Mark's thinking on this is brilliant. Instead of trying to walk your spectator through "This is an American coin, this is a British coin, etc.", you just keep them on colors. The benefit of this is that you now have a coin trick that kids can easily follow as well. The changes are visual and incredibly fast, with very little sleight of hand work involved (he says none, but there are a couple of separations you must do that involve timing). I was practicing this without the video five minutes after watching it, and performed it twenty minutes after practice to a stunned crowd...it's that easy!

The only downside to it is the gimmick coin. It's a little larger than the others, and when you switch it in initially you'll have to keep everything moving so it's not noticed, but once the routine begins no one will catch it. The props are high quality, and this is powerful stuff that lets you concentrate on presentation rather than knuckle-busting...and it resets instantly as you finish the routine so you can run this again and again with no reset between tables!

Ok- this is my third set of really nice Mark Mason coin sets. I've got Come fly with me, Triception, and now Orient Express. All three routines absolutely rock. The coins are beautiful, the gimmicks are perfect, and the routines rock! All of his products and JB Magics products are first rate- you cant go wrong.
As far as Orient Express, it is Mark's take on the Cooper/Silver/Brass but uses colors instead. This makes it so much easier for the audience to follow. Easier for the magician to follow too. Great routine- actually looks better than the demo.

Effect: 10/10. Mark has taken a classic of magic and added a twist to it. No, actually an improvement to it. Great effect. Easy to follow yet baffling to laymen.

Gimmicks: 10/10- like all their products, this is first rate. The dvd is nicely made. The coins are first rate. The expanded sh*** also has a nice feature built into it- I dropped it during a performance and no one noticed what it was. The she*** landed upside down yet the gimmick was virtually invisible- I was like "wow". You also start clean and end clean.

Teaching: 10/10 Mark is a great teacher. The routine flows well and it is easy to learn. I watched the dvd twice and practiced for an hour or two and was doing magic (Smoothly). the coins do all the work. there are no real sleights involved.

Real World: 10/10 - this is a worker! Easy to carry. Auto reset. Packs small but has a big punch. I love this trick. To me, the price tag is justified by the quality of the effect and gimmicks involved. I highly recommend.

I work primarily with children- teens. I have had great reactions with this effect. I love that it uses colors. It is easier for the kids to follow. The video directions are very clear and the trick is easy to master.

This is just so good. It took me the longest out of all the routines I ever learned because it's four phases and a lot of words (which Mr. Mason's routines ussaully have a good amount of words). That's not a bad thing. But for this particular routine I had to change the presentation and words from a challenging test to me and the audience doing an observation viewing of what I named the Chinese crazy coins. I know that if you get creative with these wonderful coins and that special good shell you can come up with tons of tricks and routines with them. When I performed this for my friend who seen just about all my tricks they were like wow after every phase. And the best part of it all is when you finish clean after all that and dump the coins in their hand for examination. At that point it's all Magical. Worth every dollar and some. This is the Ultimate sleight free coin trick. Thanks to the awesome inventor! Everything is good about Orient Express. I strongly recommend.

I had put aside Scotch & Soda for years because I didn't like the effect that much.
Orient express is great, it incorporates the effects of Scotch & Soda plus the color changes. I scripted a new story line and it is now in my top ten closeup effects.

I used to perform copper-silver-brass but often found that when used under conditions where the lighting was dim that spectators had trouble following the coins with the exception of the Chinese coin. My old Johnson set has served me well over the years, but I have found that with the contrasting colored Chinese coins that the youngest child to the oldest adult has little trouble following the routine. Lighting conditions can be candlelight and folks can still make out which coin is which, there is no longer the "explanation" aspect of the coins and where they came from. Mr. Mason has provided a set of coins that are well made and a easy to follow routine, this is a winner in my book.

This is one of the best chinese coin - copper/silver routine ever! I love that it is so easy to do, yet so powerful. The routine starts out with three coins handed out for examination and ends with three coins handed out for examination. I love the play with simple colors instead of the more complex "Mexican Centavo, British Penny, and Yap Island stone money" routine (Although, a the production of a two ton Yap stone coin would be quite impressive). The only thing that I think would have been a bit of an improvement is if the coins were red, yellow, and green, instead of blue, black, and red. Red, yellow, and green would have lent itself to a bit more humor (You were close, yellow, but not quite a green light..). Maybe I'll paint over my coins. I also love that they are all chinese coins with holes as they lend themselves to gags, ribbon effects, etc. If you want to combine a couple strong routine, get the Charming Chinese Challenge by Troy Hooser in conjunction with this. There are so many other things you could add, folding chinese coin, flipper coin, etc. Another idea is to get a single chinese coin (half dollar size) and cut a slit in it from the edge to the hole. You can now add a linking coin effect. All in all, possibly the best copper/silver alternative out there. Also, the DVD was well done. I Highly recommend it.