Current Ebay Auction

[Swissmarble]

Hi

As Steph has to close the "wow"-thread I couldn't post detailled pictures of the marbles and pointils as I promised to some of you. Now I finally had time to make some pictures and I am now try to post them here. I hope this is ok or should I have posted them in the "Gallery" ? If yes, could you please move them ?

One last word about my auction on ebay. I will not stop the auction early. I got several nice mails and some hate mails about this. But I still have the feeling that most people enjoy watching this auction and the pictures and at least the marble community has something to discuss, be it positive or negative. The auction has been looked up over 1300 times and has about 250 viewers right now.

So, enough, now for the pictures:

Enjoy and thanks, if you have questions, please ask.

Ron

[Swissmarble]

end of day marble nr. 2

[Swissmarble]

end of day marble nr 3:

[Swissmarble]

end of day nr 4:

[Swissmarble]

end of day nr 5

[Swissmarble]

end of day nr 6:

[Swissmarble]

red/yellow Josephs Coat (Beachball ?). This marble is not part of the auction, but while I was at it, I thought I post a picture of that one too:

[Swissmarble]

Josephs Coat or Onionskin ? Also not part of the auction:

[Swissmarble]

and last but not least, a blizzard mica with red core (also not part of the auction)

feel free to use the pictures, I claim no copyright for them.

Ron

[venwood]

Is there a link to auctions would like to see. Thanks Stacy

[david Chamberlain]

The link is further down Pg. 1 of Marble Talk in the first Post of the WoW! Thread which is Locked but you can still get into it. David

[david Chamberlain]

Nice to see the pontil close-ups. Thanks. And they do all look fantastic and above board. David

[Steph]

Here's a link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280605750726

[MC Marbles]

Ron,

Thanks for sharing.

I enjoyed the photos.

[Swissmarble]

Hi

Just a short update about the auction. In contrary what I said earlier today I ended the auction now. It has been bid up to $ 75'000.00. I don't think somebody is really willing to pay that much for these marbles, because with that money you can buy a far better collection. I assume it was more "testing out" the reserve (which was still a lot higher as you know). But I was also afraid that some angry collector bids up to the reserve with a fake account and then the trouble would start with ebay fees and paypal transactions. That's just not worth it.

Now I hope everything calms down again

Ron

[greg11]

where did you find most of your marbles? local antique shops or outdoor markets? Just curious how marbles are found across the pond.

[Swissmarble]

where did you find most of your marbles? local antique shops or outdoor markets? Just curious how marbles are found across the pond.

Hi Greg

I wish I could give you a more exciting answer, but 90% of the marbles in my collection come from Ebay. Rather boring, isn't it ? I purchased some of the "end of days" and some swirls at a local Antique Fair, but that's it.

Ron

[david Chamberlain]

And assuming to the contrary that the bid was legit it would mean that someone was willing to pay an average of $383 for each marble where over half of the onionskins and larger swirls had dings and hits and with unknown condition for the Sulphides not described that can only be assumed to be common. Whatever....clearly it's a wild and crazy world on eBay. I would have to say that prices realized on eBay don't have any more relevance than prices in books and this conclusion is hardly based on this one auction. David

[Marbles4Case]

And assuming to the contrary that the bid was legit it would mean that someone was willing to pay an average of $383 for each marble where over half of the onionskins and larger swirls had dings and hits and with unknown condition for the Sulphides not described that can only be assumed to be common. Whatever....clearly it's a wild and crazy world on eBay. I would have to say that prices realized on eBay don't have any more relevance than prices in books and this conclusion is hardly based on this one auction. David

David,

We are talking about antique handmades here not machine mades where just one tiny little scratch can drop the value. Even with "dings and hits" most of his marbles are well worth it. Yes, he has a few smaller mibs in there or even common one at that but we are talking about the average of the lot. You are right about one thing, a book cant put a price on most marbles because until it is in your hand it is just ink on a piece of paper (the same goes for Ebay). I was at the Vegas show where I was seeing peewee's (handmades) selling for hundreds of dollars. Now i would never pay that price but others will and i know for a fact that no price guide out there has 1/2in common swirls for that price but guess what, they sell... As far as the condition goes handmades are more lenient. I am not saying that a marble with multiple hit marks is going to grade mint but when you are talking about a 2in onionskin or swirl that is nice and wet but has a small half subsurface moon is going to degrade the marble down to near mint or place the value of the marble any less. Again, the value of the marble is just in the eye of the beholder.

