Contemplating buying a full-size Don Alan chop cup in aluminum from RnT2, but struggling with whether to go with the satin or mirror finish. (Same price.) Obviously it’s a purely subjective matter of individual aesthetic taste, but I cannot decide. Both look great, in their own way. Any pros or cons to either option I should factor in, to help me choose one over the other?

Flip a coin: Heads = mirrored, tails = satin. If after the flip you find you are disappointed, then buy the other.

Some thoughts on mirror finish. Where are you going to work? If under bright lights you might want to consider the satin finish. It tends to reflect less light and thus cn be easily made out by spectators. If normal living room light then it doesn't really make a difference.

The mirror finish tends to reflect what is being held in the hand and you really have to watch your angles or some spectators will see anything you are holding out (if you are holding out anything). Essentially more care has to be taken when using a mirror finish cup.

Beyond that it is really an esthetic issue. Which cup "speaks to you"? Which cups best supports your performing character? Which cup do you love and absolutely have to have?

Then use Tom Stamm's approach from above!

I prefer satin for the sake of hiding fingerprints and smudges, but to each their own.

The practical considerations in favor of a satin finish are certainly valid, even compelling. But for purely aesthetic reasons, I’m now finding myself leaning (upon further *reflection* — ha ha, pun intended — and perhaps wisely or unwisely) more toward the mirror finish. It just seems a bit more elegant — more like silver, than quite so obviously aluminum.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know whether whatever old aluminum Chop Cup that Don Alan himself personally favored (or was best known for, or most popularly associated with) looked more like a contemporary mirror or a satin type of finish?

I saw Don Alan perform his routine more than once at the Playboy Club (remember the Playboy "Key" Clubs?) In Chicago. His cup was aluminum and dull from use. It had scratches and a ding or two. The last time I saw him perform his Chop cup routine I was struck with how used it looked. I doubt if it was ever polished to a high shine even new.

Don Alan used an Al Wheatley chop cup.

-MJJ

For those of us who might not be familiar with it, Jake, could you perhaps please describe the Al Wheatley cup?

If you are familiar with the Ken Brooke chop cups, they are actually Al Wheatley's cups. Shortly after Chop Chop passed Ken Brooke started making them.
After my father started making them for Steven's Magic, he found out from Bill Palmer that no one had ever been granted by the Wheatley estate to make them.
After finding this out, my father stopped making them.

The first Tall Highball chop cup is what Chop Chop used. The story goes that Don Alan liked the cup, but wanted it shorter and cut the cup down with a hacksaw,
and thus the Jr. was born. How much truth there is to that, I don't know. I do know one thing, I do like the Jr. Wheatley for doing the Larry Jennings routine.

-MJJ

PS. If you go with the mirror finish cup, I recommend using white working balls.

Thanks, as always, for the insightful tips.