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Gnome, I built a three head machine in about 1980 with directions from an old Lapidary Journal, its not hard and much less expensive that those 3 head machines on the market. ALl my best ...... Danny

Some bead collectors are pretty far out there and you would be amazed at the price some of the old rare beads sell for. When I got the marble that is in post 13 finished just for laughs I posted it on the bead forum and asked if I should drill it (I already knew I would not) there were quite a few that said to drill it. No way I am going to mess up such a wonderful example of the best of the best in German marble glass work. All my best .... Danny Image of another marble made into a bead 22mm

Rich, I agree with not wanting to wear such a large bead. I saw an image of a woman wearing a triple strand of German marble beads, I'll see if I can find it and if so I will post is. I too am after the internal art in the marble, my wife and I have about twenty conserved German marbles in the window sill, what a treat to sit and look at them each evening while we are visiting. Image of one of the marbles I made a bead from. All my best .. Danny

Thank you Rich, I had never seen work done on marbles with torching until I came to this forum. I am amazed at what can be done with such a damaged marble. I am taking as little off the surface of the marbles I am working on as possible. My main concern is not to intrude into the end, this said many of the marbles I conserve still have quite a few dings in them. I have posted quite a few of my marbles on a bead collector forum and in doing so have had more than a few German marble/ German marble bead collectors ask me to do a little magic on some of their marbles. The image I am attaching is a very large marble I did for one of those people who is both a bead collector and a marble collector. I think the results speak for themself and I can tell you that the person that had me do this is far more thrilled with what they have now over what they sent to me. Finished size of this marble 53.25 mm 2.09 inch All my best ........ Danny

When I first started to conserve these wonderful little pieces of art work I had more than a few people tell me that they would not be worth as much to marble collectors. This did not matter to me one way or the other as I was more interested I showing the art of the marble rather than making it worth more or less. I think richsantaclaus said it so well I won’t dwell on this part of the topic. Galen may or may not believe what I say next but many of the marbles I have purchased have or will be made into beads for all of the bead freaks out there that cannot afford a true as made German marble bead (very expensive). To give Galen an example, early on I purchased a very nice polished German marble from Ebay, I paid far too much, but at the time I had yet done any conservation. I then had a friend ask me to drill a killer German marble for him that was nearly 1 3/4 inch. As I had never drilled a marble of any kind I decided to drill my Ebay purchased marble as practice prior to drilling his. All worked out well and I did my friends marble for him. The Ebay marble cost me 150.00 drilling cost a little time, the first person that saw this bead had no problem giving me 300.00 for it. Don’t know if this work made the marble worth more or less but it sure made a very nice bead, I think something is only worth what you get for it. Images include Ebay marble I practiced on and my friends marble on a 4mm silver chain. All my best ......... Danny

1313 Thank you for showing that wonderful strand. For Flanco your bead is drilled, the indent is caused by pressure from the drill at the bottom of the marble when it is being drilled. These images are of a hot punched marble, notice how the color got pushed back into the marble when pierced and on the backside its pretty much smooth. Yes I did start this topic on German marble beads that were traded not trade beads in general, trade beads is another topic that is best investigated off of this thread. All my best ...... Danny

Rich, This marble was one of the first I purchased and I got really lucky on it, once I got it done it ended up being a 3 layer that is quite large it finished at 43 mm 1.69 inch. I have others that I took images of prior to working on them and will post more when I have time. To date I have conserved nearly 100 German marbles some that are truly thrilling. All my best . Danny

Rich, The first images I will post from start to finish are of the German marble bead that got me somewhat obsessed with German marbles over the past 18 or so months. The bead was put on the trades pages at the beadcollector.net with the statement that the person had tried in vain to sell it on fleabay and that if someone did not buy it off of the trade page he was going to take a hammer to it. Well I had always wanted a true as made German marble bead so I bought it, after I received it I decided to do some magic to it. The images show the stages I went through from start to final polish. Having been a lapidary/jeweler for a living since 1977 I do all of my work on the marbles by hand. The first thing I do is balance out the outer layer of glass which as we both know is never equally layered on the marble. I then go through various stages to get to the final polish. All my best ........ Danny

As I am far from an expert on this type bead if you'd like to know more about their history the best place to go is beadcollector.net and do a search on German marble beads, they have been quite a topic over the years so there is plenty of information on them. All my best ..... Danny

Rich, I too do a bit of conservation on the old marbles, my largest so far is just under two inches smallest less than half inch. I have an onionskin that is over two but have set it aside for now. I have attached 2 images of my favorite on to date. All my best ..... Danny

Marble beads from the African and Asian trade I have been a bead collector for nearly forty years and one of the most desirable to me and most collectors are the German marbles that were finished off as beads for trade in Africa and Asia. My question do any of you marble collectors have any marble beads in your collections? If so I would truly like to see images of what you have. I have included two images of some of the as made beads for those that have never seen them. All my best ......... Danny

Ann, Having spent quite awhile in China some years ago I saw them making very large carvings with this type of glass, I think the Chinese have perfected making the glass as it is now so cheap to buy. This type glass also used to be called goldstone in the lapidary world, when I first started lapidary 35 years ago the goldstone was very expensive and hard to come by. All my best ....... Danny

As an avid bead collector for nearly forty years and now becoming a marble freak. I have to say that this is without a doubt it is adventurine, just noticed Ann's message above so I am agreeing with her. All my best ..... Danny