Is a 2 sided shell just a shell with a printing on the inside of the shell?

Generally, yes.

Yes it is. I highly discourage buying Nathan Kranzo's UV Shell. It looks terrible next to a real coin. I have two, and hate them. On the Magic Cafe, people were complaining how bad these were. Wayne Kawamoto even said they were unusable. They're cheap, and for a good reason. STAY AWAY FROM THEM.

They are also the same shell that comes with Troy Hooser's Shellraiser.

Tango makes double sided Shells that should actually have a layer from the opposite side of the coin inside. I saw one from a company that hasn't been around in decades that was better than any shell I've ever seen and could be rolled down your fingers without people noticing that it was a shell. Haven't seen the Tango's though.

I spoke to Nathan and he told me the shell is SUPPOSED to be a little bit tight. This was you can handle it a bit more cleanly. He uses this shell all the time. And how can it look bad next to another coin? Is anybody going to notice that the coin is a bit more shiny or something? If you don't explain what is wrong with it then it's not going to keep anybody away from it.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/discuss/vie ... p?t=149087 I started a topic very similar to this a little bit ago.

A little tight? Once you put a coin in there it's going to take a bang ring to get it out. You don't own one, you don't know how terrible it is. And Nathan's comment, of course, he's going to say good things about his product.

I agree that the shell is second rate, almost unusable. I think the Shellraiser gimmick is one for the junk drawer. Consider Shellraiser for the DVD instruction and purchase your gimmick from a separate source. I also prefer the weight of the Johnson version of the gimmick. - Wayne Kawamoto

Good DVD, bad sh**l, the sh**l that came with this DVD was too tight to work properly with my coins.

Buy "Shellraiser" and sell the sh**ll

I had to go through about 30 Kennedy halfs to find four that the shell would work with, and even then the shell appears to be stamped from thin Aluminum or other cheap metal and just doesn't look right. Get the DVD, and replace the shell.

The shell is not only too tight, but looks bad next to real coins. It's not made from a real coin like most, but rather stamped from metal.

The shell that is included in Shellraiser is the same as the one sold by Nathan Kranzo.

Lucky for me I have 30 half dollars so I will find one for myself. Btw, You are reposing what you already said. I posted on the cafe on that post that I already know it is the same shell. Having trouble reading?

I know you posted that on the Magic Cafe. Obviously you are either not trusting their opinions or just not reading them because you insist you are correct, when I know, from experience, you are not.

So you're still going to buy one of the shells, even after all you've read about it? Seems like a waste of money to me, even if you have $30 to spare. You might as well pick up something worth it and something you will use.

Not everyone is on the Magic Cafe.

As far as opinions go, just like the joke that I won't repeat here, everybody has one.

If he wants to buy one and find out for himself, that's his choice.

Time to move on.

I was planning on getting shellraser. DOesen't troy use this shell in the DVD?

I know not everyone is not on the Magic Cafe, but Mark is, and that's why I posted what I did. I am just saying it would be a silly decision to buy something that is of terrible quality.

Who knows? Maybe he'll buy it and decide for himself that it's junk. You'll have the satisfaction of knowing he should have listened to you.

It's all marketing. It was an inexpensive shell hyped with words like "killer" and "Ultra versatile".

When really, they're obviously not made from actual coins, but rather, thin metal impressions of coins. Which makes them a lot cheaper to produce, and the materials themselves are cheaper.

They will do the trick, and hold up to scrutiny as good as any other shells. Their appearance is flawless. But they sure don't have the weight of shells making them a little odd to work with. And most likely are not going to be as strong either.

You are going to find that with any shells. Shells are generally not machined to fit circulated coins that have small nicks in the edges causing their diameter to be a little bigger than usual.

And these inexpensive ones certainly are not. They are most likely created from a perfect half dollar, with just enough room to fit one inside.

Get brand-new coins, and you will not have that problem. Try to get shells to fit your existing collection that was treated like pocket change, and chances are you'll have a coin stuck in the shell eventually. Doesn't matter if you go Sasco, Tango, Kueppers, Johnson, or Schoolcraft. It's going to happen.

Though some shells are a little more forgiving than others as the edge thicknesses can vary on hand-machined gaffs.