bumblebee

This was a fun find. Local man in his 70s saw my ad for marbles wanted. He only had about sixty marbles, commons from the 40s and 50s, with one old slag. But he had a prized agate shooter he used to win the marble tournament at his elementary school in Montana. I offered him $7 for just the shooter, but he balked and said that agate cost $5 in the 1950s. Turns out his family bought the agate for his birthday from a local gem and rock store. He said the store made the agates on site. It was machine ground and slightly oblong, which he said helped him put English on it. His father was a billiards man who taught him about backspin. This man even had a small bag he made to hold his agates which you can see in the background. I offered him $20 for the agate if he agreed to pose with it ready to shoot. Turns out he also had double-jointed thumbs which no doubt helped his game, although he was modest about his skills. This story made me wish I were retired so I could travel around the country collecting marble lore from the old timers that are still around.

Stumbled upon this bag on Craiglist. I cannot pick it up (I'm not in California) but I thought it might be of interest to others. Says 1981 on bag. Edit: Hard to say much about where the loose ones are from.

A good clue with shady items is the seller not accepting returns. eBay always recommends a seller accept returns, so most sellers offer that option. This guy did not.

I found these in the same lot which was definitely all from the wild, all 1940s or earlier. Interestingly this lot also had two or three matching patch and cork pairs, one of which had tiny bits of aventurine.

Here's an alternate universe listing where CAC not only makes a Superman, but also Superman is a member of Blue Man Group.

I'm going to tell them which ones brought me the most joy, then tell them to keep only the ones that made them smile. Or keep them all if that makes them smile. My family were sentimental hoarders, which I truly appreciate, but it is also a burden. I have my late grandmother's favorite doll, even some of her other toys. I have the first shoes I wore, and the topper from my first birthday cake. Both of my parents have dementia now, so neither can tell me the stories behind the things I did not know about, which makes it easier in a way to get rid of stuff. One tip I can give everyone: Tape notes onto sentimental things. My grandmother did this and it has been a wonderful relief to have the full story. I plan to do that because my kids may end up caring in 30 years, and the stories will be there after I'm long gone.

This one just sold for $500 probably because of what looks like a 1" lemonade oxblood and a shooter blue ox as well. Anybody see anything beyond that ?

What gives here with the high bidding? Isn't this a single JABO Scallawag marble? Size is 0.571".

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The first pic looks a little shroomy to me but I only have one.

I never get to shows now so a fellow collector had mercy on me with some of his discards. 😄

Larger (~0.67") Tiger Eyes with a regular 5/8" one at bottom. The seller told me these larger ones were dug at the factory. Considering I've only ever found one Tiger Eye this size in the wild and a couple of larger ones (~0.84"), I do wonder how many Vitro actually sold because I've found hundreds of 5/8" Tiger Eyes.

Wow, that's a rare marble, and so very marble-like. I am skeptical that Viking children got to play with these as marbles, for I imagine they were quite rare, but who knows? Guessing I won't find one of these in the wild.

I like that idea! I know my ex would not have tolerated that. Stirring through a bin like that in good light should put a smile on any collector's face. Meanwhile, I finally have settled on a strategy for my wooden jewelry box after trying to put several different makers in it. Turns out its bright felt liner doesn't work well with most opaque marbles, but it shines with cat-eyes and similar marbles with lots of clear glass. Now I just need to find an overhead light to stick under the shelf above it so I can really get the lights bouncing through these. Edit: Note that the top drawer marbles were formerly all stashed away in show-off trays not touching each other, and now they look much better together.

I highly recommend Peleliu 1944: Horror in the Pacific as the most poignant WWII documentary I have ever seen. You have to rent/buy it, but it is well worth it. Features much interview footage with the legendary marine and author Eugene Sledge along with several soldiers he fought with on that island and beyond. So many WWII veterans never told their stories, but here they bare so much brutal honesty in an intimate interview setting. I own this on VHS and watch it every Memorial Day. For the Vietnam War, HBO's Dear America is a haunting documentary set to Vietnam-era music and war footage featuring actors reading actual letters home from Vietnam by soldiers and support staff. This free version isn't perfect as it has some edits due to copyrights, etc, but editing and music selection is top shelf, and the results pack a serious punch. Another worth owning on DVD. I also try to remember all the soldiers from other eras who perished in so many terrible or sad ways, not always in combat. They forever deserve our remembrance and honor and respect.

