manylittle

Those burnt sparklers are spectacular !!!!!!!!!!!!

Would it be safe to say that there were significantly fewer of this type of popeye than the regular ones? As far as thread jacking goes, I have learned so much here that I did not even notice....learning is a good thing...Speaking of learning,....do you have a pic of a burnt sparkler? Thanks so much if you do.

I didn't have a problem.....I was just trying to tell Duffy what I had to do when I had trouble posting links. A really nice member of this site, I forget this or her name, told me to do what I just told Duffy to do and it worked. Before I tried that, I would copy the link and not only would it not show up as a link when I pasted in the message, It would not show up in the message in any form at all.

If Akro bought out MFC's remaining marbles for resale purposes, why would they have wound up in the dirt? It doesn't make sense. zOr am I entirely mis-understanding here.

toggle?

I know how to fix that...just click on the 'more reply options' box at the lower right of the reply box...that brings up a tool bar at the top of your reply box. Then click on the upper left, top, thingy....words have deserted me...lol....and copy and past your link, and walla..!!!! its there just like majic and thanks to the person....and of course I have forgotten their name...who showed that little miracle to frustrated little ole' me !!!!

No, not at all. For example....In my other store at Ruby Lane, I had about 5,000 items listed at the most. RL charges a monthly fee, a per piece per month fee, and a per piece listing fee, but there is no charge when you sell your item. Even so, for as many items as I had, the monthly cost would be about $350.oo. ( I was part of a special program where I had earned a special placing where my own monthly fees were at half price, so it actually cost me about $175 but that program is no longer available and has not been for years, so the $350 cost is what applies to this example. I averaged about $1,500 a month in sales. TIAS charges $34.95 a month or 10% of your sales, whichever is greater. The minimum monthly charge is $34.95. I have just over 100 items listed right now, and I am not selling much, so am paying the $34.95 a month, but as I increase the number of items in my store, my sales will go up and if I get to a point where I am averaging the $1,500 a month in sales with a comparable number of items in the shop, it will cost me $150 per month on average. So, TIAS would be way more than 50% cheaper to sell in than what Ruby Lane is. These are the number one and two, seller rated cybermalls on the net. The only difference is that on Ruby Lane, you can put one more picture in your description.

I think that the way I listed it, helped. I did not try to paint it as better than it was, in fact I said that it was not in good condition at all, even got remarks about how good that made some potential buyers feel. Making your potential buyers feel good is way over half the battle. I often try to use humor in my listings...not this one....I try to make my readers laugh, if I can fit the humor with the description so that it does not look out of place...and it helps...people relax, become enthusiastic about the listing and bid more. I also try to give as much information as I can. I learned that in selling the famous Lone Wolf framed prints. I figured this out, and to prove that I was on the right track, I put two practically identical Long Wolf framed prints in my store in two different locations. One, I priced low, with no information, just the price tag. The other, I priced high, but I added a 3 by 5 card with an explanation about how this picture was in every grandma's home and that it was about the depression. The bleak winter landscape represented the spirit of the masses as there was record unemployment and people had no hope...there spirits were as bleak as that landscape...the wolf represented the wolf being at one's door...families were so close to loosing their homes etc...mothers did not have food for their children....the wolf WAS at the door !!! The first time, I sold the most expensive picture first, I thought that it was just a fluke...but I repeated it, again, and again...and the picture, even if it was over $30 or more, more than the other one, would still sell first, and the other one would stay hung on the wall. Now, of course, that 3 by 5 card gets put on each one that I get in. The same goes for other things...if I can give the story behind the piece, it gets attached to the price tag in my walk in store. Information sells, whether it is on general antiques, or on a marble. In selling this marble, for example, I could have just been lazy, like so many of us are, and just put the basic information out there....not much more than what is in a usual title....but I talked about it being a special marble because of the different colors and the cleanness of the lines...or something like that..I'm not looking at my description right now, but I'm sure you get what I mean. If you saw another one like mine at the show for $20, I hope you picked it up....you might just make a pretty profit. lol I just hope you found one in better shape. I wish I could have been at the show. I have never been to one...always say that I'll get to the Madison show some day. I have no excuse as I have a brother in town, so it would only cost my gas. lol So, how was your day there...any highlights?

I wish someone would write a book on the history of marble making, company by company....not the general types that are out there, but a real detailed one. So that things like Galen is talking about, the bringing over of MFC marbles to the Akro site and thus, getting mixed up with akros when dug and who knows what is what, especially with 'experimentals' . Does this make sense? Is there a need to put all of this detailed information together in one place...whether that be online or on paper, or maybe both. I sometimes find it hard to say what I mean so hope you are following my pea sized, but enthusiastic brain.

What a great group of slags. I like the second row from the top, second marble from the left...maker? Thanks so much ahead of time.

There is plenty of 'clear' in this one. I've got it up on ebay so I'll let the buying public decide how desirable or not it is. Keep your fingers crossed for me.!!!

