Alan

An excellent thread. Big props to you for taking the time to make it.

Could it? Sure. Given how cane marbles are made - it up to the maker how far to draw out the cane - or not..... and how large to make the starting diameter. Of course larger pieces mean that you have far fewer pieces. Keep in mind that a shop would be turning out a LOT of canes - and its hard to say that they were unique. You could easily have a shop turn out20 of the same cane design in the same day. It actually makes sense that they would - because canes require that you pull stringers and components in advance. Its a waste of time to make stringers for just one or two canes. So favorite design must have been common. Large same-canes do pop up from time. Yars ago at the Maine show there were FIVE 2+ inch same canes for sale as a set.

There are 3" and larger onionskins. Not common - but not unknown either.

For folks that have done this show before - is it mostly dishes over marbles?

I wonder how he manages to get through doorways with an inflated head like that. How sad.

Antique - and not polished.

They sell for more because Mark is a respected artist with a well-known, well-respected reputation for his own designs, innovation and excellent execution. People have been willing to pay premium prices for premium work.... and for a long time. I own plenty of his work - and will buy more.

It looks like the result of a blind man trying to repair old marbles on a torch. Talk about over-cooked......

A potential buyer has no point of reference whether the machine "works".... or how well. It has no history. How would it be fed? IMO - it will not sell for a fraction of that amount.

I'd (personally) probably refer to it more as a "sphere" - but marbles are made from a number of materials other than glass. I think its an interesting piece - given the care that went into shapng it.

Unsigned - the piece is generally unremarkable... without any specific stye that would point to a specific artist or artists.

Both pontils look fire polished to me - one seems to be sort of hastily done and uneven. I'm not sure the piece is round at the pontil (second in left column).

From my years of collecting handmades: 1. The frit colors are inconsistent with antique methods 2. The clear glass appears a bit too clear/bright. 3. The frit method is inconsistent with antique methods 4. The pontil show in the second photo right is not consistent with vintage methods And from a qualitative standpoint - the piece just looks wrong in almost all respects. For me - it isn't even close to an antique piece. Plenty of these types made by volume producers to sell in gift shops today for $25 retail. There is a gift shop near the Pentagon that has an entire window of these.

It is a new/contemporary piece.

There are one MILLION people in my metro area without power. Temps hit 100+ yesterday. Power may take a full week to be restored.

Yes - I have seen handmades with what collectors currently refer to as "aventurine" in (usually) the green. Of course this is caused by adding too much metal colorant to the color batch - causing it to be over-saturated and the metal flakes precipitate out - just as in machine mades.

You're welcome

Well then - the "Akro employee's family" must be torching marbles.

1. Torched 2. Torched again 2. Torched some more

That piece isn't the only torched marble being sold by that seller.

It looks absolutely torched to me. Especially in the 4th pic.

These were single "ingot" marbles. All of the ones I know of were dug by Roger Hardy - who sold a number of these over the years at the New Philly show. They are conservatively believed to be true experimentals from Akro... and have the classic signs of such. The orange peel surface texture is likely chill marks from cool rollers and the huge size is what Akro did with some designs that we refer to as "experimentals".

They look contemporary from here.