Steph

Someone has donated two Pelt books to our board auctions. This auction is for one of those books. The auction will end on Friday, April 21, 8 p.m. central time. The books were corner-bumped in transit. So I made scans of this first book so that you could see that detail. Pictures in the next post. I'll pay for shipping in a cushioned, corrugated mailer. So here you go!

SubWonderful. Oh wait, that didn't sound right.

Row 1. #1. Blue, not sure, maybe a pic in a different lighting or a flash pic? Getting a slag feel in one pic and a different kind of Peltier feel in the other. #2 & #3. Also not sure. Getting a Vitro or Master feel. Would be good to see seams head-on. Row 2. #1. Leaning toward WV swirl. More views in different lighting could change mind. #2. From here that looks like a game marble. #3. Looks like a Champion Agate. Row 3. #1. A moss agate style marble. Could be made by Akro or Master. I'm leaning Master. In which case the company name would have been Meteor. #2. If that's not a cat, then looks like another Champion Agate. #3. Vitro Conqueror Mossy patch thread: http://marbleconnection.com/topic/7863-moss-agate-type-marbles/ (with a few mossy corks at the end)

The big yellow in the middle doesn't look like it belongs. The one which is on the top left in the first picture looks a teeny bit iffy but probably belongs. The one on the top right in the second picture looks a little iffy. Needs another photo to show base color and how the vanes come together. The rest probably 1950's Vitro cats.

Figuring this one for Master

The two light green ones are said to be made with coke bottle glass. And that might be true. Some cheap and/or recycled glass. Wouldn't say there's a hard and fast rule about some base glass being more valuable. But in any given category, different ones may be more rare and thus more valuable. Clear or nearly clear is the most common for these marbles where the selling point are the vanes or bananas inside. The coke bottle green counts as basically clear but it's meh. Crystal clear is nice -- but a crystal clear Pelt will likely be more valuable than a crystal clear Vacor. So then we come to the more unusual tints. I'm not sure why they sometimes were made. But I guess they didn't catch on. I sold some cat's eyes for higher values when they had peachy base glass. A windex blue can bring more money in a cat's eye. The golden based bananas here -- http://marbleconnection.com/topic/21345-peltier-honey-amber-bananas -- might be considered priceless since few are known to exist and even fewer are available for sale. I'm lucky to have one -- a gift from Joe. The dark green ... I don't know about that one ... you might wanna list it for $10 or more and see if there are any takers. Can always come down.

Yes, cat's eyes. Not sure what to make of the reddish one on the front left. The yellow one in the front middle and red/orange one in the back -- the ones with the light green tint -- are likely Asian. The yellow in back, blue in the middle and all three on the right edge are usually what people think of when they say "bananas". (The Asian ones aren't as valuable and it's not easy for me to call them bananas.) Those five were made by Peltier or Master. I'm pretty sure the black/purple is Master. I suspect the blue is Master. I'd guess Peltier for the yellow and red. And I don't know which way to guess for the green. If you list them in a bananas group, it's probably not that important to figure out which are Pelt and which aren't. Those five are all good American-made bananas. Nooowwww .... that dark green base one on the far left ... am I seeing it right? Is that base glass dark green? Or is that some dark green ribbon which is making a lighter base look dark? If that's a dark green base, that's kind of cool, and different, and I'm not sure I've ever seen one. That might attract some attention in a standalone auction.

.... I'm going with accidental and error. The cat eye has some "orange peel" texture to the surface. I'm not sure if we know what causes that. The clearies have cold rolls. They could be some kind of industrial marble. Where it didn't matter if they were smooth -- just that they were more or less round. The cat eye is foreign -- likely Asian -- the green tint is the major indicator of this. It's got some cool colors with that reddish stripe, and you might put it up on ebay for a coupla dollars and see if there are any takers thanks to the size and coloring. Don't be surprised if not. It's cool to hear what catches the eye of a rookie -- as we get more educated and learn what we're officially supposed to value we often lose some of the sense of wonder which first got us interested in marbles. It's replaced by other kinds of appreciation, but it's nice to see again through fresh eyes.