Some of those in the box look more swirly than others. Would the fifth mib from the left, top row be called a cherryaide? and the far right one bottom row, does that have a name? Thanks for that insight into the swirlyness of aides. It helps to see them in a box and it also helps to hear from people who know much more about the history of the making of these mibs, than what I will absorb in a lifetime. Thanks so very much from the tippy top of my heart !!!

I took these pics with a black light as a flash setting with no light just did not show the problem good enough and a regular flash was too bright. I think you can see where the spiral from the bottom meets up with the top part of the marble. I moved the marble just a little each picture so that you could see the progression. Do I call this a cork, a messed up cork, a wanna be cork or a not a cork at all, cork? lol Thanks with your help on these two marbles. I want to put these two along with another cork, a green cork on a milky greenish base, translucent, that also fluoresces that bright Vaseline green under a black light, together in an auction. They are all 5/8 and in near mint condition. Thanks again, for all of your help.

For the rest of you it is one of the best cybermalls on the net. If you google TIAS antiques, you'll run into it right away. It needs more marble people, though, which is one of the reasons for the changes, to make it more marble people friendly.

Thanks for that information on experimental. I thought it was overused for anything that someone could not identify. lol

The new pics might take a while, so bear with me. Thanks, Vicki

I have two different corkscrews. One is a lemonaide that has a beginning that looks just like the end of a wrench, and then the handle of that wrench spirals around the marble from top to bottom, just like a obedient corkscrew...only that top wrench head is naughty. The next one is a limeaide and in that one, the spiral seems to start out normally but seems to thin out on the other end and it does connect with the spiral on the other end but it is obvious that it is running into a second spiral. .Hard to explain. I'm gonna show both mibs to you here and then tell me if I can still legitimently list them as corkscrews even with the deviations that they show. Look closely at the limeaide as it was the hardest to photograph to show the aspect that I am talking about. Thanks so much for all of the help that you give me. Believe me, this 'newbie' needs it. I've put hundreds of hours into studying marbles and thought I knew a lot but some of you guys are mountains ahead of me in knowledge. I am awestruck at the number of hours you must have put into your studies. I think that three pics are enough to show the problem with the lemonaide cork so will devote most of the space to the limeaide one. Have lit it with a flashlight to show it more clearly. Second and third shows beginning of the spiral. That looks like what a normal cork would look like. The other end looks like a spiral starting out that has two tails. Those tails taper out and meet the ending point of the spiral from the other end. At least everything is going in the same direction. I am going to take some different pics as the ones I have do not show the anomaly clearly enough. The first .green pic shows the ending of the first spiral that starts in pics two and three.

more pics

This is the weirdest popeye I've ever seen. Almost all of the popeyes I have seen and had, have had the colors mostly on the outside of the marble. This one, though, you can see that the colors go deep into the center of the marble like a ribbon corkscrew would. Is it an experimental? Does this characteristic make it rare or special? Opinions would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

Just thought that I would like to announce that after many discussions back and forth with management at TIAS, they have decided to expand their marble category from just .......Toys Marbles.........to at least 4, maybe 5. There will now be two categories for machine mades, pre and after 1970, and three categories for hand mades, Contemporary, Antique, and German.....am not sure if the German one will include the word Antique or not. I tried to get them to see that they only needed a Contemporary one and a Victorian or Antique German one, because the vintage ones, almost all of those were made in Germany. I have never seen one made anywhere else. I also told them, that the marble community was used to the German category at Ebay, and might respond better if they used what was familiar to them. In the end, though, I can give them information but they make the decisions and I am very happy with the changes there as I think it makes the cybermall much more marble friendly. The first four categories are up now, and the last, the German one will be up sometime early next week. So if any of you are considering setting up in a general antique and collectibles cybermall, think of them. They are highly rated by sellers and are usually in the top two of best cybermalls to sell from as voted on by the sellers themselves.

What size are they? and what do the pontil ends look like? pics? I think that would help.

Hi Stephan...I like the colors...have always been and earthy gal myself !!! lol Looks like a divided ribbon core swirl. Don't know if its rare either but I like it and I like the fact that people are coming to this thread and participating. That is what makes it fun....to always come and see what is new and exciting !!! I know, I know, I must have an awfully small brain if a little old marble can get me excited rather than some huge thing with global meaning !!!!

Marbles34 I like the butterfly.....1st pic....one. I think that that one is pretty rare but am no expert at all, still just learning after 25 years. I have had to be a generalist what with owning an antiques store, so could not eat, sleep and drink marbles like some....still, I study them as much as I can and have learned a lot over the years....I'm so grateful for sites like this one as they effect one's ability to learn exponentially.!!!!!

There's that new tv show where the people clean out the garage for free as long as they can keep what is in it. Maybe he should call them? They even remodel the space after they empty it. All for free !!! lol It would be fun to do something like that.

I can't afford to retire !!!! and I'm starting to date a guy who loves to 'cook healthy' it scares me to death !!!!! lol don't smoke, though...never learned how to inhale...to the disgust of my maryjane loving cousin !!!