I have a set of brass Johnson cups.  I got them in a trade some years ago.  The outside of he cups look perfect, but there are some minor black spots n the inside.  (These aren't pits, and are smooth to the touch.) 
Anyway, I want to sell them, but have no idea of what to ask.  I'm hoping that someone out there can give me an idea.
jake

Jake… from what I have seen the going rate is around $185.00 for the set. There is a guy named Eli over at The Magic Café who is looking for a set,

Good luck selling them,
Bruce

Pics would help...

I looked through all my brass Cups and did not find any of the black spots like you described. The closest were some church bronze Cups that look like a fire was set in them. I was told that this is a result of the process of making the Cups.

Try some BRASO on the Johnson Cups and see if the black spots clean up.

Bruce

Black spots or burns inside the spun metal is probably just ground in grease from the spinning and annealing process.
You can usually get it out with some elbow grease and a Scotch Brite pad (the green one is fine - don't use the blue ones they are too abrasive).
Of course, if you start to rub a Scotch Brite pad around inside your cups, the pad is going to leaves scratches, so you will have to be consistent and do each cup.

No amount of polish is going to take that stuff out either - it's ground into them metal.

And Bruce, if you got those cups from RNT2 they shouldn't be that dark inside - they should have been scoured out. Are they RNT2 cups?

Hey Don… Yes they were RNT2 Cups (Jake era), when I asked him regarding the black marks, he replied that they will never go away… even when cleaned, that they would come back.

Thanks,
Bruce

I emialed Johnson and they said to try brass polish.  I haven't done it yet.

Jake... I have been using BRASO for years on my JP Cups with no ill effects, and then I follow them up with a waxing to keep them shiny. Bri was good enough to turn me onto Renaissance brand wax… it works much better then the automotive waxes I have used before.

Good luck cleaning your Cups,
Bruce

Renaissance Brand wax is the berries! It does the job better than anything else; however, it's not cheap.

OTOH, if you watch Woodcraft (www.woodcraft.com), from time to time, they have a sale on this stuff. I bought 2 of the large cans of it for what two of the small cans would cost.

I figure I could clean every set of cups in my collection, and by the time I got back to where I started, I would finally run out of wax.

Yeah! Like THAT's going to happen!