Ric

They look like 1980s Champions to me.

I'm thinking it's a Vacor but I don't know the name.

I think the colors on your earlier photo look a lot more like what I'm used to. 👍 It's surprising how different the two photos look. . .

Maybe it is a Japanese transitional and it just has an exceptionally clean "pontil" - they are usually pretty rough. It's a very nice marble, regardless.

It's a cool looking marble, whatever it is. And while I certainly haven't seen them all, it doesn't look like any Akro Corkscrew I've seen before. Looks a bit more like some sort of a hand-gathered marble - reminds me a bit of a Japanese Yasuda, but I haven't seen one of those like this either. It'll be interesting to see what others say. Maybe a contemporary?

Some very nice marbles posted today, Bill! Your Claudia looks like it has unusual colors. Does it have that nice orange peel texture you usually find on them?

Yes, it's from a JABO investor's run - not sure which one.

Very nice, Melissa!

This is not Vintage, or a CAC, or a Striped Opaque, or a Diaper Fold, or a Mica Blizzard, and I doubt it has any Oxblood. It is a swirl marble though, so at least they got that part right. Sheesh. Be careful out there newbies!

I have seen hand gathered striped opaques but it's hard to tell if this is one - looks to me like it might more likely be a very nice slag. For me, it would come down to whether there is any colored glass (besides the base color and white) in the marble.

I've seen some remelts that Rich Shelby has done and it's pretty amazing what a good torch worker can do with a marble, but I agree it's hard to wrap your head around.

Patches including a peewee . . . If I had Gladys' photography skills (and realized they needed a bath before I took the photo) I probably could have made them look really pretty. 🙂

Pretty marbles and another great photo, Gladys!

Thanks for the pics, Al. Do you have any Marble King packaging with similar style marbles?

These all have a thin line of AV . . .

Great colors on that one, Dave!

The best person I knew is now departed (RIP Leroy Johnson) and I really don't know who, if anybody, does it now. The thing you have to worry about is that if the damage is too deep grinding it down not only removes the damage, it removes or alters the pattern or other elements such that the marble is no longer worth having. This is particularly true with the old Germans - you can lose the outer decorations if you're not selective about which marbles you try to polish. Or you might wind up with a marble that retains it's interesting elements and has a shine on it, but still has divots where the damage was originally.

Well, that depends on what they look like. 😁

So you are on the right track - it starts with baby steps. 🙂

I think that is where most collectors start out but as Alan is fond of saying (I'm paraphrasing) - there's a big difference between a horde and a collection. My general rule is that I don't get rid of any marble that I find interesting and can't identify, which means I have a lot of marbles! lol

The only thing that will limit your learning is your interest. I like a lot of Vacor marbles but I don't know all that much about Vacors in general, mainly because they just don't interest me that much. If you find the types you posted interesting enough, you'll go out and learn everything you can to figure it all out - then you can teach me about them. 🙂

I have always liked that buttery base glass - nice marbles, Chad!

You posted some really interesting examples, Rick - lefties, super tight polar twists, etc. But this is the one that piques my interest - a very cool marble IMO.

There will always be plenty to learn, Melissa, it's not like you'll ever get to a point where you're bored because you already know all there is to know about marbles. It's one of the things that attracted me to the hobby. Everyone still has plenty to learn.

. . . only a tiny bit. When you've collected as long as I have you come to realize that sometimes the cost/benefit analysis just doesn't favor worrying about it.