1Alleynut

As also mentioned in the above article, Dendritic Agates finding a nice one in a Sphere form can be difficult, better seen on a flat plane as in these Lady's Pendants both from India.

Little deeper discusions here Dennis,I think you will enjoy It!! All Aboard the Midnight Marble Express. DB.

Just a little agate story behind the Bolo ties in the photos, The Orange and white banded one is kinda crazy but true, growing up in Illinois the summers were filled with fishing excursions to the rivers or local lakes, I had a good friend whose parents lived on a private lake near Sherrard Ill, his dad had a paddle boat with a cooler in the middle so a few cold beers were always welcome paddling around the lake bass fishing, most of the homes around the lake had either sand or gravel / river rock beaches, One day after a (few) cold ones traveling across a deep section, 25 -30 feet deep 30- 40 yards offshore we noticed that somehow the plug went missing !! oh crap!! the paddle boat started filling rapidly with water, we started paddling like mad men trying to reach the shore before we took on to much water, as we approached the shore maybe 10 - 12 feet away I jumped out in waist deep water and tried quickley to get to the beach so he could throw me the rope to pull the paddle boat in, after a few steps I tripped on a log unseen under the water which put me quickley face down into the gravel on the beach, to my surprise was this fantastic agate right in my face, I grabbed it and said hey man I just found a kick ass agate!! his reply was screw the agate Dave pull in the #%&*@ing boat which I did, half full of water at this point, he was a bit upset actually rather upset, But I had one killer Agate in my pocket which put a smile on my face anyway, years later after moving to Colorado met a gem and mineral friend also a jewler who cabbed the stone and made the 1st bolo tie, the second Tie I purchased the stone at the Denver Gem and Mineral show, Azurite and malachite with some dendritic activity at the top, this stone I had commisioned to a native american to do with his own design which included a small ruby and gold feather.DB.

This is why I enjoy this site, the depth, discusion, documentation put forth by members is really unmatched elsewhere. The above information is truley fantastic and goes to a level as where there really shouldn't be to many questions remaining about how where and when agate marbles were produced and the process involved, heres a few photos of some vintage agate rings, I would also go into some greater depth about the agates that are from the U.S. not dyed or heat treated, specifically Lake Superior are some of the best found in the U.S. But this is not a Gem and mineral site, so perhaps I'll leave it at that.but will add 2 additional posts just to add some pics of different examples from the above chapter from the book. I would love to show many different angles of the rings all vintage, some great embossing and stamping or etching on the sides, the Art deco in the center is really nice, the (domed) agate is interesting. DB

More Brazilian Agates 3/4 +

Purple Flourite, from Tennesse and Lemonade Onyx from California.

I believe Mathew also made the crazy lace agate that was given to me as a gift, What would you pay for a (Real) Nice one? considering the cost of descent vintage glass these days, I find this one very very tempting, and I have purchased from Rikoo before, smooth transaction several years ago. Ebay item # 381178671293 a larger stunning example. DB.

Smile and have a Green Beer!

Nothing wrong with a plain old Black & white, (stone) Then I just couldn't help myself, so Happy St. Patricks day in advance From Blackhawk Agates a few smoked Pistachios. DB.

Very nice bags, and loose marbles as well, It's great to see some of Champion Agates (early) material in package, I'd like to see alot more from that era surface (in bags ) specifically the Corals to either solve a few mysterys or put a few concepts to rest. Those dark purple and white look real similar to some Jacksons. DB.

Thank You! Nice inclusions on that one Alan, I always look at those as bonus features or extras. Here's a Mexican Crazy Lace Agate that was hand faceted a few years ago that was given to me as a birthday gift 2 years ago, the reason for modern day hand faceting on some is that the material used is to Brittle and or soft and would literaly fall apart if a sphere machine was used. DB.

Great add on Steph, I know a few members here have a few of the original box sets of those, if were lucky they will post them, along with the easier to find Akro's.

Very crude Ground. to so long to write the first post, there the photo of the Furnace is, Great!

And you wont get an Answer Galen, A seller from Bulgaria last year in early 2014 made a big mistake by having some photos of them up for sale in a Window sill In (Bulgaria) Prior to this photo I had serious thoughts as others that they could have some age to them, heck nice patterns pretty glass hand gatherd (9's) whats not to like, a wide array of colors. Problem was in this photo that the bulgarin seller had put on ebay was you could very clearly see the tell tale reflection of a Glass furnace in the backround, clear as day. After that photo my thoughts of any age to them went up in smoke real quick, and of coarse when theres $$$$ involved they will give the marbles any titlle they so choose, handmade, antigue, vintage, Leighton, what ever they want to put the $$$ in the bank, I think they will definetly continue to do this as long as they keep selling, Sometimes they go for cheap while others can go between 20.00 and 60.00 depending on the colors and beauty of the pattern, Old Vintage Antique Leighton"s, No, fake imposter cheap imitations,Lieing cheating Bulgarian glass artists that want in your wallet because they have found out that American collectors will pay good money for something different and unique YES ! The worst part of it is when the reach the U.S. and american marble collectors and dealers try and pass them off as Old or Leighton's once there are here is just not right, Perhaps they should be referred to as Bulgarian Art Glass marbles, with the vintage tag removed, and of coarse when they first arrived on the scene many people including myself were intrigued and had to have a few at least as examples just incase they happened to be actually old, The earlier ones have very rough ground or sheared pontils, as long as there are buyers they will continue to make them, I wonder how many are in the large gunny sack photo? DB.

