I must be Dunce of the Day!  Is there a simple, on car, test for the coil without special tools?

What I have:  1954 Merc, stock 256, 6 volt, positive ground.
Problem:  No power to the distributor (points).  There is power to the ignition terminal on the coil with the ignition switch on.  The coil to distributor wire is intact and properly connected and just to be sure, I used a by-pass jumper wire to verify.