The Enchanted Finger Ring
By Leon Herrmann

Take an ordinary glass, which you pass for examination to show that it is empty. Ask a gentleman to hold it. Borrow a finger ring and place it under a silk handkerchief, and give it to the person who already holds the glass, as shown in Figure 1, so that at your command he can drop the ring into the glass, and also lot the handkerchief go at the same time to cover the glass. Now take your magic wand, or a stick about one-half an inch thick and one foot long, which you have ready on the table. Take another handkerchief, which you borrow from someone in the audience, and roll it around the stick, but you must leave the ends of the stick free, so that another person will be able to hold it by the ends without interfering with the handkerchief, Figure 2. Ask the person who is holding the glass to shake it so as to hear that the ring is still there. Take the handkerchief that covers the glass by one corner, remove it quickly from the glass and the ring will be gone.

Now you go to the person who is holding the stick, and by removing the handkerchief, which is around it, you will find that the ring has passed onto the stick, Figure 3. The beauty of this very surprising trick is that the person who is holding the stick did not remove his hands from the two ends, still the ring will be seen on the center of the stick. It is one of the most beautiful sleight of hand tricks, entirely unknown, and has never been exposed. It is also one of the most effective to perform. It may be shown in a parlor with great advantage and, with a little practice, my readers will undoubtedly be successful in its execution.

Have a false ring attached with a piece of thread, about three inches long, to the center of a silk handkerchief. Have that handkerchief in the outside little pocket of your coat. When you borrow a ring from one of the ladies in your audience, take the handkerchief out of the pocket with your left hand (the false ring on your side), and with your right hand place the lady's ring, the real ring, in the handkerchief. As soon as the handkerchief covers the right hand, quickly exchange the real ring for the one which is attached to the handkerchief, and keep the real ring in the palm of the right hand while you hold the false ring through the handkerchief with your left. Give the covered ring to the person who is holding the glass and ask him to hold it over the glass so that, at your command, it will be easy for him to let it drop in the glass. Of course, everyone will hear the ring as it drops in the glass, as the thread is long enough to give a kind of loose balancing to the ring. Be careful that the handkerchief covers the glass all around, so that no one can see the ring inside.

Now take, by one end, the stick with the right hand, which has the real ring palmed, and manage to slip the ring over and on the stick, but always keep your hand closed to hide the ring. Now when you roll the handkerchief around the stick, twist the handkerchief around the ring and slip it to the center of the stick; it is only when you give the stick to someone to hold that you take your hands from the stick.