So at my birthday party (I just turned 35..... ) My mother in law asked me to do some magic for her,

I grabbed my okito coin box (which I've probably only done about 10 times in the last 20 years) and my half dollars to see if I could still pull it off.

I let her examine the box, then the 4 half dollars. I make one disappear show her it's in the box. Now get this, while I'm loading the lid she GRABS MY HAND AND TURNS IT OVER. Usually I'm loading the lid while I dump the half that just, "jumped" out of the box. The misdirection of the person looking at the coin falling out of the box is usually all I need. I had just barely finished the lid load so I decided not to run, even though she was chasing me. I just left the lid sitting there loaded up. Whe was shocked that there was nothing in my hand. You should have seen the look on her face. She was TOTALLY STUNNED!. She never did catch on.

I finished the routine and she spent the rest of the time saying, "Oh my god, how did you do that!!!"

Sometimes its better to be lucky than good I guess.
Ted