Help Id Please

[flanco]

It is hard to tell from the photos, are the edges of the hole smooth or rough? If smooth, the hole was probably made when the bead was made. I once thought I had found a great marble til I looked closer and found the hole. Either way, yours is a very nice example.

[nancy cooper]

Thanks guys. I'm probably on the right track with this one. Here is some interesting info I found on a bead site describing the way they're made that might explain some of the things I have noticed on my 'bead'..."quack" (LOL)

"...Whiteheart beads were made using a method known as "winding." With this method, beads were made individually by drawing a molten glob of glass out of the furnace and winding it around an iron rod. Glass of another color could then be added, or the bead could be decorated with a design. Coloring agents were added to the molten glass: cobalt made blue; copper produced green; tin made a milky white; and gold resulted in red (which resulted in the red whitehearts being an expensive bead, the more gold the darker the red). Wound beads from a master glassmaker were so perfect that it was hard to find a seam where the different molten glasses merged. These pieces were cut into beads of various sizes. The cut beads were placed in a large metal drum containing lime, carbonate, sand, carbon, and water. While the metal drum turned, heat was applied to the outside causing the rough-cut edges to be smoothed. After the beads were smooth, they were cleaned and then placed in a sack of fermented bran and vigorously shaken to polish them..."

Nancy

Thanks and now back to the rest of my daughter's hundreds of marbles...I have some pictured at a Picasa web page:

http://picasaweb.google.com/coyoteleader/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCO751Zr1v5mIggE&feat=directlink#