Dave Bonsall’s Litte Hand Gimmick – Coloured

Product Details

The idea of a little hand, or ‘little assistant’ has been around for decades with numerous variations.

With the exception of Michael Ammar’s version. Dave Bonsall’s version is one of the only ones specifically designed for the purpose.  The original was hand carved by Dave Bonsall and took many attempts to achieve the perfect size and shape.  This original was then used to mould further copies.

The hand was designed with four specific goals in mind, the first was to make it look as realistic as possible (this version is an exact miniature duplicate of Dave Bonsall’s hand!)

The second goal was to ensure this could ‘claw’ a borrowed ring or coin.  Other versions have a magnet in to pick up a magnetic coin, but this is no good for a ring or borrowed coin.  This version will perfectly claw and drag any ring or coin into the hand, so there’s no need for a magnet.

The third goal was to design this so that it could be easily thumb palmed after the gag so to make it look like ‘he’s’ now vanished.

The forth goal was the hardest, to make it in such a way that it would fit all finger shapes and sizes.  Earlier version would only fit a certain size.  After 2 years of research and hundreds of prototypes, Dave Bonsall finally came up with a ‘one size fits all’ design.  The solution?  Make a gap in the part that goes over your finger and use a heat mouldable plastic.  So if it doesn’t fit you right away, you simply have to pour some boiling water over the part that goes over your finger (not with your finger in it!), wait a second, so it cools just enough to go over your finger.  Then squeeze it tightly around your finger and then set it’s shape by running it under cold water for 30 seconds.  It will then retain it’s shape.  You can also tweak the fingertips of the hand in the same way.

The little hand is designed to be used on your middle finger, so it can easily be removed in thumb palm.

The original concept of a little hand vanishing a coin was first conceived and published by Bob Farmer in the late 70’s and was later popularised by Michael Ammar’s with excellent version of a baby’s arm.  Bob Farmer has very kindly granted permission to PropDog to produce our version and as our way of thanking Bob, we donate £1 from the sale of each little hand gimmick to a local charity; the Hounslow Toy Library: http://www.hounslowtoylibrary.co.uk