SequoiaBET

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! Another day latter- just to clarify, It was called a "Ghost Onionskin" (Not Ghost CORE Onionskin). I keep messing the name up for some reason. I did add some more info at the end of this post and am seeking clarification if others might agree with that concept, regardless of if my marble is one. 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

Thanks Alta. The Cotton candy is not iridescent. Should it be? And is the first one an old fashion?

Yes. That is indeed a very nice one!

3 different marbles, 3 pics each. First one is an 'Old Fashion'? It's 45/64 (.70) inches Second one is a 'Cotton Candy'? There is a very light pink color to it. It's 19/32 (.59) inches. Third one is ??? It's 19/32 (.59) inches.

The mix of science and art in glass making. Love it!

That is a nice one! Love the soft lavender colors. The other 2 marbles I posted yesterday that got ID'd as Imperials are high-end, as you say, as well. (At least in my opinion.) They certainly are much better than most of the junky newer ones I've seen- those have zero eye appeal to me. It seems that the early Imperials contained some nicer marbles- both from Asia and Mexico. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Chad- glad I can contribute to the discussion. I remember reading that post. And there is a link by slagqueen within that post to another where she has a picture of a marble similar in colors to mine that she feels is an early Imperial. (I didn't recall that specific pic, or I might have ID'd this one myself with more certainty.) So maybe this one is indeed an early Imperial made by Vacor. I know it came from the collection of someone who was a kid in Oakland, CA in the late 70's- so the timing on that fits. Always interesting to try to piece together the history of a marble!

Agreed. The purple/brownish patch is most excellent!

Thanks folks! When I was reading up on Imperials a while back, some people thought it was possible that early Imperials came from Vacor- before they started importing from Asia. So maybe this is both- Vacor made and Imperial distributed?