The history of the Double Sided Coin can be raced back as far back as the invention of the coin. When coins were hand-made, it was relatively easy for a mint worker to print two heads, as he was a head and a tail. In a sack full of coins, a miss-print would easily slip through. There are two headed coins found in England from Roman times. Such a coin would have been a valuable curio, or more sinisterly – a neat way to gamble your way to a fortune. Janus, a Roman god with two heads, would have smiled upon you greatly.

With the invention of the railroad, tricksters no longer had to rely on the accidental fortune of a miss-print (which were becoming increasingly rare), or on large machines or counterfeiters. Two coins could be stacked, sitting opposite ways up, and a passing train would squish these into one. With a little trimming around the edges, perhaps one in ten of these would be eminently passable as a legitimate coin.

We have records of gamblers being shot for using these in the Wild West, so a badly made coin could be more of a liability. Welcome the 20th Century, where the rise of leisure time, touring magicians, and mass-production made the deliberately-made coin a reality. It soon became a magician’s standard, where the use of this versatile prop was only limited by the magician’s imagination. We will soon be presenting you with a few of these ideas from some of the masters. Until then – sit back, grab a cup of coffee or perhaps adjust your top hat, and explore the world of this versatile magical device.