and slightly cupped, pointing to the right. Hold the coin flat (horizontal) by its edges between the tips of your left thumb and your first two fingers, a little above the palm, so the audience sees it clearly.

  1. Approach. Bring your right hand toward the coin from your side, palm down. Your right thumb goes under the coin, between it and the left palm. Your right fingers go over the coin, covering it from view.
  2. The drop. As the right fingers hide the coin, relax your left thumb. The coin falls quietly onto the base of your left fingers. Do not throw it; just stop holding it.
  3. Take nothing. Close your right fingers and thumb as if you have taken the coin, and move the right hand away to the right at a natural speed.
  4. Watch the hand that is empty. Your eyes follow the right hand. That is non-negotiable: the audience looks where you look.
  5. Let the left hand rest. Let the left hand turn inward and drop naturally to your side or to the table edge, fingers loosely curled around the coin. You can point at the right hand with the left index finger, which makes the left hand look even more empty.
  6. Vanish. Rub the right fingers together and open the hand. The coin is gone.

The secret in plain clothes: The right hand does not take anything. The left hand does nothing suspicious. The vanish is sold by your eyes, your timing, and the right hand's acting.

Rehearse it for real first

Do the move for real (actually take the coin with the right hand) ten times in a mirror. Then do the French drop ten times. The goal is that both look identical. Most beginners give it away by snatching, by staring at the left hand, or by keeping the left hand frozen in place.

How it relates to the quiet coin vanish

The quiet coin vanish uses a vertical display and the same principle. Learn both; they suit different angles, and two methods for one effect will make you less predictable.

Credit where due: The French drop is one of the oldest documented coin sleights and is sometimes called "le tourniquet." It appears in most general magic texts.

Next: You do as I do