The Saltshaker Magicman

Over the weekend, I had the fortune of experiencing a barroom magic trick. A young gentleman sitting at the table across the aisle kindly interrupted to ask if we had a quarter. We didn’t, but gave him a nickel after he said it would do the job as well. He started back at his date, included us to watch along, and began his act while his lady friend cautiously observed.

He placed the nickel onto the bar table, knocked it a few times with his fist to prove that the table was indeed solid, and proceeded to try and push the nickel through the table with his hand. After several attempts, it was quite clear that the table was indeed solid, and the nickel was not magic-like.

He then grabbed a glass saltshaker, covered it with a few napkins, cupped it from atop in his right hand, and hit the nickel with its bottom five or six times, pausing a moment or two to focus between each hit.

His goal was to obviously A) bang the nickel through the table, B) I had no idea what he was trying to accomplish, or C) things would go horribly wrong as he broke the saltshaker and sent glass shards and salt flying into the air. Thankfully though, he had the napkins to protect us.

After several attempts of hitting the saltshaker on the nickel to no avail, he refocused and took one last try.

His right hand lifted and slammed the saltshaker down, collapsing flat atop the nickel and crushing the napkins beneath. Seemingly astonished, he looked at his date while his left hand rose from under the table, presenting the glass saltshaker intact for all to see. Surprised ourselves, we applauded his seemingly impossible feat.

The Saltshaker Magicman put on a good show that night; his barroom magic trick left me intrigued and with a desire to know the intricacies of his act.

_