ann

I dunno. I don't have this yet, and the condition is problematic for me, but I sure did want to see this one in person, if I didn't have to pay much . . . So it's coming. Do you think it's maybe one of the more exotic Alley corals? Or something else entirely?

Just got an opalescent snake . . .

I think it is white swirled in green. In the second picture, middle marble, it looks like the swirl just barely grazes the surface, and where it does it appears to be white. But I'm not sure it's a call that can be made by anyone who doesn't have them in hand. Might need to really see them in person to determine. Maybe not even then, really. Like them.

I have. And it makes sense.

What a good and timely bump . . .

You can laugh at me, Survivor Sister. Some others can too. A few others, not so much. I'm calling them all VeeBops from now on.

Dang, that's the edition I don't have . . .

I think it's fine.

Pretty sure it's JABO. I've had trouble with these guys before. If you want to start getting nasty emails, just suggest to them that their ID is wrong . . .

Wow . . .

Yes, the latest one! Oddly, it has CAC submarines on the cover . . .

I'm old. I don't know what VSBOP stands for.

I've always liked them, but never found any . . .

Yup -- check it out. There are some doozies in there! And a great series of photos of a contemporary glass artist "building" and then making cane-cut marbles. He also has some good info on percentages . . . for example, out of (say) 300 latticinio marbles, 80% will be white, 15% yellow, and the rest (only 5%) alternating yellow and white or other colors (red, orange, red & white, blue, etc.). Gives you a good sense of what is rare and what is not.

We certainly could. don't mention the part about tying him to the chair . . .

Why not? If it was a marble of a type I'd never seen before, and was curious about? Not everything is related to buying and selling. Plain old curiosity can play a part too.

The very best book on antique marbles is by Paul Baumann. Clearly written by the expert who pretty much came up with the classification system most people use today. And the photographs are excellent. I recommend it highly. The term "banded," for example, is only used for surface ribbons or threads of color -- not ones in the interior, like the orange and white.

I'm not the only one who wants to put slags in their mouth???

I'll take it.

The white and orange ribbons add a nice (and rare) layer, but I still wouldn't call it a banded latticinio. Your source is Block?

Paul Baumann (in his Collecting Antique Marbles) calls this type a ribbon latticinio. They're fairly uncommon.

Not a juvenile one, this time!

I suppose the description fits, but the outer decoration of a "core" marble (latticinio core, solid core, ribbon core, etc.) is not usually a part of the title / description -- with the exception of the term "naked," which is used when there are no outer bands. If it had no core, I would call it a "banded transparent." But since it does, I would simply call it a "yellow-latticinio core." Others may disagree.

Looks like a big old hand-gathered slag to me. Maybe / probably MFC, going by the cut line. Nice.