bumblebee

I met a Vietnamese refugee who was an antiques dealer in California and he said during the Vietnam war they would pick through the dump for used spray paint cans. Inside was a precious marble they would extract and play with.

Here are my priceless marbles. You could offer me $500 each and I'd shake my head No, but I am wiling to take offers about US$3000 each. Why? Let me explain from left to right: 1) A battle scarred bumble bee I won playing marbles as a boy in the early 1970s (hence my name!)., 2) An Akro shooter from my late grandfather's childhood. 3) A pee-wee Bennington from my great-grandfather's Bigelow-Foster store which he managed in Kansas.

Imagine how priceless so many marbles in your collection would be if you could see and remember them through the eyes of their original owners!

This could be my chance to see a truly wet mint Peltier marble that isn't a Rainbo!

This seller is listing a few lots like this with very imaginative descriptions such as faceted and hand made, but the marbles were dug so my first guess is they came from an old dump and got deformed by the trash dump fires they used to light to burn the trash. Other theories could be rock tumbled or factory rejects. Any other ideas?

4 hours ago, jeeperman said:

I use a lot of cigar boxes as well. If they don't come with the individual rows, I make my own.

Neat, I like the width on that box better but can't help feel that you've lined it with putting green.

Speaking of cigar boxes, this brand I found came with its own flocked tray originally. Width of compartments is deal because you can fit 5/8" up to 7/8" and they spaced far apart enough to stand out and not clutter, but the depth is too deep for my taste although technically perfect for 7/8" mibs. Would make a very nice holder for shooters but ultimately I prefer larger trays.

I just got these (2) Black Flocked 1x10 Compartment Jewelry Display Tray Inserts today for $7.50 with shipping and am happy. You can also get (12) of them for $26.99 OBO. I don't know the seller. This is my first purchase from them.

For those of you who can bear to let your marbles touch, the ten, 1 1/8" wide flocked compartments allow you to stagger two columns of 5/8" marbles nicely. Much larger and they don't fit side by side but if you mix that size range you can manage to snug them together well. The black background provides excellent contrast. 1" marbles also fit well but 15/16" ones wiggle with the extra space, but if you have Toe Breakers they may be very happy in these shoes.

I used to use the clear grid "show off trays" which are great for keeping and protecting marbles, but I dislike my marbles secreted away in grids. These trays break up the dull grid lines and offset each marble to accentuate them, so I'd rather risk a scratch or worse by having them at hand in trays like this to daily see and touch any time I want.

When full these trays are a bit flimsy so you have to use two hands to lift and carry but they could be fitted into sturdier boxes or sliding trays.

Stay tuned for an update when I get these Cigar Box Foam Cigar Trays

21 minutes ago, Steph said:

So ... now the hunt is on for the most dotty guineas we can find ..... 

Dotty, anemic, seamless guineas.

That's a good point, JerryG, as the box photo in the more recent thread appears to have stretching in all the marbles shown.

Great idea and the Morphy box immediately strikes me with wide variety, which to my eye includes:

• Base color (appears to be either amber or blue)
• Speck variety (pattern, size, density, stretched or not) - it seems on all these Morphy ones a majority of the specks are vivid, with sharp edges and solid consistently bright colors, though a few are softer with more blending.
• Seams. Where visible, the seams appear very distinct because there is so much variety going on with the specks where the seams meet.

I would say without better photos of the marble in question it's tough to talk much more about it because certainly there is a ton of variety potential. I am curious where the seam is on it because that appears to be an unmistakable trait common to most--but then what do I know with my guinea halves?

What is the provenance on the marble? Did someone find it mint in the "wild" or was it from a box?

It's so big it's almost a sulphide!

Strikes me as odd to offer a buy it now of $450 after your previous auction got offers above $600 from two different bidders.

It appears it previously sold for $635 in March.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/152054957002

I only own guinea halves but based on previous threads here, this one struck me as looking modern and/or torched. Am I wrong or?

Note: I have no idea who the seller is or what their reputation is. This is simply me, an inexperienced CAC person, asking a sincere question.

Wow, stunning Akro eye candy. If Akro was the only marble company, I'd still collect marbles and love it...except the prices would be 10x higher if that were the case.

My understanding is in order to hold a trademark you have to actively do business under it.

I think the moment somebody finds an old marble they check prices on ebay and go hog wild when they see the fake inflated listings, and their imagination and greed gets the best of them.

Talk about marble mail! Not to mention, a 14-day money back guarantee. Not much to lose there.

Wealth does not equal taste, discrimination or good judgement. It is merely buying power.

18 minutes ago, sclsu said:

What kind of vitros do you want? I have a bunch

Anything exotic, but I sent you a PM.

So sad I can't be there. Anybody going want me to PayPal them $60 to pick me out $50 in killer Vitros so I can get some marble mail? 

How's that for desperate!

Found this 3.5" rock in Death Valley. My guess is that texture is "ventifacts" caused by blowing winds.

Thanks...for some reason I've not encountered that size until recently but at least I was leaning in the right direction.

Aren't the black dyed ones associated with older agates? Otherwise I was thinking it was possible in later years they could have roughly hand-ground them then threw them into a grinding machine but I assume they'd have a very unique look then with no side-by-side facets but just facets that dip in and out.