Setting a Magic Set

So, for some wild reason, you feel the need to put together a magic kit for someone you really like.   Rather than going out and laying down a couple of bills on an “executive magic kit” (as you can find various places),  here’s what I’d do:

In

• A nice leather briefcase,

put:

• A copy of Mark Wilson’s Complete Course In Magic,  by Mark Wilson.  Softcover is in print, but hardcover copies in good condition are available very inexpensively from any used-book shop — and you can get an autographed and personalized copy direct from Mark, so that’s the way I’d go.

Then the following gear:

• Two decks of Bicycle Rider-back poker sized cards, one red, one blue.  Available from any variety store.
• Six American half-dollars, reasonably well-matched in appearance.  Get the kind with an eagle on the back.  $3.00 at any bank.
• Two old-fashioned English pennies, the…