Because of the Chinese New Year holidays, the date of our February’s meeting was changed from 15th to 23rd February 2026. This was also our 74th non-election AGM which took only a small part of the evening. The main program was a double-lecture by coins and cards magicians Gerald Tan and Isaac Wong.
The venue was the usual Drama Centre at the National Library Building. It attracted an attendance of 38 members and 2 guests.
Vice-President Ng Kah King opened the meeting with several announcements. Assistant Secretary Ivan Lee took over and conducted the 74th AGM which ended at 8.20 pm.
Dave Karyadi took his Induction Test. He performed a “Which Hand” effect using a special coin and incorporated a “Free Will” revelation. He was able to divine the name of a person secretly written by one spectator and a destination secretly written by another. Dave got 6 people to each write down a 6-digit number. He then added “230226” indicating the date of the performance. The total of the 7 numbers matched the last 6 digits of the serial number of a borrowed $10 bill.
The first of the double-lecture was by conducted by Gerald Tan on coins magic. His first effect was a version of the “Charming Chinese Challenge” using 3 Chinese coins and a ribbon that was threaded through the holes in the 3 coins. There was a surprise ending where the holes healed up and the 3 Chinese coins magically changed into half dollars with no holes. Next, he passed 3 coins, one at a time through the solid table. This was done without using any extra or gimmicked coins. There was a back fire when 2 coins passed upwards through the table to join his single coin in his hand. His last effect was a “Matrix Coins” effect done using a coin box instead of playing cards. He also gave us a lesson on the various properties of the Okito and Boston coin boxes. Yes, his “Matrix Coins” included a reverse matrix where all the coins went back to the 4 corners of the table.
There was a 15-minutes break where members were treated to snacks and drinks.
After the interval, Isaac Wong took over the second part of the double-lecture. He had a spectator select a card which turned out to be an ace. This then immediately found the other 3 aces. Finally, the 4 aces magically changed into 4 kings. Isaac taught the Krenzel Split which he utilised to accomplish this effect. Next, he had 2 cards selected which were lost into the deck together with the 4 kings. The cards were mixed up with some facing upwards and some facing downwards. When the cards were spread, they magically turned all face downwards with the 4 kings sandwiching the 2 selections. He also discussed how this effect could be performed as a single sandwich. His last effect was a version of Avi Yap’s “Winged Silver” where instead of using 3 silver coins, he used a silver, copper and a Chinese coin. 3 different coins travelled from one hand to another.
Both the 2 lecturers have downloads available for sale.
All who attended the AGM cum double-lecture received a Chinese fortune cookie which contained a special personal message, as well as a special cushion by the generous contribution of Gician Tan.
Reported by
John Teo
