JVVmarbles

I'm making a marble collector page on myspace.com. Check it out! and if you're also on myspace, send me a friend request! I want to meet more marble collectors this way! The page is still under construction. Here's a link: http://www.myspace.com/marble_collector

A pic of my 3 Lightning strikes!

Do you maybe have pics of those 4? were they all mint?

I personally think they were made around 1910 in Germany (I found 2 of them together on a German flea market). They all have a single ground pontil and the usual size is 1-5/8". It looks like the colors are shot into the surface because they are on the surface and 1/4" inside the marble. But I'm not really sure how they were made. When you hold them to them light they are opalescent (a red/orange light inside appears). Very beautiful.

Amazing marbles! thx for sharing!

you mean this one?

These Lightning strikes are not mine, but they are part from the collection of a dear friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous. I have 'only' 3 lightning strikes myself. Here's another pic of these beauties!

A bowl filled with mint condition Lightning Strikes.. , all found together in a small antique shop for only $30!

Some more eye candy! from the same collection! (not mine!!!).

All you need are the pads and a bowl of water. ALWAYS keep the marble and the pads wet when polishing. Cut off most of the sponge back of the pads so you can bend them around the curves of the marble. Start with the first pad with the heaviest grit. This one is used to grind down the damage. Grind it till there are no chips left or faint scars (depending on how far you want to go). Don't touch the pontils with the pads when you want to keep them. Then work your way done to the finest pad and you have nice polished marble. It takes some practice but it works very well. Make sure you don't grind on the same part too long or the marble will go out of round.

I polish marbles by hand with Swiflex diamond polishing pads. It takes some practice but you can restore badly damaged marbles very well and often even leave the pontils intact (and still keeping the marble round). And the best thing is, you never take off to much glass, because you're doing it by hand, you have total control. I only polish my own marbles, but I'd gladly explain how I do it, if someone is interested. Here are some examples of my polishing work: before: after: (1-3/8" single pontil cloud) before: after: (1-5/8" single pontil cloud) before: after: (2-1/8" onionskin with floating blizzard mica)

and a pic of 3 of the elusive Lightning strike marbles:

Here's another pic of 2 of my fave marbles. On the left a 2-1/2" 8 lobed cloud with lots of mica, and on the right a 2-3/8" single pontil cloud with floating blizzard mica. Enjoy!

Hi Lloyd! Can you maybe post pics of your fave handmades? You must have some amazing one!

Yes, I got that ribbon in a trade from Cam, I was looking for such a marble for a looong time!

yeah, that clown is one of my absolute faves...I've never seen another one like it. Such bright and bold colors and the side opposite the pontil is completely covered with dots as well (so most likely not an end of cane, but an individually made marble). It even has some slight lobing too (4 lobes). If I ever want to part with it, I'll let you know! Here's another pic:

oooooooooooh! VERY VERY NICE!!!! Here are some more of mine: 2-1/8" blizzard mica onion 1-3/8" single pontil clown cloud 5/8" 2 color single ribbon 1" indian Lutz 1-3/8" paperweight millefiori marble

ooooooooh, nice handmades! Here's a pic of some of my faves:

Can you show me some of pics of those marble paintings? I'd love to see them!

I have to disagree with you on that one...very little is known about who made certain types of handmades (which Glashutte made which kind of swirl at what time). Much more is know about manufactures of machine mades. There is so much more research to be done on German handmades! Were certain glashutten only making certain kind of swirls? etc. and what about this: I think what you call 'Leighton transitionals' were actually the first German handmades made around 1840-1850. I've found several of those at archaeological digs in Europe from that age.

Thanks for all your replies! I had some handmade swirls when I was young (and I'm from 1973!) and they always fascinated me the most....I always kept them and then started buying similar marbles when I was about 20 (didn't even know then they were antique and handmade!) at flea markets etc. Also handmades can still be found in my country (Holland) for very low prices (like a nice sulphide for only $1) so the problem with the extremely high prizes for handmades doesn't really count where I live. Machine mades (made in Germany around 1920-1940) are much easier to find than hand mades here, but they are by far not as pretty as the handmades. I understand why most of you collect machine mades a little more now! I'm looking forward to hearing more opinions!

Greetings! I've not posted here for some time, but checked the topics almost daily...and I noticed that almost all the topics are about machine mades and most of you collect machine mades. I really wonder why you prefer machine mades over handmades! I only collect antique German handmade marbles (I've got 1000's of old machine mades but they are in boxes) and I personally don't understand why anyone can prefer machine mades over these handmade beauties. The design/craftmanship/colors/age etc are much better in handmades (my opinion). Can some of you explain to me why they like machine mades better? and couldn't there be a seperate marble discussion part for handmade collectors?

I think this might be right. You only find fascetted pontil marbles in the USA and the UK. Never in Germany, Holland, France or any other European countries. So probably the pontils were fascetted in the UK and USA after the marbles were imported from Germany and before they hit the shops. I remember an English article were they called the German handmades 'atrocities' not fit for playing marbles because of the rough pontils, so it's likely they fixed this problem by fascetting the pontils.

From the collection of an European collector. Enjoy!