Changing the color of a playing card by passing a hand over the face of the card was once a staple effect among conjurers. This dates from the time when cards had no corner index to disrupt the visual change of color. Although color changes have gone out of fashion, the various sleights used to accomplish them have not, since the sleights involved secretly add a card to the top of the deck.
One particular color change sleight is encountered in most introductory magic books. The deck is held, faces out, in the left hand. The closed right hand covers the deck and when it moves away the face card has changed. This is accomplished by the left index finger sliding the bottom card of the deck up, the right hand palming it and then depositing it on the face of the deck.
While this sleight is reasonably effective, it isn't that difficult for the spectators to figure out, since the right hand curls and uncurls as the card is palmed and then released.
Chris Van Bern's Colour Change
By all indications Chris Van Bern is the inventor of the original sleight on which the description above is based. However, Van Bern's method was significantly different in that the card was never actually palmed and thus the hand remained in the same position throughout the illusion.
Van Bern first published his Colour Change in the 1914 edition of the 'Wizard's Annual' and then again in 1919 in 'A Whirlwind of Wizardry' which he co-authored with De Vega, another performer of the period. It is interesting to note that by 1919 Van Bern was no longer using the move as a color change but rather to make selected cards appear on the face of the deck.
Handling
The deck is held in the left hand, one long side of the deck resting on the fingers, the other held by the thumb.
The right open right hand, with fingers together is brought over to cover the face of the deck.
As this happens, the left first finger pushes the back card of the deck up and then into the right palm. The left index finger remains extended, holding the card against the right palm. The right hand does not palm the card.
The the card makes contact with the right palm, the left hand turns at the wrist, pivoting around the left first finger tip, until the face of the deck is visible below the right hand. This is done to give the spectator's one more look at the face card. The extended left first finger is masked by the right hand and the deck during this movement.
The left hand then turns back, pivoting around the left first finger tip, until the deck is behind the right hand.
In swinging the deck back behind the hand, the left first finger is pulled away and the deck itself is used to hold the card against the right palm. The deck is turned and squared up so that the card behind the right palm is now the face card of the deck. The right hand moves away from the deck, the right fingers spreading.
As right hand moves away the face card of the deck is seen to have changed.
Display Variation
Once the card has been moved from the back of the deck into the right palm, the left first finger can slide the card back towards the right wrist. This allows the right fingers to open as the deck is swung down and the original face card shown.
Performance Notes
Once you've got the general idea of this and curbed the natural magical instinct to curl the right hand into palm position, the deceptiveness of this sleight will be apparent.
The deck can be swung up above the hand rather than below it, during the show once more move.
It is also possible for the card being held to be positioned toward the back of the right hand in more of a gambler's palm location as shown in the variation above. This allows the right fingers to spread slightly during the moves.
Van Bern suggested that the fingers of the right hand be held wide apart as the hand is placed in position so that the face card could be seen through them, then closed before the change.
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