Shamrock Marbles

As a follow up, Royal was referring to a particular marble that Mark Matthews made. The marble was exceptionally large (around 4” diameter) that he named the “Hugo Largo”. It was the top marble in his Population Portrait IX. Population Portrait IX Hugo Largo

Steve Davis 08

Your Mileage May Vary. https://www.howtogeek.com/693183/what-does-ymmv-mean-and-how-do-you-use-it/

At least for the last 25 years, the Guinea market has been for those with deep pockets. It was temporarily eclipsed by the energy and cash inflows for the newly “discovered” “exotics”. As with all collectibles, value is based on a combination of authenticity, uniqueness, desirability and provenance. The Romans used to say, “Caveat emptor.” As always, YMMV.

Stumbled across a closed auction on eBay. Posted/sold by Sami (“machinemades”) and closed on 11/09/25. Measuring 21/32” diameter. A couple side views are missing, so I can’t see if it has a gold shamrock mark. Made in 2024-2025 in exploration of “Striped” marbles with single and double cut-lines. Three main white base variants: 1) Green aventurine and Red (Xmas). 2) Green aventurine and Cranberry Pink (Watermelon). 3) Green aventurine and Cobalt Blue (Bluez ‘n’ Greenz).

Here are three air trap examples from Josh Simpson:

To make controlled bubbles in a glass object, you can take a tungsten rake (or any sharp object) and plunge it into the surface. This makes an indentation. To create the bubble, you cap the indentation with glass (air trap). Making a pattern of bubbles can be quite tedious, so some glass workers roll their gather over a bed of nails (flower frog), then plunge it into a pot of hot glass to encase the gather.

Hungarian or Bulgarian or somewhere else? Don’t know. Lovely marble regardless of origin. Not picking sides here, but I believe the marble was single gathered and finished off with jacks prior to separation from the punty. Not a torch marble, but a torch was used. The black spots around the pontil mark are from burned dirt/beeswax from the jacks. The gray tone is from the rich gas/oxygen ratio from a finish torch to melt the pontil smooth. At the end of this video, you can see the marble separated and the pontil torch finished… Mark Matthews at Corning As always, YMMV.

Assuming that all marbles are equal in “attributes” (quantity, pattern, color, size and shape), the distribution of these would follow entropic distribution. Over time marbles would find their way to all “four corners” of the world. Think about an enclosed cube. Spray perfume in a corner and the perfume molecules would ultimately distribute equally in the volume over time. Marbles produced in Ohio would naturally find their way around the world over time. A Christensen Agate Guinea from the 20’s has the same probability to migrate from Ohio to Montreal as it does to Rolla, MO. Now, what changes the distribution is the “value” given to any one or multiple “attributes” involved. Equate money or beauty to gravity or magnetism. “Value” will usually find its way to the deepest purse. Over time, a Guinea found in Canada would probably find its way back into the USA due to the attractiveness of the currency exchange. Well financed collectors disrupt the natural distribution (entropy) of marbles. Their money acts like a black hole and soak up high valued marbles while leaving “lesser” marbles to circulate. (This is not a complaint. Just a reality. They take marbles off the free market and those remaining in circulation become scarce and increase in value. In time, those collectors have their acquisitions released back into public circulation due to disinterest, divestment or death). Stay patient and enjoy the search! YMMV. 😀

Fire, Yes you can. See my post above when I blasted my rollers. They really need to be machined.

Easier said than done. The best way is to resurface the augers in a CNC Lathe. $$$$ Most people have a dream, but their wallet falls short.

Beautiful!!

Here are photos of “weathered” rollers with “patina”. Imagine the marble surface after rolling across these!

Size of the glass gob: Since the basic shape of a marble is a sphere, let’s use the radius (r) as a basic unit of measure. Thus the larger the gob the larger the radius. A molten gob of glass is a fluid and has surface tension. It is surface tension that is basically trying to pull the gob into a sphere. Years ago, this law of physics was implemented in creating lead shot. Look up shot tower. Additionally, this is how dippin dots are made. Yum! The formula that concerns us is: As the radius increases the impact of surface tension is reduced. In other words, the surface tension is 2x stronger with a 3/8” diameter gob than a 3/4” diameter gob. The surface tension is 4x stronger with a 3/8” diameter gob than a 1-1/2” diameter gob. What this means, is that a larger gob of glass will collapse or flatten under gravity than a smaller gob. You can replicate this water droplets. So, imagine a large glass gob landing on a pitted roller. Initially, it will overcome surface tension and collapse and conform to the “volume” of the groove. If the groove surfaces are smooth, then you have a chance at a nice marble surface. If the forming surfaces are pitted, then the glass will be impressed with that profile. Once set, it stays.

Thank you, Brian. Couldn’t imagine the amount of elbow grease you used. We need to get together for a marble weekend!