Steph

Hehe, funny how I feel like I'm about to hijack Ann's question. A comment about Miller machines probably shouldn't be a hijack to a thread like this, but it is, coz the subject of Miller machines seems so different from the subject of Miller swirls! LOL But didja know . . . ? Somewhere it has been said that Miller was a Pelt employee. I believe he had his own company though. And if I recall correctly, some of the marble machines he made were used by a company which made box labels - used to make the glass graining balls for the lithography plates. Mike, would all of Miller's machines have been "just the rollers"? Or might he have supplied more components for some? Any idea?

At various times I was defending the "untouchable" and then the seller of one of the sulphides. (edit: er, at least I guess you mean Hansel, who is apparently touchable. or did you mean the topic of making new marbles?) If the goal of this thread was to inform people of marbles which might be mistaken for antique, fine. If the goal was to criticize some particular someone for being one of many to have new marbles made in the 20th or 21st century, then it is justifiable for someone to defend him. Should no one be allowed to make new marbles because they confuse people who are collecting old ones? I happen to have a problem with reasoning along those lines. Forgeries are going to be made, they're not going to be signed, and we are responsible for educating ourselves about them. New marbles commissioned in an aboveboard manner, and sold as new by both the person who commissioned them and by the person who made them, that's not forgery. Craig got burned. It wasn't Hansel's fault. Thank you much Craig, for bringing these to our attention. That sort of thing needs to be done periodically to educate new generations of collector. It's been an interesting thread. I didn't know much about the modern sulphides. But I wasn't in the market for sulphides either. If I had been I would likely have consulted someone, e.g., Sue or Hansel, before investing, so maybe I would have learned about these then. Good to have the information on record for those without ready access to such collectors. We'll need more reminders later, of course. But thanks for this one.

Thanks MM. lol. If you'd just sent me a sympathetic note I would have warned you not to go public with it though. These guys are vindictive. They've shown it in many ways. If you have something for sale be on guard - do all you can with delivery confirmation and insurance and such, I guess with everyone, because you don't know how many ID's these guys are operating under. If you say something about them here it they might bid on your auctions later, screw with the payment and give you negs, to pay you back for telling the truth about them. This seller is connected to Pavcraz somehow. Pavcraz - under the name Mephitic - was the main person who defended the seller when the first Eagle Bennie was noticed on eBay. It was a neat trick. The Eagle Bennie seller was from Washington State and Pavcraz had supposedly found the only other known eagle bennie at a flea market - in Maine, was it? Kinda like where he 'found' some of his forged akro boxes. Later Pavcraz revealed he was connected to one or more problematic Washington State sellers. Possibly a familial relation. eneeeewaaaaay, I think we might be up to five eagle bennies in public now. I'd have to doublecheck to be sure. a little hard to keep track since at least one of the appearances was one which had been returned from a dissatisfied buyer.

Thanks Semdot. :-)

No Bo you are not correct. Once again, you're wrong. If the seller were to look "pontil" up in their dictionary, would they find the definition you give? I do not think so. This thread became about the seller's understanding of a question posed to him/her. A layman seller, whose native language is not English. The chances are very good that the seller would not recognize the word "pontil" as a spot on the sulphide. I don't post to argue (ask me), but since you want to catch me in error . . . keep trying. I'll blow it sometime. ;-) LOL. Sorry Sue. Don't know why Bo feels a need to invoke you. And sorry Lou. Now that Bo is ranting I'll probably leave the thread. I don't take being yelled at - or greened at or redded at - all that well. Who does?

but opaque black? (for most of it)

right. the glassworker's vernacular is different from what a German native would find in a dictionary and babel fish is no help at all. it doesn't try to translate the word "pontil". From the American Heritage Dictionary for one example of what a nonspecialist would find without a specialist to set them straight - pontil: see punty punty: An iron rod on which molten glass is handled when being shaped and worked. Also called pontil.

