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http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Peltier-National-Line-Rainbow-Superman-Marble-Mint-/251105901887?pt=Marbles&hash=item3a7713fd3f

I don't think I'm a name-hater. But I'm not influenced anymore by whether or not a marble has a name. That last one looks like it has a translucent base, and as far as I know, a Blue Galaxy has an opaque base. And the base looks more yellow than green, to me.

I wouldn't have expected most of those to have any particular name.

I think this guy's marbles can hardly be beat for precision, symmetry, and eye appeal, and yet they don't look mechanical. Wish I had a few of them. Never see them on Ebay. http://www.playingwi...om/kobuki3.html

When marbles are too precise, they lose some character, IMO. Symmetry is good, but when it's overdone it looks too mechanical. JMO, of course.

Is it just the name then? And how did he get such a name?

They are high-quality, good-looking marbles, for sure. But why do they usually go for so much more than contemporaries by any other artists? http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-1988-MARK-MATTHEWS-TWISTED-FILIGRANA-MARBLE-2-INCHES-/280913350693?pt=Marbles&hash=item4167bd9025

It's no better than NM, maybe even NM-. Nothing real major, just quite a few nicks, scratches, pinpricks. I would be happy just to get my money back on it.

Here's one I wish I hadn't bought. It's all beat up. Maybe the blurred photos should have been a tip-off, but sometimes I relapse into being a trusting fool. http://www.ebay.com/itm/330723431473 I didn't pay $9.00 shipping. Got a discount because I didn't want the brass thing.

You both could be right. But I have seen onionskins with more open pontils, and they weren't polished at all.

The pontils do not look polished to me, and the description suggests that they have been pretty much left intact, while the rest of the marble has been polished. I have seen Onionskins that were not polished at all, and they had pontils alot more open than this one has.

It also looks like it might have eight mini lobes, maybe more.

It's no big deal. Just sort of wanted it. I take being outbid pretty much in stride anymore.

It looks like a picture of each pole, and I knew it was polished. I'd rather have some remaining damage than have the pontils ground off, or wide-open at the poles, or a misshapen marble. I think it's probably worth $500, but I wasn't willing to go any higher than that (didn't really want to go even that high).

I wanted this but my bid was too low. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&item=290735482989&nma=true&rt=nc&si=WXTcRGXdqcdvcXd3opl2ANr80tM%253D&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Your gracious polite seller didn't change their listing.

That was my first thought. Guess that makes it even less valuable.

Hey, I got an idea! Why don't we do a really bad polishing job on some old beat-up handmade, so it looks peculiar, and thereby give people the idea that it's really RARE and VALUABLE.

Somebody sure liked it alot, contemporary/bad polishing job or not. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item43b11feff3&item=290734469107&nma=true&pt=Marbles&rt=nc&si=UgylagE%252Bto0OUlwwPj1x08FNM4g%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

http://www.ebay.com/...=item43b11feff3 I'm guessing contemp. And if someone is going to polish a marble, I wish they would do it so the end result is round, not oval with pointed ends. http://www.ebay.com/...=item46050b2b64 Or even worse, oblong or misshapen. http://www.ebay.com/itm/089-POLISHED-1-7-8-Antique-German-Handmade-Onionskin-Cloud-/300732330645?pt=Marbles&hash=item46050b3295

It went awfully cheap, esp for such a large size. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&item=130719446968&nma=true&rt=nc&si=rfeHcdwEJoxY%252FKS8HBepIqgpxhU%253D&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

They are making good money on those, and 100% positive feedback. http://www.ebay.com/csc/youhave2bid2win/m.html?item=251096683666&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc Gutta perchas will probably be next on the agenda.

I don't see much difference between that blue one, and some Vacors I've seen.

The marbles in post #22 look clearly contemporary to me, not CAC.

I just noticed that the + sign got deleted from the file names (also the hyphen between the marble size). So the file names with a space between the word "Mint" and the $ are the Mint+ ones.