I ordered the brushed finish for a change from the "shiny" horns I have played most of my life. Many of us are familiar with the "satin finish" horns. That was also a non-shiny finish, but was produced in a different way. Satin finish is (or "was" - I'm not sure if techniques have changed) produced by sand-blasting the metal before plating. This produced a very uniform dullness over the instrument's surface. Often these horns had bright highlights on joints, slides, etc. But for the brushed finished, the surface is brushed (surprise!). This produces minute striations over the whole surface. In some lights the effect is similar to a satin finish. But in normal room lighting or certainly under performance lighting, the striations produce some very nice "channeling" of the light, making "waves" on the surface that move as the player moves. It's a great effect!
I ordered the horn with the same metal configuration as the one I had previously. It has a sterling silver bell, gold brass on the large tubes, and yellow brass on the smaller tubes. Normally I would have chosen to use only one color besides silver for my visual preferences, but there are performance reasons for using the combination of yellow and gold brass. It does make for an interesting appearance. And more for feel than appearance, I chose to add valve buttons with wood insets (rosewood, I think). They feel very nice on the fingertips!
It was tough to get good photos in the light I had available, but I think the pics below will give you an idea of the overall appearance. Once I get the horn broken in, I'll give you a report about the performance, intonation, etc.
