bumblebee

Gorgeous but for my mileage I'd rather spend $14k on random eBay lots so I have something to pick through every day.

I moved into a new rural neighborhood recently where children play outside all day riding bikes, walking along the streams, even playing in the rain. Reminds me of my childhood. I was chatting with a group of them today while on a walk with my father and told them I had some marbles to share if they were interested. Their eyes lit up and one girl excitedly told me she thought all her bouncy balls were marbles, but she realized she did not have any actual marbles. Later I came back outside with two jugs: my commie game marbles, and my special jug of wounded placeholders. The four of them saw me with a jug under each arm and rushed over. I said they could take five from the common jug and one--any one they want--from the special jug. I told them some of the special ones were more than 100 years old. "Look how colorful they were for being so old," I said. They were excited but gave me one more glance to ask whether I was sure they could do this, then they dove in. After about 10 minutes they had all chosen. We agreed the little boy probably ended up with more than five, but nobody complained. The precocious 9-year-old girl latched on to my only sulphide, a beat-up bear(?). I told her that one was rare and more than 100 years old. Then they all dashed away to play. 30 minutes later, I heard a light knock on my door. The girl who took the sulphide had all her marbles in a small basket. She eagerly told me she had invented a game over on the dirt patch that sounded just like a real game of marbles to me: she made five holes in a big circle for the five marbles, and one big hold in the center for the sulphide, and tried to roll them all into the holes. It was such a wonderful feeling for me to be reminded of my childhood, and to realize that childhood can be much how it was in my day. For the childlike at heart, marbles are always fun and beautiful. Now my only sulphide is back where it belongs, in the wild in the hands of a child. No doubt I may have planted a few seeds today that could one day sprout into a future marble collector. Have you been able to share the joy with future generations as well?

This company, yes?

Very nice.

Here's how they make the extremely large ones:

Wow, very nice lot of very hard-to-find marbles. I don't think I have seen any of those in the wild. Had to trade to get mine.

Wow those red/yellow/blue popeyes! Amazing!

Thanks! I would say my aggies are my favorite marbles. The middle one is contemporary but 99% of the others are hand-faceted.

Seriously! When I saw them I had no idea what they were. Figured contemporary. This score was frozen in time, two old marble bags with almost everything in mint condition. At the time it was dark and I only briefly glanced into the bags. They wanted $40 and I gave them $60, not realizing what I had until I got home. Naturally I have traded all but two of the AV Royals (totally regretting that) but managed to keep most of the nicer corks. I also traded/sold some of the Pelts (kept the Christmas tree) and once again, regretting that. I never learn!

Welcome, Chad! Maybe the new reputation system will get some of those FaceBook marble group folk over here.

I never could photograph this cork but video does it some justice. akro special.mp4

I dig those Euro Sparklers. Have only found a few in marble lots in the USA. Those speckled looks suspiciously like candy jawbreakers. Have you tasted one?

Hah! A single pee-wee clearie would bring little comfort. I think for added torment, it should be an untinted clearie with zero bubbles to marvel at.

I decided to make a sticky post for people to share their exciting marble scores. Such posts always inspire but they get lost over time, so let's post them here where they will remain on top. Sadly I have not had a good score in a long time, but this score from 2017 was my greatest of all time, worthy of sharing here. Please refrain from asking here whether featured marbles are for sale/trade. If the owner wants to sell, they can post in the buy/sell forum. Thanks!

Wow it's almost as if Peltier saw into the future with those color combos. The Pelt peewees are truly gorgeous. I have a couple but not Christmas Trees.

Welcome everyone and thank you for sharing your experience and your feelings. Ron clearly speak as a veteran who has found peace with his addiction. He was warned about it but he went for it anyway, and has since found particularly rich rewards. That is a lesson for us all. There is more to this hobby than another box full of killers buried in our closet. There is also the journeys this hobby takes us on, the thrill of the chase, the history we connect to and which some of us uncover, and lastly the friends we can share the ups and downs with while teaching each other about marbles and life. It seems we who have lost our marbles can find ourselves seeking them out again.

Hi, my name is Jason, and I am addicted to collecting marbles. Don't get me wrong, I take great joy in it. But it seems no matter how many marbles I have, I want more. I am never entirely satisfied with what I have. Sometimes I feel anxious knowing there are marbles out there in the wild that I don't know about, and that some other collector will find those first. I realize I can find more satisfaction in this hobby if I simply focus on the marbles I do have, and be thankful for that. Thank you. Who is next? Who else would like to tell the group about their marble problem?

Unfortunately the board only allows a post count limit, not membership age, so we will have to stick with that.

We can restrict it by post count. It would stop newbies from signing up to sell great grandpa's collection, but maybe that's the wisest compromise. @Steph, what do you think? Restrict posting by users who have more than 50 posts? 100? So something like: Buy/Sell Forum (long-time users only)

@Steph, I am not opposed to reviving sales here, but I am hesitant because I do see a number of sales go bad on the FaceBook marbles groups. What happens is the sellers want people to use PayPal "friends and family" to avoid fees, but sometimes a bad apple never ships the marbles, leaving the buyer straight out of luck because they sent payment as "friends and family" rather than "goods and services". Goods and services allows claims to be made against sellers. Of course, fees are the whole reason many folk stopped using eBay, so it's a Catch-22. So perhaps large BUYER BEWARE sticky on a new buy/sell forum?

Rare seasonal run of Berry Pink "blues"!

Being a digital hoarder pays off sometimes. I am glad I downloaded a copy of the site and can provide it to the community.

Very nice! I had only a couple of scores like that in Southern California in ten years, and they weren't that many mibs.

Did anyone share the @mon thread from 2015 of tweeners? I suppose they are not true oddities, but they are savory rarities!

Vitros are my happiest marbles!