I'm now sourcing jewelry boxes to condense my collection into one maker per box. For example, testing one out with some Vitro and WV swirls: Now I'm seriously considering this $30 two-layer box on eBay. My goal is to retire the plastic show-off trays. Obviously these are not ideal when moving or shipping the marbles but for static storage I really like this approach.

Here! Here! Well spoken. I really like that realization that glass marbles--if kept safe--can last 1000 years or more. My ex never sold my marbles but I am pretty sure she or my children dropped a number of them out of a brag box once because one day I realized they all had one major ding on them, and this happened in our garage with the concrete floor, but I never launched an investigation. I still wince at that damage to some of those. Naturally my modest effort today to populate the new jewelry box has turned into a scattered field of marble chaos that will take days to clean up.

Today I put most of my oddball and random keepers that were formerly in plastic show-off trays into this wooden snack bowl(?). The round area containing Vitro Tiger Eyes is temporary because I don't think it does justice to them, so I will likely replace them with slags or benningtons. Combining so many mint-range marbles like this required going outside my comforting zone, but it feels liberating and far more practical than their prior storage methods. The fun part here is I can dig through and "rediscover" these marbles any time I wish by just scooping my hand in, whereas before they were scattered across stacks of show-off trays. The bowl is about two inches deep so it holds a lot. Over time I'm sure I'll pick out a few and put into separate groupings. The human eye loves patterns and groupings of designs and colors so my bowl here is rather chaotic to the eye, but this works for me because many of these marbles are oddballs and one-offs. Going forward I will be grouping my like marbles together. As most of you know, some marbles just require a little more real estate to appreciate their surfaces, so I will likely be doing "flats" of single layers of these types. The ones that come to mind for me are Peltier Rainbos, Akro Corks, Master Sunbursts, Vitro Tiger Eyes and Hybrid cats. I am going to pick up a jewelry box today for more storage options, so stay tuned for more updates on this series about breaking the shackles of mint marble storage in order to find more joy in one's collection. 🤣

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In the next episode of The Zen of Marble Collecting, our initiate decides to take his precious mint slags he found in the wild over 15 years and remove them from their isolated storage area. He will then (or will he?) put them all in a container together. Stay tuned!

Recently I took several small bags of my better machine made marbles and combined them all into a cigar box, sort of out of frustration for a lack of display options. It made me realize just how much I enjoy rummaging through my marbles and rediscovering them in a box like this, compared to when they are all neatly laid out on a solitaire board, for example. Plus I can fit so many more this way that otherwise are hidden away in keeper trays or small baggies in my closet. Indeed, this feels more natural and more like how I remember enjoying marbles as a child. It also reminds me of that thrill of picking through a new lot found in the wild. Of course the risk here--perhaps a sacrilege to some--is that I am inviting the accumulation of micro scratches and even the occasional ding by doing this. As collectors we know the minor miracle that is a vintage marble that survived in mint condition. But do I really care at this stage in my life? These are marbles I might be able to sell for $1 to $15 each, but probably most in lower range. My children have no interest in them and certainly won't cry over scratchier marbles when they are dealing with dad's marble hoard some day. Sure, I do have some killer keepers that will stay in my nice brag boxes, but why am I not relaxing and letting down my guard on the mint cheaper marbles so that I can enjoy them more? Has anyone else loosened up in a similar way in order to enjoy their collection more?

Feels like a swirl to me too.

Wow that last one is incredible!

It's buggy right now. Probably too many people using it. I often have to refresh the page and try again.

"Ron's happy clean toy marbles in a big tub"