Out of curiosity does anyone else do the JW by using the middle joint and the distal phalanges ? I decided some time ago to use this tweak, as it seems to me the finger looks flatter than if the coin is held between the first joint and the proximal phalanges (apologies for the anatomical description, I have no idea how else to describe this!). Oh, to clarify, I'm using a half dollar here...

Btw, is there an accepted terminology for describing parts of the hand, other than whipping out Grey's ?

Grey's makes sense to me, at any rate. It's going to depend on the size of coin, as you've noted, and the size of your fingers, combined with the proportionate length of each phalangeal bone. Whatever works best for you?

As mentioned, I use halves. Even though my hands are on the large size, a dollar coin is too large to be held between the middle joint and tip of the index (or middle) finger.

With the dollar, does it look any good if you bypass the middle joint, clipping it between the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints?

One unique aspect of the JW Grip is how you show your hand "empty", with an "okay" sign and / or peeking through the fingers like peering through a telescope. A quarter or half-dollar sized coin seem ideal for this, but, in my experience, no larger. I don't think you could prevent flashing in that case.

You can't quite show your hand as empty if you use your middle finger. You may as well use EG in that case. Ring finger? Might as well use Latta's NWP.

With the coin in proper JW Grip, you also have ease of movement for many effects. Mike Gallo has very good material on using the JW Grip for Spellbound routines.

BTW, I've found many Coin Magicians, including my bud David Neighbors, do not care for the JW Grip as the hand can look "arthritic" or just plain WEIRD. For that reason, it seems to work best as a sleight used IN TRANSITION.

I'm working on a Coin Through Glass routine that uses a few "traditional means" at the start then incorporates the JW Grip to finish. I've never read about using the JW Grip in this way; and it appears to be IDEAL for this type of routine!

In "Four Coins for Jimmie", Nathan Kranzo uses the JW Grip for the production of four silver half dollars, one at a time. Sounds unwieldy but is surprisingly effective.

http://kranzomagic.myshopify.com/collect......or-jimmy

Jim

Any joint except the smoked ones