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***Spoiler Alert*** Don't read on if you want to still believe in magic
Teller is a master of slight of hand and I've actually followed him quite a bit over the years. This trick (along with the his cigarette routine) are good examples of his stellar slight of hand. While I've seen better, he as about as technically flawless as they come.
So first thing first, if you want to be able to follow slight of hand and discect it, you need to watch two things. First, always watch the off hand; the hand not revealing the coil/ball/fish/cigarette, etc. By the time you look at that hand, the "plant" (coin, ball etc.) has already been set and you are 2 steps behind. Second, always notice the location of the off hand, and follow it to the reveal hand. There you will see where the "plant" materializes.
First thing to note: The aquarium clearly has a mirror running down the middle so it looks like an empty tank. On the other side are coins some coins (probably in a pocket near the edge. Not to mention a whole slew of goldfish (but more on that later). That's really the only gimmick of the entire routine and really doesn't take away from the full effect of the illusion.
So in breakdown:
1:02 He puts his hand in the water on side of the mirror grabbing a coin on the back side of the mirror. Transfers it to his reveal hand and drops it in the bowl.
1:11 He repeats this again with more coils (if you pause at exactly 1:11 you can see that when he puts his hand in the water it disappears because it's on the other side of the mirror).
1:15 Now as he is dropping coins in the bowl notice his left hand is placed behind the back of the chair, where he has a few more coins he is grabbing with his off hand and palming.
1:19 He fake grabs coins from the water and pretends to put them in his reveal hand where he's already palming the coins he grabbed from the back of the chair
1:24 As he drops the coins in the bowl, notice he crouches. This is not for dramatic flair. Notice his off hand is grabbing a coin from the back of his leg or shoe.
1:28 While palming it behind his thumb he pretends to pluck it out of thin air
1:35 He places both hands in the aquarium but he's actually placing on hand in front and one hand behind the mirror. Because there is a mirror it just looks like both hands, but notice it is just a reflection. With his other hand behind the mirror he is grabbing more coins.
1:41 Notice he saves one coin, palms it, grabs his tie and drops it in the bowl.
1:44 More grabs into the water. Notice that he dips twice. The first dip he goes on the open side of the mirror and grabs nothing. The second dip you can clearly see he goes to the back side of the mirror to grab more coins, transfers it to his reveal hand and into the bowl.
1:49 Here's a cool mis-direction. So when the camera zooms in as he is dumping the coins in the bowl, notice he doesn't dump all of them. He palms a few and then grabs the bowl while still holding a few coins. Then as he pretends to pluck coins from the girls body, he pretends to throw it in the bowl. However he times it so that he drops one coin from the his hand that is holding the bowl and still palming coins. The timing is impeccable.
2:50 For the finale, again, he's puts one hand on each side of the mirror in the aquarium. While it looks like he just waving two hands in an open bowl, remember one hand is just a reflection. The other hand is scooping tons of goldfish on the backside of the mirror and pushing them over the top of the mirror so it looks like they are just appearing from the surface.
And that my friends is how it's done. :smile:
