Eight vein is common on a cat, 9 vein & Crosthroughs are less common. The mark on the end is from the shears cutting the hot glass as it was was coming out of the gobber. 100% machine made, pontils only appear on handmades, shear marks appear on machine mades. All machine mades marbles are "cut' twice, once on each end of the gob before spilling down onto the rollers.