Love the Solitare board full, Do you have any or seen the Yellow ones? DB.

So lets get it rolling Break out your Agates!

So to summerize abit, what were the early glass companies trying to produce? MFC and Navarre with the hand gathered types with the often perfect (9's) followed by the exterior concentric rings, Perhaps the (Bullseyes) was the goal, then off to Christensen Agate Co. some of the early slags and more so the Striped Opaques with the heavy colorerful banding, immatating natural agates very well, Off to Akro Agate, The Carnilians and Cornilians box sets are very impressive when it came to immatting natural stone, the colors of the glass used was really spot on. How about Alley Agates, Vitro Agates, Heaton Agates, Champion Agates each has there specific styles all intended to replicate the beauty of natural stone, Thus the word Agate in the titles or company name, Which company do you think did the best job of this? So if you have them availble any kind of stone or glass box sets Please post some photos if possible, Since I dont, last November After Visiting a local gem and mineral show I was very inspired to try and accomplish some with very tight bands and striations in varying natural and un-natural colors, because The Glass artisans cant,or haven't yet. I thought someone needed to get on it, Tigers Eyes you bet! tight banding with subsurface depth you know it! Dave Becker, Blackhawk Agates.

The Real Moss Agates, can also be quite stunning if you are in to a wide array of very Earth tone colors, to many shades of green brown lavenders to pinks, always with open windows of sometimes multipul opalescent or foggy white concentric rings, with many of the prime examples in slab form actually appear to have interior (moss) frozen on time. To find almost every example shown in these posts try ebay under Mineral Spheres or Agate Spheres, and you will get an eyeful, warning it can lead to Agate Addiction.

Red Jasper & Tiger's Eye, a few more Mineral types that can produce some intense bullseyes, due to the high iron content the rusty looking Tigers Eyes can also have some amazing bands of shimmering gold and or silver which appears very metalic on the surface, Often seen from the 50's throught modern times in rock and mineral stores just with polished peices by the handfuls in western roadside souvineer shops, quite popular.and can be real fantastic in large specimans.

Then lets travel off the coast of Madigascar for some Ocean Jasper, mining has since been prohibited on this material, it is always on a white quartz type matrix with many many shades of pink and dark to light green with a insane amount of Bullseyes on some of the better specimans, a very brittle stone often fractured on many of the specimans, once again allthough quite a few under 1in these also would be designated as mineral spheres.

Nice Color.

Then here are some Natural colored Agates from Botswana South Africa, generally always in these colors light pink and or lavender hues on a mostly grey or off white matrix with almost always very deep heavily layered intense 3-d shimmering effect in hand that is quite incredible, Also would be called Mineral Spheres due to there age of manufacture, mostly used for jewelry and beads and very easy to see why.

In the Late 1920's there are also the "onyx" types, which were put into Box sets with Numerous labels Califorina Onyx Marbles also sporting some very nice Bullseye patterens concentric rings and fine layering, a very soft material used for just about eveything from bowls, ashtrays, chess pieces, to dinnerware, The original Box sets of these intact should be considerd (rare). Hand faceted and Machine ground examples.

Very Very Nice Board Full !! So then off to the present we go, when they can be large, then more often described as (mineral spheres), the bottom row and top right are 1 1/2in while the top row first 3 are at 2 in Most of the modern are from Brasil and or China, and they can get very large and intense just depending on how much you want to spend, and a very good majority of them are dyed.

I was sleepy after dinner and just couldn't get to it, So Good Morning! and here we go, The early hand faceted types were first created in Germany, as early as the late 1850's and perhaps a little earlier, a good portion of these are all natural not dyed until a few decades later, these Agates as seen in the first photo are the most common colors associated with the early hand faceted types, marketed as fine Carnilian Agates, which was also used in the late 1920s through the 1930's by Akro Agate, same name and or colors,and Cornilians.( Please post a photo of a box set if you have one and note the similarities in the colors) With the Early German types they are of a very hard material reaching 9.0 on the MOHS hardness scale which is right under Diamonds at 10. Slighty pourous, once ground into shape they were soaked in colored dyes then heated then polished to great some beautiful hues of blue, green or yellow, which are difficult to find in the hand faceted types,besides the straight white were abundant but you cant see the banding and beauty unless color was added. Most but not all early ones are 1in and under, however there are some fine examples of Large ones out there just few and far between, The information put forth earlier in this post is well done and correct on all parts, My dad used to play marbles as a boy and mentioned that in the early 1950's in the local tournaments, "Aggies" and "steelies" were basically forbidden from use, they could and easily can blow apart a glass marble, which would get some kids rather upset he told me. Next will be the Large Modern Agates and mineral spheres.