Steph

20 hours ago, wvrons said:

Does an Akro Ace marble have to glow under blacklight ? 

No.   Not blacklight.   Just supposed to have some fire inside like a Moonie, or maybe more like a Pelt Acme Realer.    

Welcome!  A whole lot of history in those little orbs!

The only one of those which has a chance of being what Akro called an Ace is translucent white with the green ribbon.  Hold it up to a light.  If the base looks orange when you look through it, then Akro Ace.

Butttttt ... Collectors call different marbles Ace from what Akro called an Ace.  The translucent based one with the blue ribbon was called a Moss Agate by Akro, but some collectors call that one an Ace.

The bottom left does appear to be Akro, but not in the running for Ace.  Akro called it a  Tri-Color Agate.  Many collectors call it a Special.

And the fourth is a German handmade.

The "apple drop" ones are handmade German, and I see why you like!

In the first picture ,the row of large ones with the white base and the single colored ones might sell well ... some or all appear to be an uncommon "transitional".  In that size, all transitionals are uncommon, but there are some which are often found in Canada which are different from ones typically found in the U.S.

The smaller row below also appear to be  transitionals.   That's our name for certain "handgathered" marbles.  "Handgathered" is when the glob of molten glass was dipped out of the heated container with a metal rod and then given a twist and cut off with glass scissors and dropped onto mechanical rollers which did the rounding.  

And you also have some transparent based transitionals in your lot ... those can pretty safely be assumed to be from Japan. 

I see quite a few more handmade German marbles.  And I see at least a few American machine-mades.

I may see some from Amsterdam, and I see one "figure-8" which resembles the American-made Peltier Rainbos but the ribbons are at a different angle, which sets them apart. 

The carpet bowls are in a category by themselves.  

If you're organizing for sale on ebay, I expect that sorting the bowls and handmades and transitionals out from the rest would be the best.  At least in the U.S.  You could try mixed lots but if they're too wide of a range, with some really some really common ones, that could weigh down the value you would otherwise have gotten for the better marbles.   I see you're in the UK, and I really don't know much about the best way to sell from the UK considering shipping costs.  

will do!

I generally say "Multicolor Rainbo" for all of them, and note that they're National Line era marbles.  But obviously the swirly ones have a special appeal so I understand why people want to earn the label "Swirl". 

I have no knowledge of the swirly ones being an earlier period than the more orderly ones.  I have imagined that it just depended on the machine's mood on any given day and they could all be mixed together in the timeline.  But I literally do not know. 

Hi.  Welcome.  

I'm not brimming with advice at the moment.  I just wanted to say hi.  There are some interesting marbles in your group, plus of course the carpet bowls are cool.  

That's looking like a brick.  Which could be MFC or Akro. 

I should have probably tinkered more before.  I only just now noticed the blog. 

This is the address I use in my bookmarks:  https://www.billes-en-tete.com/liste_billes.php

Takes me straight to the pictures, usually with the option to translate the text.  

Mineral spheres.  Obviously value could depend on stone type.  

I don't think very valuable in general.  I saw a beautiful agate with a glorious pattern go for less than $20 last week in a facebook auction.  

 

Yes, it's a relief to have it back.  I count on it a lot. 
 

P.s., I never thought to try to register.   I wasn't able to either, but that never got in the way of pulling up pictures.

I think Alley in the middle, with Vitro in the #2 and #4 spots.

Would be interested in other views of the one on the right. 

More modern-ish packaging:  

https://marbleconnection.com/topic/25482-so-many-photos-ps-gropper-vitros

Hopefully I will remember this! 

I just now checked my old Gropper thread and see it had mostly older marbles ... but that Ric had posted something with Heatons, making me aware at the time that they had jobbered marbles past the Christensen and early Pelt eras.  (The photo is missing now.)

I got some tiny clearies in a bicentennial bag when I was kid  ... but I have some teensy  untinted clear ones which were used in the plastic pumps in plastic bottles at my husband's work.   

Now I have to go look for my various little ones to see which are closest to 7.7mm

Good stuff, Maynard!

The Gropper bag leaped out at me ...  one reason I need to work harder on planting things in my memory again ... I did not recall the Gropper name being associated with Vitros.  I don't remember Gropper being associated with marbles long enough to have the opportunity to jobber Vitro cat's eyes.  



 

It's way past time for me to start cataloging the photographs George Sourlis has sent me over the years -- I need to internalize what I've received and know where to look for them when the need arises.   No time like the present.  I'll start the  project with these which came in the mail today.   




 

With that glass texture, I can see why you would hope for CAC, but I don't know. 

I wouldn't classify it as a game marble.  

If vintage then maybe a really wacky Akro. 

But the looping would make some people jump right to modern and Jabo.  

Nice neat 9 on the middle might suggest MFC.

The lack of regularity on the bottom one suggests Akro.

The lack of roundness on the 9 on the top one makes me consider something like Akro ... but maybe someone else will look at the color clues and see a different maker.

1 hour ago, wvrons said:

 The yellow/orange ne at the bottom of the pic is a Tater Bug. There are four color combinations. All have the same yellow base, one has the orange swirl, one has a green swirl, one has purple or lavender swirl, and one has redish brown swirl. About 80% of the Tater Bugs all have a small opaque white piece of glass laying across the swirl pattern. Some people say it looks like a cut fingernail. It is always across or opposite of the swirl direction. I think probably all or most all of the Tater Bug marbles were discarded because of this fingernail piece of glass. I have no idea how it could happen ? Always on the surface, always across the swirl pattern, always the same white color. Almost always the same size of fingernail glass. Not like any other glass with these marbles. Most had roll marks. 

Everything in the picture was dug at the Pennsboro WV Alley site. 

That makes my 8th Tater Bug ... I have a pretty nice collection of those.   Here are my previous 7 -- four of which came from you.    ❤️ 

1 hour ago, wvrons said:

100% Sweet Baby Grays. My girlfriend Nola named those.  We were digging at the Pennsboro Alley site. We had dug for about 4-5 hours and 75% of everything we were finding was these gray swirls and some Blue Lady marbles. I made the comment that I was tired of seeing these same gray swirls. That is when Nola said don't talk bad about my sweet baby grays. I told her that she just named those marbles.
 

 
Awwww ... that's so sweet.  

These are from my Christmas  Alleys.   Do they have a name?  

They seem darker in hand than most of the Sweet Baby Gray pictures I've seen.   But maybe everyone's are darker and we all used sunlight to bring out the shades?     They also seem simpler than some of the Sweet Baby Gray pictures I've seen  so ... ?

It won't hurt my feelings if they turn out not to have a name.