jeroen

Can someone post photos of those Euro sparklers? Perhaps I have some myself. Jeroen

I am sorry, it was not my intention to hijack this thread. It was better to start a new topic. But to turn back to this topic, I wish I could use Ebay as a wholesale marked, but I think it is harder with handmade marbles than machine-made. Machine made marbles, are probably sold more often in large lots, big jars etc., and then there is more chance to find some treasures. I am not sure, but in a lot of handmade marbles it is probably easier for a larger group of collectors to spot a very unusual one. So to get a bargain and sell with profit is harder with handmade marbles. I was never successful with handmade marbles on ebay, and machine-made marbles are just not my thing. Jeroen

Hi Danny, Thanks for your answer, but what about the one (or more) that Gnome Punter sold you? He writes: I sold them too him. Jeroen

Galen, Before this post was made, I had in mind to ask question about machine mades, because I do know almost nothing about them. On the website: http://www.usadisplay.net/antiques/marbles/marpalrare.htm They are asking up to almost $4000 for them. I was just curious what rare means with machine mades. Rare is subjective of course. If there are 1000 marbles of the same kind, but 10.000 collectors want one, it can still be a rare marble for collectors, because it is hard to get. But is seems that you are picking on every marble that I post. I can't say with handmades that they are rare, but for machine mades it is ok? I must say I get sick and tired of you! To post one unusual machine made results in many many posts. Some post a very RARE (not me) example of a hand made, and you have to be luck to get af reactions. I just think the hand mades deserve a little more attention!

savage 28 wrote: A rare peltier mib... and what is rare in this case? How many blue galaxy's are there? 10, 100, 500, or even more?

I received an email from a collector who collect marbles for 40 years. In that period he had seen only one black latticino core.

Hello, I think these swirls are pretty rare. I recently bought them. One is a divided core with two kinds of blue color, surrounded by a latticino core. The other two are probalby same cane black core latticino marbles. I have never seen a black core before. Have any of you seen similar swirls? Jeroen

Someone in Germany more than 100 years ago

a nice crazy swirl for this day Jeroen

yellow and green lines

ANSWER FROM THE MUSEUM I got an answer from the museum, but there was some confusion about the technique. Dr. M Faye Prior thought my ball had true inlaid agate as a mineral. So I explained what I knew about my ball until now. It could be that Dr. M Faye Prior is not familiar with the ceramic inlaid agateware technique, or he is not the right expert, but he did not tell in his answer that he recognised any ball in their collection that looked the same. But Dr M Faye Prior is willing to look further into it, but that might take until the summer. Find his email to me here, and my answer. Did I miss some important things to ask? Jeroen ==================================== Dear Mr Pater, Thankyou for your enquiry. I have recently audited our collection of carpet bowls, and I don't remember seeing anything exactly like the bowl in the photographs. Generally carpet bowls are ceramic, with a glaze which can vary from a single uniform colour to complex patterns, some of which are similar to your example. If your bowl is inlaid agateware, the surface will be composed of thin slices of agate (a type of silicate rock, not a kind of marble) applied onto the ceramic. Agate is a common mineral, but inlaid agateware is not a common technique. I can't see well enough in the photographs to tell whether yours has a ceramic glaze or inlaid agate. The History team will not be able to pursue enquiries indepth until late Summer, as we are currently working on a major exhibition, but I would be happy to look into this further for you after the exhibition opens. Please let me know. Best regards M Dr M Faye Prior Collections Facilitator (History) ========================================== Dear Dr M Faye Prior, Thank you for your answer. What I have find out until now is that the marble is made of ceramic, not of the actual mineral agate. But they call this type of ceramic agate, or agateware. It is imitation of the true mineral agate. So I think that is the confusion here, I was not exact enough. What I know about the technique is that in this case with this ball, that the pattern is made from pieces of preworked clay, and than placed on the surface in a certain pattern. This is called inlaid or surface agateware. After this is got the glazing. My ball has a thick layer of clear glazing. I have attached a larger photo of my ball. The glazing looks the same as on old pottery, like old Delft Blue pottery. Some information about the inlaid technique can be found here: http://www.michelleericksonceramics.com/pdf/CiA2003_Erickson&Hunter.pdf see figure 11 and 12 (I have attached this pdf also) And there are some people who still use this technique, as show here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGSW2yC2JE0#t=26 The article shows only two fragments of this kind of pottery. So the technique is known, but pottery seems to be very rare. So I was wondering if my ball in this inlaid technique is perhaps a unique one. I would like it very much if you can find out ore about my ball after the summer. With kind regards, Jeroen Pater

