bumblebee

Those are mostly Vitro Blackies You're right, though, they are cool marbles that are common and easy to find but with lots of interesting variety. I still find interesting new variety among those even after 10 years.

I ordered one of these 208V2 racks for displaying marbles and think it might be one of my favorite affordable display methods so far. You can find them on eBay and Amazon.com for under $6 including shipping, or $1.99 each from the manufacturer (not including shipping). What I like: - each contains three plastic trays that hold 50 5/8" marbles each. Note, two of these have the larger hole size; the third one (shown on right of my picture) has smaller holes but still holds 5/8" marbles albeit not as securely. - trays are hard and sturdy. They don't bend if you lift a full one up by one end. What I don't like: -the aqua blue color is not neutral. I understand they did make clear at one point, so I will look out for those. I am now trying to think of what sort of tray I can put multiples of these in. I understand they also have ones with 15/17mm holes which might work even better if combined with a foam layer underneath?

He really liked peppermint swirls!

Popeyes still make collectors crazy. I have 25 Vitro tri-lites in my opinion better looking than 99% of Popeyes, but hopefully that remains only my opinion so I can keep scoring cheap Vitros!

I sometimes wonder if the artist(s) who made these had simply only released the very best ones in limited quantities, that they could have made more money that way.

Amazingly juicy collages there. I had a dangerous contemporary marble moment at a recent show. I was so blown away by the beauty and craftsmanship of them that I spent the bulk of my money on a nice Geoffrey Beetem marble. It has taken me almost the entire time I've been in this hobby to purify my judgement of a marble to simply what my eye likes, rather than anything else I know about it.

That blue color is stunning.

Wow. I would nickname it The Thing.

Thanks, John. My head's spinning but I wonder whether anyone digging CAC's site found guinea frit?

Testing the compatibility of their guinea frit glass rods on base glass? Mr Shamrock, where are thou?

My earliest "wow" moment was finding a beat up Master sunburst and being stunned by the color quality and depth of the glass. That's when I knew vintage marbles were special. That could have been my bug-catching moment. Cherry-picking a mint Golden Rebel from a box was wonderful, but selling it later has tainted that memory.

The top one is built like a Vitro tri-lite and the bottom ones look more like the photos of Cosmic Rainbows, but I will definitely keep them in my cryptid section.

Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Probably because I actually don't have any of those until now, apparently! Thanks!

Got these today. 5/8". Quite the oddballs. They came from what looked like a solidly late 40s to 60s lot. My first thought was Imperial, however, because I had a couple of clear Imperials lately with that yellow stripe, but in hand these feel like Vitros. If you think Opal, they don't look as such in hand. The top one in particular feels like a Vitro Tri-lite from an alternative universe where the color white and red do not exist.

True, the last time I found marbles at an antique store they were tucked away in draws in some antique furniture and you wouldn't have known without asking the attendant.

Great start! I was asking a local glass maker what a basic setup would require to start making marbles. He was estimating around $2k (used prices?) plus the cost of oxygen. Does that sound about right?

This marble is very dark in hand and difficult to photograph. Here it is in direct sunlight next to Tiger Eye. I may not list it on eBay simply because I cannot photograph it fairly. Will be fun to take to a show if I ever make it to another.

Thanks for your input. Your description makes total sense. The later marbles were running "thin" and weak to stay afloat in the market. This particular very large lot I had was a majority 1950s and 1960s with a lot of Tiger Eyes. I was saying "blind tiger" or "alibo tiger eye" just for fun off the top of my head.

Here's another one from that lot next to my more proper Whitie. Also note the oddball at bottom right. The orange banded one here has that "same recipe, different ingredients" feel to it, perhaps made later?

Here's another one from the same lot. From a distance it's definitely more Whitie but...edit: FB is telling me not all Whities are opaque.

Whitie with clear tiger-eye type base?

Blind tiger? Albino Tiger Eye?

I would trade it to get back my mint Golden Rebel and heavily grey aventurine Wasp. I even reached out to the guy I sold my Golden Rebel to, but he had traded it long ago. I wouldn't get rid of this if it were worth less, but I'm told the last one sold for $800 so....every marble has a price.

I tried to photograph this "hideous beautiful" 21/32" marble some more with minor sucess. Gonna put it on eBay soon I think.

Totally need the Ancient Aliens guys speculating on this.