colinsu

Thanks for the input. It seems to me that current market conditions are horrible for sellers of most machine-mades. Activity as seen on Ebay for example, is very slow with bidders sitting on the sidelines. I believe the days of $150.00 Superman have passed. Handmades though, seem to be weathering the economic storm a bit better. Even so, it appears that only the highest end of the market in handmades shows willing and aggressive bidding. I think that I will concentrate my initial selling there. I've recieved several PM's concerning specific items, which is encouraging, and I am happy to offer what I have to those expressing interest. Colin

Hello all, Some of you may remember me from past posts, others because you've sold me mibs; now I'm primarily a board "lurker". The time has come when I will finally sell a marble, most likely on Ebay since I don't know how else to do it. I must consolidate my collection, trimming most of my Pelt's, a few Akros, and (sob) duplicate CAC's to focus on my true passion: early machine-mades, particularly transitionals. Here's my problem: honest to G-d, I've never sold a single marble. I began collecting shortly after I became disabled, and as soon as I felt that I could identify some of the more recognizeable mibs, mostly Pelt's, bid wildly to own as many Supermen, Rebels, etc, as I found. My knowledge grew, my bank account shrunk and my collection spread to every available space in my desk, then office, and now my house. I believe this is no longer just a hobby, but now a disease, one that no one among my friends and family understand--A grown man spending thousands of dollars on marbles, or as I like to call them, cultural artifacts. These artifacts within my collection tend towards the "one-of-a-kind", or at least rarities. Even my early aquisitions, commodity type machine mades tend to the quirky; I am a fool for error marbles to the extent that I own a multiplicity of uniqueness. My problem is two-fold: anything I sell, I'll probably want to repurchase; second, I doubt that I'll get anywhere near my marble's value to me. I realize how whiny and stupid this sounds, but I've got quite a bit tied-up in my collection, enough so that if my wife knew half of what I've spent, she'd murder me in my sleep. Well, my rant is done. Within a week I'm listing 3 Guineas, a Blue Galaxy and a transparent Clambroth (both bought from Alan B.), and some opaque and mist Lutzes...Hell, maybe I should sell all of my Pelt's in one huge lot. Any thoughts on that? If you'll be so kind, please drop a note with any suggestions you have concerning Ebay, PayPal, MibAuctions, or any other means of selling. Oh, and if you have any special wish item, drop me a line, I'll bet I've got at least one. Best wishes all, and thanks. Signed, A man and his marbles.

Really special. I've got to get out more; the size of those mibs are really impressive, likewise the patterns. Too bad they're not supermen and golden's. I'd love to see photo's of more of these boxes, of course with the mibs inside. After seeing your pic, I'm interested in adding a few of those boxes to my collection. Grist's book has some good pic's, particularly that Akro jobber's/salesman's kit. WOW. Thanks for sharing. Colin

Brad, I'll take a shot at #8. White Latticino Green base naked, except where lattice rises to the surface and resubmerges, so submarine. Lattice resembles German multicolered lattices...the lattice strands are not intricately wound, but instead meander through the core. I've bought handmades from several German companies. Lucca Glass is always on the 'Bay. Easy to deal with: they speak good English. Others are nearly impossible, particularly when you bid in dollars, pay in Euro's (PayPal has a feature to do daily currency conversions from funded accounts; conversion is at noon, EST). Prices appear lower than US, but beware muderous shipping, language issues, and weak dollar, which boosts price. Inventories though are unbelieveable, as can be quality. I'm trying to pay for a 3 colored lattice, white, yellow and red; my German is non-existant. This simple process is going on a week. Can't wait to get it...but email addresses are odd. So i've had to cancel one payment, and I'll try again to another email address recieved this morning. Hey, it might even be real. The stuff I've got know I'm very happy w/ from Germany. A quick funny. Saw a description on the 'Bay the other day describing a german handmade c.1940. Think the Germans were making many toys that year? Colin Just a guess size: 9/16ths