Hi All,
I just received today my kit of “Cups and Balls Museum’s Cups.” They are great and I am very pleased with my purchase. I will post some pictures and try to give a review on them soon.
Thanks,
Bruce

I received a set of these last week and I have to say that I am very impressed.

Made by RNT II, the quality is all you could expect.
Bill Palmer is selling them so you get a great deal.

Apart from final load balls everything is included. cups, balls, wand, C.O.A. and a picture of Mr Palmer.

Buy some final loads and use them - just add talent.

Tom

Tom,

Where do I buy talent? Can I get it from Murphy's?

Kent,

I only wish I knew!
         

A review of The Cups and Balls Museum’s souvenir set of miniature Monti Cups:

Before I begin my review, I would like to share a little about myself...

First off I am a Magic Hobbyist many times over. For the last 30 years, magic has been an on again… off again kind of hobby. Last year due to a move because of my work, I knew that I would be away from my family for a long time. So I thought, what a great time to get reacquainted with magic… I will have all this time to myself. I have always dabbled with the Cups and Balls, but have been more of a Chop Cup kind of guy. While surfing the internet, I stumbled across “The Magic Café.” Needless to say, I became hooked on the Magic Café, especially the posts about Cups and Balls. This has sent me on a quest to learn a proper C&B routine and has made me a “Cup Junkie” or what I call myself a “Cupster.” I want to know all things Cups, how to perform, C&B history and about the Cups themselves.

Over the past year I have become familiar with the different Cup manufactures from the website “The Cups and Ball Museum.” What a great site this is, all those cool Cups and its Curator, Bill Palmer is the best. Bill is so knowledgeable and I thank him for all that he shares with us. It was there that I discovered RNT2, a maker of fine magic products… especially the Cups. I became instantly a fan of their offerings and outstanding customer service and support. Like Bill, I also think pretty highly of Jake Zimmerman of RNT2.

I promise that I will get to the review soon.

So when I heard that The Cups and Ball Museum was offering a set of Cups made by RNT2, I knew I had to acquire a set. If it was not for Tom Fenton, I would not have known about these Cups… Thank you Tom!

OK, I now offer my review.
(Pictures below)

For $75.00, The Cups and Balls Museum is offering a set of limited edition miniature Monti Cups. Included in this set are the 3 copper Cups, a magic wand, carrying pouch, pompom balls, instructions and if that isn’t enough…  a certificate of authenticity and a autographed picture of Bill Palmer. (PIC -1)


The Cups-
The set I received is numbered set 10, of 100 sets. To my eye the copper cups have a satin finish to them compared to other RNT2 Cups that I own… in other words, less shinny or polished (PIC -2). Each Cup is approximately 2” high with a mouth opening of 2” (PIC - 3&4). It looks like a golf ball could be used as a final load. At this time I do not have any to confirm this. The Cups stacked, stand approximately 3 3/4” tall (PIC -5). They have a nice feel to them, heavier than I thought they would be. For comparison they are a tad shorter then a set of “Ickle Pickle” Cups that I own (PIC -6). Their overall appearance is great; in my opinion they are made to RNT2 tight standards.

The Accessories-
The magic wand is really beautiful, though I can’t tell you the types of wood that it is made of. The wand is 8” long and has a good heft to it (PIC -7). The set comes with 4 each pompom balls and a red carrying pouch. The pompom balls are from the original RNT Company (PIC . I don’t really care for the pompoms, more on this below. Also there is a small booklet of instructions written by John Mendoza (PIC -9). The instructions step you through a good basic routine.

Extra Goodies-
The set comes with a nice certificate of authenticity indicating your Cups lineage (PIC -10). Besides the Cups, my favorite item included in the set, is the autographed picture of Bill Palmer. Bill is pictured in front of his massive Cup collection (PIC -11). I proudly display it in my office.

Use-
I admit that I have not spent a lot of time using the set; however they have a really nice feel to them. My only complaint is with the pompom balls. I find them too small and lacking in weight. My arthritic fingers sometimes have problems picking up the pompom balls. I have substituted them with another set of balls that I have (PIC -12&13). With the larger balls everything feels better, at least to me. With the larger balls the attic space becomes limited wit 3 balls; the Cups will not stack completely. In my routine this is not an issue (PIC -14). I would be interested in what others think about the pompom balls. I do appreciate why they were included.

Summary-
I think these are a great set of Cups and I am very happy with my purchase. I do recommend using other balls then what is included. I especially like Bill’s autographed picture. I hope The Cups and Balls Museum will come out with other sets of Cups. I would recommend these Cups to others.