LOL, I think that was edited since the first time I saw it, back when there was still a buy-it-now. At least I think I would have recognized my name if it had been there, in red no less. I had read the description and noticed the sorta cagey wording. I thought about posting and asking just how many of these they've had since 1970, but naw, I decided to merely keep watching and filing the photos if I think to follow the ebay notices when they arrive in my inbox. Maybe one day some time in the future, I'll make an updated presentation on the state of their art. LOL. but I'm on vacation for now. Ya know, I'm with Sue on these. They're kinda cool in their way. I mighta wanted one . . . if the seller had gone about it honestly. The skill to make Benningtons is admirable and the eagles are fun looking. Too bad the seller chose the route they did in presenting them to the world. IMHO

your first experience with Carl's marbles in general?

Here's an old pic of an oddball. I've posted it before but something made me remember it today. Still a mystery. It's about an inch. In hand it looks like an opaque black marble with a white stripe. One day I looked more closely and saw it had a clear crevice with some other colors. Easily overlookable. But they come out well in a photo. (click to enlarge a bit)

That pic of it floating in water is insanely kewl ! I guess the price is for if you wanna make sure you're the first to get one and cut out the competition. Looks like it's gonna go for less than that.

hmmm, at two inches plus my vote would be Vacor.

Cat's eyes have "vanes". Yeah, I know that especially when looking at cage style cats the term "vein" seems to make a lot of sense. The cage style cats are a later development though. The word "vane" comes from the blade-like appearance of early cats, like the blades on a rotor or a weather vane. Individual vanes can have more than one color within them. And then of course some "cat's eyes" have a splintery structure which defy a vane count. if I understand correctly

Love the green base one! the red and bubbly one is cool too. But the green might be harder to find. :-)

What can I say? I'm glad I won. It's sparkly and deep and fun and sparkly. and I can't stand the sound of the glass marble touching the glass scanner so I'm abandoning that! I'll try again with a camera later. :-)

Vitro did make six vaners which look a lot like their four- and five-vaners. by the way and for what it's worth. not sure why it's come up here. i'm probably missing something.

Thanks Kev. yes, tri-color on the last. imho.

What Dani said. :-) And yes, your later observations about the base came through in your pix. I estimate the top is from the 1940's. The bottom from the 1930's. The top is a tri-color agate type. The bottom is a moss agate type.

Two different marbles imho. I'd guess 10 years or more separation.

Here's a neat little "article" about when "steelies" appear to have been a new-ish concept. At least using ball bearings as marbles may have been a new idea. Makes sense 'coz it wasn't long before that when Martin Christensen invented his steel ball machine which made ball bearings affordable for things like bicycles, and for boys. (Martin sold his ball bearing machine patent to investors in January 1900.)

LOL Bo you so bad!

Here's one little thing to give the seller the benefit of the doubt. Someone who speaks German and only knows a little English might not recognize the word "pontil". A dictionary probably wouldn't help them. In ordinary English a "pontil" is an iron rod used by glassworkers for handling the hot glass. It may seem obvious to us collectors but it's a bit of a stretch to jump to the scar left on the glass when you break it off the rod. Someone unfamiliar with marbles or uncomfortable with English might not guess it. It's a sort of marble collector slang.

I like contests! LOLOL ! Thanks again to Carole and Lou ! My new Dennis Richardson arrived in the mail today. I wish i wish i wish i had a useable camera! When I pulled the marble out of the shipping box, I see this lovely blue green. Yeah, I saw that in the contest pic. So far so good. But then when I turned it over, I almost fell into it. Is that what is called a "vortex"? Uh, yeah, I guess that would be what Lou said. LOL. I don't read so good. I'm going to experiment with the scanner this weekend to see if I can catch the depth. Did I mention it's lutzy! uh, I guess Lou said that too. mebbe one of these days I will learn to read.

And it's here!

I got a notice from ebay that one of my "favorite" sellers had some new listings. man, why doesn't she change her i.d. to at least make it so people have to actually poke around on ebay to find her new fakes? exhibitionism? eneeeway, this is too easy. I think this is my last fling with this gal. if any of you have been keeping up with pavcraz you know he's still out there but I've been good about ignoring his gems . . . I think I can be strong here too. (lol)