It would be nice to have some of the cold from the USA here in the Netherlands! Today we had +14,6 degrees centigrade. The warmest 6th December ever recorded. I like ice skating, and next week it should go below zero here! So I hope for a little winter fun on ice. Jeroen

I did no know how the technique worked at post1. But I think it cost a lot more time than the normal agateware/mochaware types. That is more a matter of mixing the clay in a certain pattern if I am correct. That is probably why there are much more of those, than there are of mine. It is even not certain if this was made as a carpet ball. Perhaps it was made just as some very large handmade glass marbles, just to be nice for display on shelves. But if the museum has the largest collection in the world they must know something about it.

Hello Mike, That is a so called Pennsylvania Dutch marble. Very nice one! Jeroen

Here's an example (this one's smaller though) of a recent sale on eBay for this type of bowl. Not as fancy, but also quite rare: http://www.ebay.com/...E-/330991514882 Quite rare? What? You have two big jars with this kind of bowls, so that ebay one is not rare. That one and the same with all your others, is a completely different technique in my opinion. If mine has such a simple and easy made technique, why are there not more? I could not find any other kind of old pottery in this technique, so that tells me enough of how rare this marble is. And even if there were two, would it make it worthless? How many china scenics are there. They still sell for a lot of money. A good one for $5000-6000? Perhaps my 10 K is a bairgain? ;-) My daughter, who has a degree in fine arts (and thus a more critical eye for 'museum pieces'), did not like the unfinished way the agate veneer was put together. "One of Bernays favorite techniques for manipulating public opinion was the indirect use of "third party authorities" to plead for his clients' causes." So by bringing in your daughter…. are you now not use this same “third party authority" technique for your cause? In this case, you to try to make my marble as common and cheap as possible? But it is probably unique and very nice. Let wait what the people of the museum have to tell.

Hi Craig, As soons as I hear from them I will let you know. Jeroen

There are two people from the York Castle Museum who are going to look at my photos. I hope to receive an answer soon. In the book of Paul Baumann there are some photos of this museum, but noting that looks like mine. I have tried to find any other pottery of this kind, but I still could not find a single example. I also asked two antiquarian pottery dealers in England, but still no success. To show how detailed it is made, I have attached a large photo of one the circles. In some of the parts, I can count 8 or 9 layers. The layers are almost as thin as a hair! Jeoen

Can you post some photos of the 3 inch + marbles?

Hi Mike, Nice onionskins. I the middle one the submarine, that was made into a paperweight? Jeroen

Hello Greg, I would love to see some photos. If it is only buffed and the pontils are still there, than I would be interested. Jeroen

Thanks Craig. I will contact them. I am curious if the have similar examples. Jeroen

Thank you for the link. I wonder if it really is 2-1/2 inch. I have a marble that is 2-7/16, or jut over, and that weights 11.2 oz. This one is stated as 11 oz. So it probably oes not reach 2-1/2 inch. But it is a nice marble, but to expensive for me. Jeroen

Hello, I tried to find some examples of this kind of technique (surface/inlaid agate) on other types of pottery, but until now the parts shown in the article are the only examples I could find. I could not find a vase, jug, bowl or whatever with this pattern. Perhaps I don't use the right words, but it seems that it is not very common. Perhaps there is someone who can find an example of old pottery with this technique. I would be interesting to compare. Jeroen

Very nice marbles. Find attached my best marble. A 2-3/16 inch left tornado twist 16 lobed onionskin. Very nice design. Most marbles have a twist to the right, this one to the left. I look forward to see more photos of nice handmade marbles. Jeroen

is it your collection? what do you know about these marbles? how old are they?