The cut and restored thread is a very old effect indeed.

Already in 1584, a man from Toulouse named Jean Prevost and upon which we know very little describes the effect in what is considered by many as the first book in french entirely devoted to Magic. (La première partie des subtiles et plaisantes inventions).

 It also seems that this effect was part of the repertoire of native magicians from India as evidenced by the magician L. H. Branson (Elbiquet) in 1913 in his book A Text-Book of Magic. This probably explains why in 1938, a magician named John Northern Hilliard gives the name "The Hindu Thread Trick" to the effect in his book Greater Magic.

In 1948, the magician George G. Kaplan renamed the effect "The Gypsy Thread Trick" in his book The Fine Art of Magic and since then the effect is usually referred to as such in the English-speaking world.

In 1980, Lewis Ganson makes everyone agree by publishing his book called The Hindu Thread Trick Often Referred to as The Gypsy Thread.