Leroy is certainly not dead as he just polished these for us. First time we polished anything; they look great...we can really enjoy them now. We do not care if they are the dreaded "polished marble". Other ways I try to see if a marble is polished...it is more oblong than round, bec the middle has been polished down in an attempt to leave the pontil intact, if any damage is noted, are the ends rounded vs sharp..looks like a little 1/2 moon, check the pontil carefully..when someone tries to recreate an old pontil, it does not tuen out very well in my opinion.....oh, and I smell them-very strange I know but I was "told" that they can smell like oil-guess some folks use this in the repair process. You can pick me out in a crowd...I am the one sniffing the marbles!