Artisan Half Dollar Expanded Shell

(Video only)

In 1847, J. N. Hofzinser invented the Shell. 

This was a clear indication to all magicians that Coin Magic from that day forth will be forever changed. 

During the last 170 years, magicians have built endlessly upon this genius invention. Transpositions, vanishes, appearances, Penetrations. It’s hard to imagine that one could create the most incredible miracles with something so simple

In the field of Coin Magic, where sleight of hand is inevitable, the Coin Shell is undoubtedly the best tool. 

Even after over 170 years, the Coin Shell is still one of the must-have gaffs for any coin magician. What’s more, there are as many coin shells as there are different types of coins.

The question is, what makes an excellent Shell?

We have proposed four criteria to measure the quality of a coin shell.

-Closeness: The gap between the edge of the Shell and the edge of the coin. The smaller the better.
– Fit: The degree of adhesion between the coin case and the surface of the coin. The better the fit, the better the quality.
-Coverage: The degree to which the edge of the coin shell covers the edge of the coin underneath. The more coverage the better.
-Degree of deformation: The coin needs to be flattened in order to expand the coin shell. During this process, the deformation of the pattern is as minimal as possible.

To improve each criterion requires consideration of many factors. The reason being there are contradictions between each of these criteria. 

For example, if you want more coverage, you must make it deeper. However, if you make it deeper, it will cause losses in the degree of deformation. In the production process, it is very likely that to enhance one criterion, other criteria will be affected. There is a delicate balance to be struck here.

We spent a year of continuous testing, scrapping, retesting, and adding manual processes into the production, to make these four criteria to the most satisfactory level. 

The coin shell can be said to be the foundation of modern coin magic gaffs. It is because of the coin shell, that all kinds of amazing coin gaffs were created in the century that followed.

The Coin Shell is also where the Artisan Coin series begins. 
We hope that each meticulous detail will bring you a brand-new experience, and have more people experience the charm of coin magic.