Royal3

You’re welcome! I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention another excellent site hosted by the fine gent and Marble Connection member Swissmarble: https://www.glasmurmeln.com/ Ron’s collection and pictures are fabulous (witness the one above,) as is his identification guide for contemporary marble makers. You can scan through there and see a wide range of styles.

That’s a murrini marble by either Ro Purser or a Noble Effort joint venture by him and his partner Richard Marquis. Each one takes days to produce, but the preparation of the individual canes - the little pictures you see - that make up the marble takes weeks or months. A good website to check out a wide range of contemporary artists and learn a lot about them is http://www.pbase.com/bkbowden/marblesforsale You can dive deeply into the site and see some amazing collections, too.

Shoot, Ron, so would the horse...

Hand ground finely faceted bullseye agates in good shape are definitely valuable, though probably not as highly prized as they once were. I’ve seen 3/4” mint ones go from $15-20 and up depending on pattern, color, seller, and market whim. You need a loupe to see if yours is machine ground (totally smooth) or hand ground - if the latter, under 10X magnification you’ll see little facets in the surface. Unfortunately yours was well loved by someone and has a lot of moons and damage, probably negating any value it might have.

Awesome collages, Alan and Ron!

Wow! Great find, schmoozer! I’ve never seen one of those. Joe k, once you see even a few oxblood examples in hand you’ll know it forever, it’s usually pronounced and very distinctive. There are always exceptions, but that’s what makes horse racing. And marble collecting, for that matter.

Much appreciated, Ron! I’ll pass it on. Always nice to hear from you - I hope things are good in your neck of the world.

A friend has been unsuccessfully looking for information about contemporary sphere maker Randall Burnett. Does anyone have contact or other information they’d care to share? Thanks.

Those would look great in anyone’s collection.

I was so sorry to see this tonight; Leroy was a kind and generous gentleman, and a true friend to the marble community. He loved what he did, too, and nobody did it better.

That is a great brick - what size?

Perfect! Happy hunting.

That agate collection looks terrific in that box. Those beauties would look great in a plain paper bag or a shoebox, too, but that vintage combo is perfect.

It does just fine without color, winnie, like a classic movie. What a knockout.

Just gorgeous!

I’d forgotten that about the sparklers MOK. I found a post from a Stefan in 2014 that showed an original bag of them that said they were made by”VEB Werk für technisches Glas Ilmenau.” (There’s a Wikipedia site for the company - anyone sprechen sie Deutsch?) It seems odd that a technical glass company (beakers, test tubes, and the like) would produce marbles, too, but you never know - they would have plenty of clear base glass handy. Is there any other data on their origin?

All beautiful, Stephane, thanks for sharing! (Sorry, I don’t have l’accent grave on my keyboard.) I’ll have to dig out my Veiligglas sparklers and wirepulls too!

Just my 2 cents - that blueish ox sure “smells” less like an Akro and more like an Alley to me, too.

Was there a display case in that picture? I didn’t notice! Those SLAGS!!

Yep, now that I look at a on a monitor instead of a mobile device, you guys have it nailed, as always. I wonder if the seller has a torch in his basement or garage...

I agree Jerry - the transparent base and color combo is striking. Any but the drab moderns in these are really hard to find

I’m aware of one possibility - this was a “Czech guinea” that came up at one of Bob Block’s auctions over ten years ago (8/07.) It’s a rotten image, sorry... This was Bob’s description of the marble and its provenance: “The core is essentially Guinea flakes packed together forming a corkscrew. About a dozen of these showed up at a mineral show in Connecticut about 20 years ago, with a Czech dealer. I bought four, not knowing what they were. Kevin Stump bought the rest (and I have been kicking myself ever since). The dealer said he bought them in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s. These are exceptionally rare, I am not aware of any of these being auctioned off before. Czechoslovakia, circa 1920-1930. 19/32". Mint (9.9).” Here’s a link to the auction: http://www.icollector.com/BB-Marbles-Rare-Czech-1920s-Marble_i7157026 If Bob has found any more info on these oddities in the last 10+ years maybe he’ll post it here.

At least the seller offers returns, Greg, and states that “Virtually all are in EXCELLENT + condition and show no apparent usage or damage unless so noted.” The patterns don’t blow my socks off, but so far the price looks right.

“I have no idea what it is, so I’m going to stick it up there, call it a CAC and slap a $500 BIN on it.” I think that’s called chutzpah. Or brass something. As to what it is - maybe an odd Euro?

Yeah, the seam looks a a little hinky like a Master, but the colors are just dead on Akro. Could well be Master, though.