romanoak

Well this ones for Griff. Boy this is a tough and very personal question. For me (today)it would come down a handmade and I guess a 2"+ blue base clam with white lines would top my list. I've only seen one. Tomorrow it might be a navarre or a christensen agate. Pic is not of the blue clam I dream of but a 2-1/8 black clam and a 3/4" white base with black lines. The marble in my collection that will never have a price is a 1-1/4" light blue Bennington that was my grandfathers and when I was a little kid it stayed out of reach on my dad's dresser. So $$ aren't the sole determinant of a valued marble. Bill

Jeroen, Spectacular color on the core of your cloud, most of the blizzard mica onions I've seen have pink or orange Bill

Andrea, It was the most painful marble purchase ever. It took about 8 hours of anguish as the seller picked the 10 best of the 7/8" exotic onions on my solitaire board and then trying to value them and then switching a couple out that I couldn't part with and starting all over. I very seldom trade anything I put in the collection but $$ weren't the primary currency for this deal. Basically was exhausted and euphoric when got done. I'll get some more small onions to fill the board. Don't know if I'll ever see another one like this. Bill

When I open a post with a thumbnail pic and I click on the pic to enlarge I will see the whole pic enlarged but then half or all but a strip in the middle dissapears. I can drag the cursur across it and see the parts that don't show when opened. WHY?? Help very frusrating to view. Can anyone tell me how to cure the problem? Thanx Bill

There are marbles and then there are marbles. First time I've posted pics of this one. 2-1/16" single pontil, lobed mushroom core with 16 lobes of suspended mica. Oh and it is mint! It has been fun and challenging photographing it. Enjoy. Bill

Andrea, No that is just green base with red. 13/16" and a great pattern. Does your blue bee continue to sparkle even after you turn out the light? Love that one. Here is a 7/8- flaming dragon with aventurine, and a pair of 3/4" supermen. Bill

Chuck nice marble. I think I may have overlooked them as I really look for the wild patterns in multicolor swirls. The one I have close to that is in a pale green matrix and the green I think is really white submeged with green glass over it. Mine has just the pale orange and no red but I think it may actaully be red submerged under the surface. The colors of mine are blue, green, orange and white with the ribbons running staight between the seems much as yours. May try to get a pic up. Bill

Took a while but here are some pics. Love the busy ones and the unusual. Bill

That marble was listed on ebay Australia for a long time last spring. I watched it and found it intriguing but I couldn't find any other info to confirm marbles or that color glass from the Sung dynasty. Guy sure seemed reputable and no reason to doubt his authenticity and if the price had been less I might have bought it. Should be an interesting piece to do more research on. Good luck and probably we marble collectors aren't going to be much help. Bill

Sorry, please pick three favorites, I can't. Bill

Can't help with a list, but the last show I remember in Michigan was about 8-10 years ago in Ann Arbor. It was restricted to "Antique/Vintage" only. May have been longer ago than that as I can remember there being resentment among certain collectors when those "contemporaries" started showing up at the shows. Closest Show I can think of for you would be Canton Ohio or maybe Kokomo Indiana and both of those would be a good choice. Bill

Getting in on Thursday. My favorite show. Bill

Now isn't that just the way it goes. Hasn't been an auction around here with old marbles in it in ages and I'm leaving Thursday for the Marlborough show. BUMMED Bill

Sue, find yours and bring it to Marlborough. Please See you there I hope with or without it. Bill

I was the underbidder and my leg is still sore from kicking myself for not bidding more. Gonna bug me everytime I look at my case. Alright now somebody fess up who got it??

I'm just back from Canton and I picked up a six great marbles and marbles don't have to be mint to be great. One was not mint in my judgement but would have expected it to be rationalized to mint if was offered on ebay. I'm sorry but a wet shiny brilliant surface with a small "nick and a pinprick" is not ever going to be mint in my judgement but they are listed that way as "MINT" all the time. I never used a loop on any of them including a 2" single pontil cloud with 13 lobes of suspended mica. I'm old school I guess but it just isn't mint if there is glass missing and I have far more marbles that are great keepers that aren't mint than are. A truly mint marble should demand a big premium and the problem is we are calling marbles mint that aren't and pricing them as mint. Of course I guess if I decided to sell them I'd call a whole lot more of mine mint :-) I hope this doesn't offend anyone and it is really directed more toward handmades. Bill

Andrea, Marble collectors perspective, $200 for a used fridge off Craigs list. Think of the mibs you could get with the difference:-) Bill

Ann, Just pointing out how collecting has grown. Very few collectors were looking for specific companies other than the "big four" at that time. Maybe because so little info available identifying specific companies, but collectors were always looking for the different or unusual and aventurine in an otherwise unidentifiable "West Vitginia" marble was valued and metalics were recognized as different and I've seen them as you mentioned looking like silver or pewter and many bronze colored ones. I've also seen aventurine so heavy that it looks like the metallics you mentioned until you get light on it. I've never seen the jabo to compare to but it doesn't seem far fetched that any impurity intentionally added or not could cause the effects seen. If call it aventurine or lutz or glittery stuff doesn't make much difference because I think most of us get the idea of what it looks like and would have added it to our stash if we had found it. Bill

As I recall 15 years ago or so those were the kinds of "West Virginia" marbles that people were paying for either referring to them as metallics which encompassed a whole range of colors that were likely impuritys or aventurine swirls. Bill

Hi Bruce, I'm over in Lexington and have a pretty good group of melted sigle pontil slags most navarre and barberton. Here is a pic of a case with several plus some ground pontil slags. Give me a shout and get together if you'd like. Bill

Clyde, Do the marble enhancing drugs make the marbles bigger? :-)Bill

Well the umpteenth try. Group of rare "submarine" style onions. I think the rarest is the 1-7/8" open panels revealing a mica core. It is in the center and may be the rarest of my collection. Bill

Sorry, Didn't mean too get off topic. I'll try not to let it happen again.

Patty, I know there are collectors nearer but if you aren't in a hurry I live in Lexington, Ky and thats not far in marble miles but I run a thoroughbred farm and won't be able to get off the farm until all the foals are born which should be the end of May. So if you are still searching for help Id'ing I'd be glad to help. Bill

The pleasant surprises on ebay are few and far between anymore. Congrats. Well here's a few more. How about red base glass. bill