For instance, these are slags, but even though that looks like an easy answer, the discussion could branch out into which company made them, or whether any are handgathered. Or you might want to ask about some other marble which looks similar to them, but which turns out not to be slag after all. Or maybe you'll have a group of four marbles and three of them will be easy, but the fourth will be hard. Different things can arise which complicate ID's. So that's why a new thread for each group is best.

Welcome. There are some nice old marbles there. It would be helpful to make a separate thread for each group. That's less confusing and has a better chance of getting more people popping in to help out.

You could try a "transparent swirl" grouping on ebay ... or you could put it in with a generic West Virginia swirl group. These are relatively common but could still be worth more than just the few cents of the most common cat's eyes.

Wow, they both look different from what I was expecting. The green and yellow goes into your Vitro Hybrid cats eye group. The blue and white one is a "transparent swirl". In the West Virginia swirl family.

Lake Cow Bacon, circa 1910 http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C01E4D61430E233A25751C1A9629C946196D6CF

So ... got some sweet mibs 2 and a half years ago ... big variety ... and mostly went off in the Pelt direction with my sort. Left some Akros and some swirls in the sorting box which was under my bed. And one thing led to another and I never got back to the swirls. Until today. Lookie what I found. The black-looking one on the right has a glowing base.

I don't remember having these. But there they are, found yesterday with a few straggling marbles from that surprise box which mysteriously appeared on my porch a couple of years ago. Did they come with that bunch, or did I slip 'em into that sorting box because it was convenient? I need to invest in labels and use them religiously. In the meantime, enjoy some marble innards.

The sort is back on. lots of boxes got piled in front of my marble section and I'm just now digging in and I just found even more Jabos ... that I don't even remember moving over. Wouldn't be surprised if I have a thousand more now to figure out what to do with. Gotta get a bigger box.

Don't know about the top middle. Tint on bottom right makes it look Asian. That plus the cold rolls mean put it in your "no value" pile. And yes, it's a cat eye. The rest could be Vitro cats. Start grouping the nicer condition Vitro hybrids together. If any are conspicuously damaged they go into the no-value pile, but start pulling out he nice condition ones. The bottom middle is interesting. Could be a different maker, but probably safe putting it in a generic Vitro hybrid lot. You could have some ebay success with small groups of those listed for $10, say. Top right is interesting. More views please. Bottom left is an earlish Vitro cat eye, with desirable colors. Could be worth a dollar, or more with the right audience. The earliest Vitro cat's eyes can be worth a dollar or more with nice colors even if they're just a single color. Most single color cat's eyes aren't worth anything. The early Vitros are an exception.

not sure about the top right. Definite yes on Row 1, #1 and #2, and on row 2, #1 and #3. Probably all Vitro. Probably yes on the bottom middle, but it's ... .different. If that's not a modern marble king, then it could end up worth a little something because it's so different and has eye appeal. The single color (or essentially single color) ones go into the commons pile. The bottom right one goes into a nicer Vitro hybrid cat's eyes grouping. Does the top left have a blue-tinted base or is that a blue ribbon giving us reflections inside? The cage style marbles are more common than the ones like the bottom right, but with as many colors as seem to come through on that one, I'd put it in a nice-ish Vitro grouping. Just not sure what to make of the top right. Am expecting it not to be valuable, but can't guess what it is. Maybe more views would help.

egg foo glop

This boardwalk is through marsh land. Wisconsin is working to restore its wetlands.

One more note: Peewee cat eyes -- definitely 1/2" or less, not a smidge over, might bring in more than the basic 5/8" marbles.

Note, there are modern 4-color marble kings, which won't be worth as much as the vintage. But they're still worth more than the usual cat's eye.

Next example is your own, Jjay. The one on the left is an example of one which might pull in a few dollars. Maybe more. Don't know. But it's a good one. The one on the right is an example of the common configuration, which some people might pay a few cents apiece for but which can lower the value of marble lots if it's mixed in with vintage marbles. Left -- good pattern with with four white vanes alternating with the others: white, yellow, white, yellow, white, green, white, green Right -- common, not collectible pattern with the vane pairs together: white, white, yellow, yellow, green, green.