wediscount2

Are you saying that these Marbles are not at least a hundred years old?

No they cleaned up very nicely. A few may have gotten wider but none came apart. I'm just guessing but I think these had to be hot molded marbles when they were manufactured. The problem with them was there was so much surface pitting from the earths minerals that the crust on them would not come off. I did not want to polish on them but the calcium build up was as hard as cured concrete and I had to at least start a polish step to bust the concrete like surface. Once I did that a pen knife, rubber gloves, elbow grease and LCR enabled me to get the majority of the crust off and not completely destroy the marbles integrity. I will be listing these on ebay real soon and yes in my description's it will flat out state that the marble was polished to remove a hardened calcified surface crust and then buffed to restore somewhat of a shine. Thanks for the info on the Czechoslovakia history, I appreciate it. And OBTW any info on their age would help me out. Ronnie PS sending a pic of a little marble almost PeeWee size (.510 to .520 thousands) that was in with the group. Half of the marble is a horizontal clear based Sparkler type and the other half of the marble is just like a Peltier Banana. Very strange little Marble. Ronnie

Thanks for the info, I was just repeating what the man from Germany said about them in his description. Ronnie

That is really a sweet Marble. Ronnie

There you go starting shit again, your such a little person, you need to grow up and be a man. You nit wit, can you read, you think I would post here and at aam and state they were polished and them put them on the bay and not say the same. Your despicable, just like your little queer buddy tom

Roger, your right my mistake. I bought 2 batches, one from Gerhardt and 1 from old Festus. And I had those 2 confused. Funny thing, they live in different towns, but when I paid for my winning bids they have the same pay pal account??? Go figure. I have bought a few from Gerhart (or Gerhardt) in the past and have always been happy with what he sends me. These marbles did require a lot of TLC to make em look good, Oh well thats what I do. Ronnie

I didn't get these from Mr. Baz, but I did get from him about a week earlier some common swirls that were dug. Those however came from Thuringen Germany, and were not in too bad of shape. They did however all require a polish as once again the calcium sets in and etches into the glass surface making it next to impossible to just soak it away. If it didn't etch into the glass it may over time be dissolved. The LCR works good but it will not get into the micro small etched cavity and it leaves a little calcium dot there and it looks like a salt and pepper surface, it actuall looks worse than cerium oxide does on a lot of polished marbles that had minute bubble pops and once the cerium gets in you can forget it. Ronnie PS I always thought Gerhart was just a seller, I did not know he excavated.

Had no idea that a marble resembling a Guinea was made in Germany somewhere between 1870-1900. It is a bullet mold marble and was recently dug from an old glass house factory site in Saxony Germany. I had to polish it to get the calcium deposits loosened from it's surface as LCR didn't phase it after a week of full strength soaking. Being impatient, I polished it just enough to break through it's cement like surface crustation and then the LCR slowly started to work on it. There is still a lot of damage on it's surface as my goal was to retain as much of the marbles originality as possible. It's base glass is transparent ruby red. Also uncovered from the digging was a few sparkler type marbles, one with a good amount of mica. Other Guineas dug had transparent bases of yellow, black, lavender, and a couple shades of blue. There was also a couple of changeover type Sparklers with Guinea portions. All the marbles unearthed were bullet mold marbles. Just thought I would share the knowledge. There were also two Black Opaque Guineas. Ronnie

Contemporaries by Scott Patrick Oxbloods by Brian Graham All marbles polished by Ronnie Cox

Good one Scott, real good. Ronnie

This is the only marble I had left from the large batch I bought from Robert Brown. Steph started me on the right path to find it's maker and Sissydear gave me the real name makers family name and family roots. Marblebert has one on ebay and says the Circa: is 1920's, I'm not sure but I think more in line of the 40's thru 60's. Real unusual design with a soapstone feel to it. The Hamons were West Virginia glass artists and probably early pioneers into the marble making business as well. Scott Patrick says Mr. Hamon taught Robert Brown how to make the China marbles and Robert Brown probably helped Tom Thornburg develop his China making skills.

Forgot to say, nice Ridged Core Swirl. Ronnie

SUPER, SUPER, SUPER!!! I don't care what Tom and Scott say about you, you are a Marble Artist. Ronnie

Rich, I went and looked at your photos and I was going to give you a vote but your not allowed to vote until the 8th. of April. I'll go back in then and give you some votes. Nice pictures, Ronnie

Yeah, OK Scott, thanks for the info. Brownie was a real go getter. Remember that summer at Springfield you and I were standing there watching the deep pockets pick Guineas from Haney at $400 a pop, well Brownie had found that box of Guineas at a yard sale and sold the whole box to Haney. Never knew who old man Hamon was. Did Brownie say he was a glass craftsman and if so was he making marbles in the 40's and 50's. Sue has a hand painted china marble that Brownie gave her, and it's one of her favorite marbles. Ronnie

Bought these from Brownie (Robert Brown) in 1987 and they were all old marbles.They showed up 1 weekend, all of them at the antique fair. There were different types of glass. I realize glass is glass, but a few of the marbles had a soft feel to them almost like soapstone. If you have ever held a large Clambroth, it has a different feel than say a large Swirl, well a few had that Clambroth feel. There was also 7 or 8 old rock marbles in with the group. I knew they were old when I bought them as they "ALL" had a nice patina on them, and that only comes with age. Not sure who made them but I think they were West Virginia marbles, and hand made probably by someone affiliated with the early West Virginia glass companies. They did not have conventional pontils on them instead they had a little round bump on the pontil end (ends). I no longer own them but I'm sure there out there floating around somewhere. Main point of this little tidbit is: don't give up on the auctions, flea markets and garage sales as you never know what's going to show up. Ronnie

C'mon Galen give me a break. That $3200 was for what u brought with u from the great state of California. truth be known you probably had that or more in them. :cool-smileys-262: Can't hide from the masked man. Ronnie

Yeah then u turned right around and sold the sack full for $60. Hell I would have gave you $60 for the 1 big Onion, you dingbat!!! Ronnie

The marble also has red and blue spoting not visable in the photos. Ronnie

Yeah they big time cueballed it. Probably was 13/16ths to begin with. The 1st and 4th photos show needle like ends where the colors are being thinned out, especially in that 4th photo. Wouldn't have taken much more grinding to have turned it into a clearie. I would guess to say that when that marble was made it was a super 4 color popeye, maybe 5 colors. Oh well crap happens. Ronnie

Good eye Scott, good eye, and I know you knew it was a changeover as you have used that term many times. That's a killer Popeye, well worth some heavy dust!!! Ronnie

Been polished real hard, polished so much that it lost it's yellow, and what little bit of yellow that was left changed colors. Ronnie

It's a rare changeover Popeye Ronnie

. Thought I would post this photo as it shows the sizes that Machine Mades were manufactured and distributed in. It may help clear up the sizing using zeros. (ought's) IE: 1 ought, 2 ought, etc, etc,. Ronnie

The Green Glass Guinea Photo's have been redone at Morphy's. The bright pigeon blood red transparent spot is a little hard to see in the photo's as it is right below the surface, and is somewhat overpowered by the transparent apple green directly above it, but it's there for all to see as are the other spots. Ronnie