bumblebee

"V" for victory on this Phantom Conqueror I found today:

Very interesting. I did not realize they were trying to imitate agates via Meteors, but I see they were trying to put a sort of bullseye "cap" on them with that mossy semi-translucent base than many agates have. Interesting one of the colors was yellow but hardly anyone can find a real yellow agate now.

Great full-page article on marble playing and marble lore.

I do gamble once and a while on eBay. For example, have a $20 small lot coming simply because it appeared to have an egg yolk Akro shooter in it, which might be worth $20 if it's particularly mint and the pattern looks as cool as I think it is. Also sometimes I buy agates that I suspect aren't hand-faceted. About one out of four times they turn out to be the real deal. My rejects I put in my big jar which I sometimes let neighborhood children take marbles from. For me the anticipation thrill is almost worth about $20, so as long as I don't do this too often, it feels like part of the fun.

Bumping this topic because those agates are true killers!

Tempted to call it a headlamp bullseye.

Lovely!

Killer score, Hansel! Honestly if it weren't for those blood alleys, I would assume that's just another contemporary machine ground mineral sphere set. From now on I'm peering closer at listings like those. The only faceted non-agates I have are a rose quartz and this guy, which to my eye looks a lot like the one above your ivory(!) one:

Paid $20 each for two Navarre's (1" and .95") that were sold as slags. Left one is very mint range aside from one impact fracture. Right one has more as-mades and seems a little lopsided. Also another $10 for some nice little machinemades including a cobalt/black Akro cork and a pretty neat little Rainbo. Condition mint range on those.