[Swissmarble]

And assuming to the contrary that the bid was legit it would mean that someone was willing to pay an average of $383 for each marble where over half of the onionskins and larger swirls had dings and hits and with unknown condition for the Sulphides not described that can only be assumed to be common. Whatever....clearly it's a wild and crazy world on eBay. I would have to say that prices realized on eBay don't have any more relevance than prices in books and this conclusion is hardly based on this one auction. David

Hi David

Most of the marbles are in better condition than you probably assume after my description to you. I bought most (about 90%) of the marbles from "Marblealan" and other reliable sellers and most of them were described somewhere between mint and near mint from these people. As somebody else already said it is almost impossible to find a handmade in absolutely flawless condition. Even with some small pinpricks or a small moon a handmade is still mint in my oppinion. But well, we will probably never agree on that subject.

But what really surprised me was that about 80 of the marbles offered in the auction were rather common swirls and onionskins under one inch. So this will double the price for the others to about $ 750.00 a piece which is ridiculous. There are about 10 marbles in my collection which are really in or above that price range. That's why I really doubt that somebody was willing to pay that much.

But it is an interisting discussion.

Have a nice day.

Ron

[Swissmarble]

And assuming to the contrary that the bid was legit it would mean that someone was willing to pay an average of $383 for each marble where over half of the onionskins and larger swirls had dings and hits and with unknown condition for the Sulphides not described that can only be assumed to be common. Whatever....clearly it's a wild and crazy world on eBay. I would have to say that prices realized on eBay don't have any more relevance than prices in books and this conclusion is hardly based on this one auction. David

Hi David

Most of the marbles are in better condition than you probably assume after my description to you. I bought most (about 90%) of the marbles from "Marblealan" and other reliable sellers and most of them were described somewhere between mint and near mint from these people. As somebody else already said it is almost impossible to find a handmade in absolutely flawless condition. Even with some small pinpricks or a small moon a handmade is still mint in my oppinion. But well, we will probably never agree on that subject.

But what really surprised me was that about 80 of the marbles offered in the auction were rather common swirls and onionskins under one inch. So this will double the price for the others to about $ 750.00 a piece which is ridiculous. There are about 10 marbles in my collection which are really in or above that price range. That's why I really doubt that somebody was willing to pay that much.

But it is an interisting discussion.

Have a nice day.

Ron

[david Chamberlain]

Yes, condition is more of a forgiving matter in antique hand made marbles. That I will agree. And I think Ron has provided a generally agreeable wrap-up in his concluding remarks here. Re. $100+ handmade antique pee wees I have to disagree. I have seen incredible collections of hand made pee wee marbles that defy imagination and not just standard pee wee Clambroths or standard pee wee Naked Ribbons, etc. At one point Landon Daniels was carrying around a case with something like 30+ handmade pee wees and most of them would knock your socks off. All of them well deserving of premium prices. Like a pee wee latticinio with red an blue, a Clambroth with at least 4 colors, a Ribbon Lutz in colored glass, a pink based Banded Swirl.....just let your imagination go and you'll easily see how $100+ would be valid. Actually $300+ for many. Not to be confused Landon also had a fine collection of pee wee machine-mades that were equally spectacular. I agree that there are still a lot of relatively common Divided Core, Solid Core and Latticinio Swirls roaming about that do not deserve premium prices just because there are 1/2" or less.

Clearly this Auction has been an object lesson all around. David

[Marbles4Case]

I agree 100% about premium marbles regardless what their size is, it deserves special attention. In a way you made my point clearly. At book value a blue Latticino equates to approximately $60 to $175 at 1/2in. However we all know that if you have a blue lat this will never happen. So there for the marble is more then the book value, the same goes for naked ribbons which at book value are $35-45. Again, is this really what you will see at a show? everything is subjective. Some estimate values are too high and others are too low...

Kevin.

[david Chamberlain]

Of note: In Block's 1998 book MARBLES IDENTIFICATION AND PRICE GUIDE he gives a pee wee blue latticinio core a value of from $225 to $450. If two alternating colors, say Red and Blue the multiplication factor goes off the charts. I'm quite familiar with these values for high end latticinio marbles once having one that had Blue, Red and Yellow. You tend to do a little research when you have something like that in your hands! David

[greg11]

I wouldnt pay any attention to the values in those books. As you know,the prices you see are from auctions years ago when we had more collectors(buyers) in the hobby. They are also prices estimated by a few people, it was just there opinion. Try and get 250-450 for a pee wee blue latticinio today.