SequoiaBET

Correction: it was ID'd as a ghost core onion skin, not a naked core cloud as I erroneously called it last night. I guess I was a bit tired when I posted the update! My bad. Thanks @akroorka The local folks who did the in hand ID are trusted names in the marble community, so I am inclined to trust their ID. But I will send pics to Block too to see what they say too.

Hard to tell from the pictures, better ones of fewer marbles would help with ID, but I don't see anything hand made- all machine mades from the 1950's on as far as I can see. Lots of very common marbles and looks like some condition issues. Others might see a few good ones or something I missed. But again, tough to see any gems from the pics.

UPDATE: I was at the local Bay Area marble meet today and several people there felt this is a rare naked core German Cloud from the 1850's. It has been polished, but they were quite sure it is from the very early era of German handmades. Posted here to bump it back to the top, for those who are interested.

P.S. Love the Video!

You're welcome! I'm glad you found something you had been looking for. Maybe one of the older heads on this site would know more about how and/or where Land of Marbles would have gotten these. For me, Land of Marbles was a web store where I bought a few of my very first marbles 12-13 years ago. But in reading other forum posts it sounds like they were much more than that. I believe it was run by a well known collector and had a forum that contained a lot of valuable marble history and info. (That may have been lost forever.) Here is a link to a forum on AAM for that discussion. https://www.allaboutmarbles.com/viewtopic.php?p=325658&sid=18c1ea1158689a0bc288ad9cec90a32e That may be a place to start if you are interested in further investigating the origin of these marbles. Let me know if you learn more.

Got you. Thanks for clarifying Roberto!

Thanks folks! It seem off to me too. I agree the colors aren't typical German and also the way they sit on the base glass seemed atypical too. Adding the pontils- interesting! Never heard of that! When you say "Bulgarian", Roberto- what do you mean? If I remember correctly, I have read about someone making marbles a while back and claiming they were vintage Bulgarian from the 60's or something like that. Are you referring to that? If so, any more details on the story would be welcome. It came as part of a much larger purchase, so it only cost me a few bucks. And it came with no claims about what it was or anything.

Wow- that's really cool! The one from the Block auction basically looks just like mine. They must have come from the same maker.

Did you have yours made, Roberto?

UPDATE: I was at the local Bay Area marble meet today and several people there felt this is a rare ghost core onionskin from the 1850's. It has been polished, but they were quite sure it is from the very early era of German handmades. 1 day latter- It is a ghost core onion skin, not a naked core cloud as I erroneously called it last night. I guess I was a bit tired when I posted the update! It was part of a larger group of Germans, but it looks different than any others I have seen. But I have only seen a few hundred of them , so maybe this one isn't that unique. The pontils suggest German to me as well. It's 3/4 inch. And is it considered a cloud?

Thanks for the help and info Chad. Much appreciated! I'm glad the open windows don't mean polished as I have noticed it in several of mine- especially the bigger ones as you noted. None of them seemed polished to me, but I remember reading that "missing glass" is a sign of polishing and I wasn't sure how that applied to these antique hand mades.

Thanks for the link and thanks for the video! I picked up a few of these recently because I love the way they look. I see I have a few more color combos to seek out! And maybe I'll get lucky and find one of those hybrids!

Congrats and big thanks, Tommy!

Wow- lots of nice marbles! Love looking at them all. Here is one of mine. It's a naked ribbon core with a nice thin ribbon coming in at 11/16 inch (17.5mm). It looks like 2 different marbles when you look at each side of the ribbon. I can't believe how they got such a difference in such a thin ribbon. Excellent craftsmanship!

Thanks for sharing Roberto! Yours is very similar to mine. Love it!

Thanks for the additional details about the dates, Chad. Did earlier German hand mades tend to have more finished pontils? Which would be the 1850-1870 range?

Would this be considered "English style" due to the brighter colors? (That orange really pops.) And is it a Joseph's coat? It's 13/16 inches.

Thanks! I'm glad it's not polished. Some of my handmades have such rough pontils and others are very nicely melted down. I wasn't sure it that was a sign of polishing or just a difference in craftsmanship from the original maker. I was also wondering if maybe the higher quality ones were a little older. I've heard that in latter years they were cranked out at a faster pace to try to keep up with increasing demand for them, thus lowering quality. I'm working on learning the difference between onionskin, clouds, and Joseph's coats. With some marbles it is clear, while others seem to blur the lines between categories. (For me, at least.) I need to see if I can find some more discussion on antique Germans on this site or AMM. Any links with more info would be welcome!

Do the clear windows at the pontils (pic 1 & 6) mean it may be polished? And would it be considered a 4 panel cloud? It has some very light Mica and is 7/8 inches.

Some may find it gaudy, but I love it! Two of my favorite things together! My question is who made it? Is it Chinese? I bought 4 of them from Land of Marbles about 12 years ago or so. It's 45/64 (.70) inches

Thanks Akroorka! I would not have guessed Pelt for this one. (And ironically, if forced to choose something for my other 'I have no guess' post I would have said Imperial.) Thanks for noticing the image quality too. I recently upgraded my phone and wow!- the picture quality is absolutely amazing. I'm so glad I spent a little extra to get a model with a better camera. It makes taking pictures of your marbles so much more fun.

It's 1 inch.

... so I won't even try. There is some transparency as seen in the last pic. It's 55/64 (.86) inches.

Thanks folks! I had always seen it as "pincher", and I thought that made sense as the poles look pinched together. Is "pincer" a company or jobber name?

They are 15/32 (.46) inches