Carmina black captoe -- calf or shell cordovan?

Carmina offers the same black captoe in both calf and shell cordovan -- I'm interested in the shoe, but I'm not sure which one I want.



I feel like I haven't seen many black captoes on this forum is shell cordovan. Is that because it's a style and/or color of shoe that is not often made with shell? I've never owned a shell shoe, so I'm admittedly ignorant on this subject (i.e., any guidance or advice would be appreciated). The price difference is about $200, which isn't a big decision criteria for me, but thought I'd mention it.

If you were me and deciding between the two options, which would you choose? Thank you.

btw, I think this question has come up in other Carmina threads -- their online store (link on this page) does deduct VAT. I think the trick is you have to create an account, and once you do that and it knows your address is outside the EU, then all the prices displayed exclude VAT.

so, the calf captoes above come out to 262 Euro + 40 Euro for shipping (or 302 Euro shipped).

If I'm logged out, the price for those calf captoes is displayed as 310 Euro, and on the product page, it says "tax included" below that displayed price. When logged in, it displays a price of 262 Euro, and the product page says "tax excluded" (pic below). Their site is a little funky to say the least.