Hard to say without seeing it in natural 'non-wet' condition. One things for sure, it wouldn't be the same after buffing (better or worse remains to be seen, once buffed cannot be un-buffed)
I agree that 1"+ is not a common size for Mica's, however I do believe larger Solitaire sets were made to accommodate the 1"+ sizes (just not nearly as many).
I'll take a look around. Might have a couple like that but can't remember the size.
I imagine that there was some variation in technique when these guys were twisting a glob off the cane, and also variation in the faceting techniques/tools. Maybe they were 'Friday Afternoon" or 'Monday Morning' marbles. Although the melted pole of the marbles looks decent.
I think I see what you mean by illumination in your first pic. 2"+ marble is going to have some weight for sure. I wouldn't have considered part of a lamp or candlestick but who knows? The pattern is nice. 35+ years gives it a bit of history. The precision of the pattern would have been very difficult to achieve in a marble pre-dating the time when most of the handmade German marbles were made 100+ years ago
Welcome! Cool pattern on that marble. It might be old(er), but might not be from the same era when the cane cut marbles were made in Germany (which is probably what most people on this site would consider in the 'old' category)
Didn't something similar come up a while back? Can't recall what the consensus was back then. Seems like it was purposefully built for something...
any markings on the zipper?
7/8ths on this one (blurry pic), found two like this and one @ 1" that I have with my Alleys
Closer to 11/16 on this one, coloring looks a bit closer
Hope it helps