bumblebee

How about this one? Another seller:

Thanks, Steph. Doing that thing you do!

Shrug! I'd nickname it a green ghost and give it its own special case. Maybe the intrepid @Steph can intuit its origin.

Great work. Very similar large flecks of AV.

This one definitely looks like a mirror clean surface but construction wise, just like mine. There was some talk ages ago about these being maybe MK Dragonfly marbles but those have the MK construction from what I can see. I'll dig mine up later and take close-ups to illustrate my point.

I have a few but the surface of mine aren't as smooth and pristine as my other Masters. Mine almost felt more like foreign made. Maybe I had something by a different maker?

eBay fees and now much higher shipping costs means I haven't sold in ages. Doubt I will again unless I make some huge score I need to offload.

I think a good rule of thumb is "if it makes you smile, keep it". The problem with that rule though is I have several keepers that I keep because they're unusual and therefore rare, but they don't otherwise make me smile. But giving them up would mean I'll never see the likes of them again, so that makes me frown. So maybe a better rule is "If it doesn't make you frown to imagine never seeing it again, get rid of it."

I'm in the same boat if only because I have fewer and fewer scores each year.

This is a good point. To properly display my favorites I'd need a few more large solitaire type boards. I have a ton of Vitro tiger eyes, many of which are similar. I almost feel as though having so many distracts me from the ones that stand out. On the other hand, the colors and patterns of them bunched together also bring a smile to my face. I think I would be more willing to let many go if I knew they were going to a newer collector who would get more joy out of them.

My collection is not huge but too large to display reasonably. I have a lot of commons in very nice condition. I was thinking of downsizing but I pause because I have regretted selling every marble I have ever sold except bulk dinged up lots. Has anyone downsized and actually become happier with their collection as a result?

My first and only Royals with aventurine, all in the same score a few years back.

Wow some killer marbles he has sold but many look odd in the photos. Might be his lighting.

As a boy I remember my favorite marbles were the older ones which were always beat up, but I don't remember being upset about that until they were missing so much glass that we retired them and used them for other purposes. The older ones intrigued me because they had more exotic colors and swirl patterns. Now that I know what wet mint looks like on the older ones, I am harder to please but I still enjoy my big tub of place holders which still evoke that memory of the exotic old marbles I remember seeing as a boy.

Too young!

Welcome back!

I got my copy too. Definitely worth the price, but not much description for identification, but pictures are good enough for that.

Very neat and handsome marble!

I'm really surprised it is that high with that much damage. Imagine it being mint!

This is one of those auctions where it is almost futile to try to explain to a non-collector, or even a non-Pelt-head. 😜 https://www.ebay.com/itm/224660871436

Got this oddball cork with aventurine in a killer score, along with a matching patch. Need to take better pictures though. Cork on left, patch on right. Obviously original owner from the wild kept these two on purpose, as there were no others in the bags like these.

Interestingly, traditional "aniseed ball" candy looks like a 1/2" marble but is formed of hardened layers of sugar candy around a rapeseed seed. I had them in Ireland and they are rock hard like jaw breakers, so you have to suck them patiently. I was surprised the first time I got to the center and found a seed, although the seed in mine looked more like an actual aniseed rather than rapeseed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniseed_ball

Like these railroad crossing sign reflectors, which are sort of half a marble with their bodies all glass, the bottom half being painted a pale green. The fellow said his dad probably took them off signs during his railroad job back in the 1940s. I got 40 of the red and 23 of the clear, so enough to get crafty!

That's a very nice agate, likely vintage handmade in Germany, in a rare blue color. Agate is a form of chalcedony. Here's a useful excerpt from an 1887 London paper article of an interview with a mineralogist. Note he says carnelian is not banded, but elsewhere I have seen carnelian is used to describe the typical reddish color of banded agates...I need to pick up the slack on my research!:

I was enjoying sniping some nice agates at low prices on eBay during the past couple of years, but clearly there are some new old kids in town with deeper pockets and just as sharp eyes. This first one was a premium agate with an unusual bullseye to boot. At shooter size for they really do not get better than in this color in my experience, so I should have bid higher than $51. (I recall a newspaper article from early 20th century saying jewelry shops would purchase the highest grade agates like this for use in their creations. Will have to look that up.) While this is a premium agate at an usually larger size with uncommon chocolately shades, I have not seen one go for this much in a very long time. I attribute that more to this being from a popular seller, so lots of competition. I personally would trade this one below for the one above if given the chance, but not if I spent $138 on it!