Fred Kaps' Currency by Fred Kaps

The details and inner working of this routine have been kept secret since the days of Fred Kaps; before then it was only divulged to a handful of very close friends, and occasionally discussed by Fred Kaps with serious performers. Subsequently the original routine has been independently developed, changed and adapted by Trevor Lewis, Mike Caveney, Peter Pit, Ger Copper and other well-known performers to suit their own individual styles.

The transcript of the manuscript in Fred Kaps' handwriting has only been very slightly edited. It is substantially the routine Fred always presented, except for a variation near the end. This was suggested, with temerity, by Trevor Lewis who was delighted by the enthusiastic and grateful acceptance of it by the Master!


Following the Fred Kaps Routine is that of Trevor Lewis, including his patter. The routine leads ideally to the inclusion of many "bits of business".

INTRODUCTION by Fred Kaps

The first time I saw somebody do a card counting trick, whereby cards were short or more than there should be, it struck me immediately: this should be done with BILLS!! I guess this was about 25 years ago.

When working on a new act for the 1961 convention I wanted to include a bill counting effect but could not find the right routine. It was not until 1974 that I really started to work on it after I met Mike Skinner again in Monte Carlo. He showed Edward Victor's 11 Card Trick and I was very impressed. He was friendly enough to give me the outline of the routine and once home I started working on it with dollar bills.

Of course I had to tackle the problem of palming bills off the packet and then getting rid of them. First I used a handkerchief to hold the bills, then a bulldog clip, then a large paperclip, all as an excuse to go to a pocket to ditch the bills; but then I found the most logical solution of all: the WALLET!

From there on it took only a few days to develop a solid routine that I could do anywhere - Close-Up, Cabaret, Stage - no set-up, always ready. I have shown this routine now hundreds of times for laymen and (up to now) fooled the best of magicians as well! It was terrific on TV in Holland and England and I hope you will do it justice by practising.

You need 20 dollar bills, or stage money bills, and a wallet.

1st edition 1994; 24 pages; PDF 19 pages; photo illustrated.
word count: 3451 which is equivalent to 13 standard pages of text