PIC-1 http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsFAM.jpg
PIC-2
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsPomPom.jpg
PIC-3
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsMES1.jpg
PIC-4
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsMES2.jpg
PIC-5
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsStackMES.jpg
PIC-6
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsIPCMB.jpg
PIC-7
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsWandMES.jpg
PIC-8
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCups.jpg
PIC-9
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsINST.jpg
PIC-10
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsCERT.jpg
PIC-11
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsBP.jpg
PIC-12
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsPPRB.jpg
PIC-13
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsRB.jpg
PIC-14
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/CBMSouvenirCupsStackRB.jpg
PIC-15

Bruce,

thanks for the review of the cups.  I want to point out some key factors of why certain things are the way they are with the sets.

The pom poms issued with the cups are the original pom poms, not recently produced, but the Original Pom Poms that were issued back when 2 miniature sets were introduced by the Rings N Things company of St. Louis.   The cups were never intended for a 3 ball stack on the saddle back in the day, also if you look closely you will see the Pom Poms are made with a piece of twisted wire, this was the gaff back in the day for the miniature combo sets issued.   There was another miniature set made by Rings N Things that I'll touch on in a few minutes.

Marcy originally started crochetting 1/4" balls and made approximately 90 sets.  She was not at all happy with the results since the balls were so small the crochet actually looked like a large knot around the ball.   The Pom Poms were actually being saved for the Re-release of the original Foxy Miniature combo set that Rings N Things made, but I thought it would be kind of nostalgic to included original balls from the original Rings N Things with the set.

As to the original Foxy Combo sets from Rings N Things, this is what the Ickle Pickle minis were based on, the only difference being that the Foxy Combos were never issued without the combo feature, but the IP cups were.  Another interesting fact and they are very rare, is that the Foxy Combo set was also issued by Magic Inc. in the early days as the Milt Kort Combo sets.  The only way to tell which set was considered a Foxy Set or a Milt Kort set was the label on the white box.

Many, over the years have confused the Foxy Combo sets with the Mini Montis, these were two entirely different sets and still often confused on auction sites and by some collectors.

The wand included has African Pink Ivory Tips, a Canarywood Inlay and a Purpleheart shaft.    The bags were also changed at the last minute. Originally they were going to be the traditional RNT bag, but when I saw the gold and red velvet, I thought it went nicely with the whole set and gave it a bit more of a collectible status look.

The mini Montis were based on the full size Monti that was created by the magical master Harry Monti.  After the Paul Fox cups started to become scarce, the Monti cups by Rings N Things soon started to become the cup of choice.  Rings N Things made several metal variations of the Monti cups, including the combos and silver/gold sets which are very very scarce.

The next batch of cups is going out to Bill soon.  The biggest stumbling block I ran into were the wands, the first run of 120 wands all cracked because the moisture content was not as noted on the wood when I recieved it, so the entire wand portion of the project had to be redone.

Bruce thanks for the kind review and I hope everyone enjoys their sets.

Sincerely,
Jake & The Crew

Jake,
Thanks for giving us the background on the Cups. I really enjoy this kind of information. Have you ever thought of writing a book about Cups and Balls and the story of RNT throughout the years? And if you do, it should have a lot of pictures.

Bruce

These cups really are beautiful, and match perfectly with a table/pad I made. Can't say enough about these babies!

Adam

Thanks to all of you for your kind words. Other projects are in the works.

Do you still have these guys available, Bill?

My availalble sets are packed for shipping to the WMS; however, I should be getting some more pretty soon.

Can anyone inform me what the proper final load size is. I have checked Mr.Palmer's site and it said smaller than a golfball.

I was saving some cash for a set of cups from Donnie but instead I bought a set of museum cups, eitherway an excellent choice.

Etienne

I recommend a 1.5 inch ball for these cups and I make a ball that is 1 3/8" that I've used.
There are photos of these balls with these cups (click the image tab) here: http://www.rnt2.com/index.php?target=products&product_id=29882

Donnie,

Now why didn't I think off searching on the RnT2 website. Duh

I am still selling off some stuff, so I will visit you shop soon Donnie.

Thanks
Etienne

Etienne… I took my set to the dollar store and found a bunch of rubber balls that fit real cheap… Don’s suggestion probably will look better. I also replaced the balls that came with them (puff balls) with some recent RNT2 balls… much better.

Bruce