To be honest, I don't think the homesick kid with cancer who was crying on the bus waiting to go to summer camp could have cared less. All I know is the smiles and laughs that came when I showed him my hopping halves were priceless.

More perspective; you could have put two bits of paper on your fingernails and done the "two little birdies" and gotten the same smiles and laughs.

I don't think "two little birdies" would have entertained nearly as well as he was probably 9-12 years old.

And while I somewhat see your point, and spongeballs may have cheered him up as well, I rarely see heated discussions over who makes the best spongeballs, bits of paper for fingernails, etc.

Sadly, the folks who simply call those coin gaffers to ask for help with projects don't get into heated discussions about product either. Don't know what to say about those who can't bother to call up, see who they get along with/can most easily communicate and get what they desire up and running to amuse audiences.

As things stand, my e[ is a Connie Hayden, my Chinatown half and quarter sized c/s gaffs are Sasco (again thanks ) and the Blackout and Phlye items from Kuepers courtesy of Platt and Chaistan. Next up might be having some old Half Crowns remilled. Whoops, left out old folders and the Double Deception set from Bob Swadling. Not sure where my old 21cent trick went LOL - but that was a Johnson item.

Where things have gotten heated is when similar products using similar coins have shown up on the market or sometimes when a large run of a gaff that's still evolving is done we hear stories about the few bad ones that turn up.

BTW there used to be some heated discussions about sponge balls, Goshman and other brands compared. Another longstanding discussion centered on the utility of treated sponges that one can compress to about half or a quarter the size of the usual ones - for better or worse depending on what serves your needs.

Too true. My other hobby is photography and there are similar "equipment wars" over which camera company makes the better gear. You don't often see those folks actually sharing examples of the pictures they've taken. I guess they're too busy arguing over specs to actually use the stuff.

At the end of the day, another axiom holds true.... It's the photographer/magician not the camera/gaffs that make the real difference. A good photographer/magician can get good and even excellent results with modest tools, but can take advantage of / better appreciate the finer points of the top quality products. Put top quality tools in the hands of a hack, and you still get hack results, with maybe a happy accident here and there. It's not a perfect analogy -- the photographer has the advantage of being able to delete his mistakes before any one ever sees them.

Hello friends, I'm here to help, what do you need ?

Do you make custom gravity flippers, from coins I would supply?