Swissmarble

......while this bunch of old antique marbles doesn't glow at all.... Strange, isn't it ? So the conclusion is, that SOME old AND newer marbles are glowing and some not. How about the old American machine made marbles (CAC, Peltier etc.). Do these marbles glow under UV-light ? PLMK Ron

Hi folks I am still running around with my UV-stick and checking my marbles. And now something really interesting. Obviously it is a myth that just old marbles (and especially produced marbles from nowadays) are glowing. Look at this bunch of ordinary marbles. I won most of these as a kid about 35 years ago, so they are at least that old: Most of these are glowing like hell.......

I have a white/black alternating latticino. I posted this pic a while ago here, but as it fit perfectly into this topic I post it again: Ron www.glasmurmeln.com

Hi Winnie Thanks a lot for your input. It was Rafael (the collector from Italy) who tried to identify these marbles. So it is really interesting for me (and especially for him) to see other suggestions/opinions. Thank you ! Ron

Hey Rafael Great to see you here ! Ron

Hi Bob No problem, sooner or later I will translate the homepage in English too. But there is so much information available in English (and almost none in German) that I thougth I will first provide some information in German for potential collectors. The word "Glasmurmeln" means nothing else than "glass marbles". So the translation of the marked text means in English. "Murmel, Märbel, Schusser, Glugger, Chlüre, Marmel, Knicker, Glaskugel (these are all different terms for marbles in German and Swiss-German)....there are many German words for this specific object which has brought a glitter in the eye both to children and adults for several decades: marbles - and especially glass marbles" Murmel = Marble Murmeln = marbles You use the word "murmel" just you use it in English, there is no difference. By the way, as far as I know there are no antique marbles that are bigger than approximately 2 1/2 inches. There might be some examples which are slightly (but really just slightly) bigger. I heard it was not possible to make bigger marbles at that time because they would have colapsed under their own weight. Of course I saw the other guys posting and I noticed that Morphy sold a swirl marble which was over 3 inches in diameter about two years ago. But I am pretty sure this marble was made later, perhaps after WW II. Ron

Hi Mike Oh yes, I know these videos and the owner of these marbles :-) Another of the few marble-collectors in Europe.... He encouraged me to make some marble-videos too: Ron

Hi folks As a handmade collector I don't know much about machine-made marbles. But I have several machine-made marbles which I won in marble-playing 35 years ago. And as I live in Europe most of these are European machine-made marbles. I am having some interesting discussion with a machine-made-collector from Italy (hi Rafael !) and he helped me identifying some of my marbles. I thought it would be interesting to share them with you, perhaps some of you have similar marbles or additional information about these. Have a nice weekend ! Ron www.glasmurmeln.com

Hi, thanks ! Stefan (who bought the first marble) already told me it's a different marble. So it seems the seller has several of these.... Ron

Is this YOUR marble again, Stefan, or a similar one ? Same seller..... http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-8-GERMAN-MICA-ONIONSKIN-ENCASED-MARBLE-SHARP-/141156769817?pt=Marbles&hash=item20dd996019 Ron

The pic of one pontil (the stranger one) is attached, the other pontil is visible in the original listing of the auction.

Hi William, it is really a friend of mine who bought this marble, I havn't even seen the listing. No, he didn't do the UV test yet, I doubt he has an UV light but this was the next thing I would have recommended him too. I just thought I will ask the community first, I was hoping someone has seen such a marble before. Thanks Ron

Hi folks A friend of mine won this auction on ebay: http://www.ebay.de/itm/131070192063 He got the marble in the meantime and now has some doubts if it is really old. It looks old to me, but I am not totally sure either. Usually, these marbles with large mica-flakes are onionskins, often with shrunken cores. But this one seems to be a Josephs Coat, isn't it ? Or would you call it an onionskin ? And the one (polished) pontil (which was not shown in the aucton - see attached picture) looks strange, doesn't it ? Thanks for your help. Ron

Hi Jeroen I ordered this one here on Amazon: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000T9HGQI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This works perfectly and somehow you feel like a Jedi when you use it ;-) Ron

Does anyone of you know which marbles glow and which not ? It is rather strange.... - ALL of my sulphides glow - about 50% of my swirls glow - most of the lutz marbles glow except the ones with blue based glass - non of my end-of-day-marbles glow Does anybody know at what time they started to use non-uranium-glass ? All my marbles are old German handmades, but perhaps the non-glowing-ones were made after WW1 and the others before ? Would be really interesting to know... I am not a Jedi yet....

Got my UV-Stick last week. I LOVE it, felt like Darth Vader when I checked my marbles yesterday MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU !!! Ron

Yes, they are definately modern. But I have to admitt, most of them look quite nice, I like these color combinations... But I would never buy them because I don't want to encourage these people to fake old marbles. Ron

The surface of that marble looks somehow strange and totally different from other marbles. http://morphyauctions.hibid.com/lot/13723501/winged-cherub-with-sash-sulphide-marble-?d0=0&d1=720&tab=0&display=50&cpage=4 Any idea why ? Thanks Ron

Hi Danny Thanks for your input. These marbles from Portugal are a different topic, there is not much knowledge about these unfortunately. Ron

Hi Wiliam No problem about hijacking my post, not at all. I am not familiar with these marbles from Portugal either, so I keep my hands off. And yes, I still love the other marble and I am not totally convinced yet it really is "modern". It is a beauty and it is quite special with this green glass and the mica. I will just keep it for another 100 years and then it is definately antique too Ron

This one looks ok to me, should be a genuine old one. Ron

Hi Jeroen Thanks for your answer. I cannot tell for sure. The glass looks "old" to me, but this doesn't mean much. Also the marble is not completely round, there is a small, really a small difference when you measure it from pole to pole and its width. What makes you think it is modern ? Have you seen similar ones ? PLMK Ron

Hi William Good point. I don't think it's a jelly core, perhaps it is cased ? Or how would green glass look with the onionskin-pattern put on it ? I have no clue, but looking at the open spaces there is always green glass, not only at the poles but also on some other parts of the marble. My blacklight is stored in the cellar, I usually don't use it (which could be a mistake sometimes). I will look for it one of these days. Thanks for your help ! Ron

Hi I got this marble in today's mail. I bought it from a guy who lives near Lauscha and picked it up on a local flea-market. The marble has just one (polished) pontil, although there is an open space at the top which allows a view into the inner marble. There is also one part of the marble with heavy mica flakes, but there is no other mica on the marble beside this spot. And the most strange thing about this marble is that it was made out of green glass. Is this common for an onionskin ? The marble measures 1.42 inches in diameter (35.6mm) and it is absolutely mint, the only "flaw" I could notice is a small as made pit near the pontil. Does any of you has informations about similar marbles ? Looking at the mica-spot, the unusual color-pattern and the single pontil it really looks like this could be a real "end-of-day" marble for which the maker used up all his remaining colors and mica-flakes. But why did he use green glass (which was probably more expensive then) ? Really a strange marble. Does anyone has informations about similar marbles ? Was it more or less common to use colored glass for onionskins ? Would be really nice to get some more information about this marble. Thanks a lot for your help Ron

Still waiting... I doubt they will send it... Ron