I bought two of these to match a gaff that came with Paul Richards' "Shanghai Coins," that I bought
straight from Paul at the recent Seattle Penguin Event.
Pros: This does match other Johnny
Wong gimmicks in appearance and size.
The edges have very thin, tiny grooves running around
the circumference of the coin, which are barely perceptible but do help with palming the coin. They
can't be seen from
6-12 inches away. It is not milled in the usual sense: no visible
cuts/grooves perpendicular to the flat sides of the coin. This is really a good idea (although maybe
unintentional for all I know) and imho, preferred over milled "Chinese" coins as made by Auke Van
Dokkum. While historically, Asian coins from various countries were made with square holes, and some
countries have coins with round holes, to my knowledge, the early/ancient Asians never milled their
coins.
These won't talk when sliding across one another because of the smooth paper
stickers affixed to each side (see below).
Cons: The coin is pretty fake looking. There is
no actual hole in the coin. It is a solid disk with a hole painted on a sticker along with the rest
of the design. One side has a sticker with a fake hole and 4 "Chinese" characters and the other side
has a sticker with a fake hole and seemingly random curvy lines that look like a variant of the
(much nicer & 3D) Ton Onosaka fake Japanese coins.
This explains why you can also buy
stickers from Johnny Wong - these will wear with usage and need replacement. This also means the
coins are not "3D" with carved or molded symbols.
And, for whatever reason, there are no
replacement stickers included with the coins...you'd think they'd throw in maybe 5-10 sets. (Paul
includes 5 stickers with his "Shanghai Coins" set, which is much appreciated - and for that set you
only need one side). No stickers took this from a 3 to a 2 for me.
Paul stated that none of
the commercially available "Chinese" or "Asian" coins are real coinage that was ever used. While
that is true, some of the others do have a more authentic and, imho, much less cheesy appearance.
They also won't require maintenance sticker replacement. While some performers won't care, and
certainly many uncritical audiences won't, I think discerning performers may be disappointed. To
each their own. YMMV.
Oh, and remember to buy some stickers when you get the coin(s), you
will want them.
Good luck!
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