Split-O-5¢
Type: Close-up
Skill Level: 
Retail Price: $5.95
Effect: The magician shows a disk and a nickel. The Nickel is covered
with the disk and removed to show that the has split apart to become a
miniature Nickel of less than 1/4" in diameter.
Performance Time: About a minute
Reset Time: Less than 1 minute
Angles: 
Quality: As with most Ickle-Pickle products the quality is good.
Both the miniature Nickel and the shell look good. The disk is covered
with a mylar sticker, which, sadly, are not always in perfect alignment
with the flexible magnet on which it is attached.
Dr. Mitch: A nice variation on the old and very similar to Ickle Pickle Nickel. ((therefore, my review of Ickle Pickle Fickle and Split-O will also be very similar)). This trick does have some major drawbacks. For one thing, I keep losing the miniature coins. For another, it has to be preset and laying on your working surface before you start the trick. ((In Adam's Magical Block, you can handle the penny before it turns to a dime...in this you cannot handle the Fickle)). If you do lose the miniature coin, substitute a penny or a dime and the trick works just as well. In favor of this trick though, the magnet used in the disk is more powerful than the magnet in Adam's Magical Block, which allows you to essentially "tap" the Fickle and effect the change. Still, I think I prefer the old Adam's Magical Block (for personal reasons).
Mike Maione: Like Dr. Mitch, I too prefer Adams Magical Block to both the Ickle-Pickle Nickel and Split-O. I do think the miniature pennies are really cool though. And, most folks find them fascinating. It will take about 15 minutes for you to loose a penny... be prepared. (Buy two so, you can loose five and still be able to perform the trick.) The handling, as I explain in my review of the Ickle Pickle Nickel, is not as bad a Mitch suggests. Simply, turn the shell upside down, put the miniature into the shell, place the disk on top like a cover and then turn the whole affair over. Now, simply slide the shell off the disk as you would a piece of cake from a spatula and onto the back of the subject's hand. The shell will drag the pennies and no one will be the wiser.
Now, here's an idea. After you loose one of the pennies from Split O, take one of the remaining pennies and the shell penny from Magical Block and make an Ickle Pickle Nickel with pennies. And, here's a neat presentation that will leave a neat memory with the spectator. Borrow a penny, switch it for the penny from the Magical Block with one of the Split-O miniature pennies concealed underneath. Make the penny shrink using either the magnet from the Split-O, the block from the Magical Block, or make your own out of a book of matches and a magnet concealed within. Let the spectator keep the miniature penny.
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