Watch Out For Reworked Handmade Marbles!!!!!!!!

[richsantaclaus]

The first marble was definitely torched and the person left the pontil out of the heat - hence the dichotomy of surfaces.

The second marble - polishing it will not close the open part of the pontil glass. It would have to be heated and a technique that pulls off glass so the colors move toward the top, then be cut to keep that pontil area closed would be needed to close the hole. Tricky business!

[m!b$]

So the pontil is original on the first marble? It appears to be a bit sunken in compared to the rest of the surface.

[I'llhavethat1]

So the pontil is original on the first marble? It appears to be a bit sunken in compared to the rest of the surface.

I'd go with non-original on that pontil

[JVVmarbles]

Certainly not the original pontil!

[1313]

And here is a 2" Onionskin that needs some work, the only question is what kind of work. I thought maybe just enough polishing to make it shine and get rid of most of the scratches and nicks. But that would still leave the large unsightly flaw. So maybe reheating is the answer. None of the other damage is deep, and it looks like there is plenty of clear glass except it looks shallow at the other pontil.

(I may have asked about this a long time ago, but I've still not done anything with the marble.)

heat it up!

[richsantaclaus]

Maybe it might be an original pontil that was altered by the excessive heat and the person attempted (and failed) to reproduce it.

Also, JVV, please explain to us why you are so certain it isn't the original. What was it you saw that immediately convinced you?

[jeroen]

Here is a marble that I was told was reheated, and it has a remanufactured pontil. It also has some lines and ripples, but it's hard to tell if the lines are in the glass, or on the surface. Some of them can be slightly felt. Most of the lines are short. The marble is about 2-1/4" in diameter.

Hello, I recognise the same things as with my marble. The opposite of the pontil is also formed in a similar way. And I see those milky colored moon shape things also.

Jeroen

[m!b$]

What I thought was suspicious about the pontil is that it looked like it didn't have any transparency, except at the edges. But I just shined a Maglite behind it, and the light shines right through it. It's almost completely transparent. So that makes me wonder if maybe it is original.

[lstmmrbls]

Sorry but that pontil could not look any more like a dremel made pontil IMO. It was done after the marble was flamed. Fake pontils do not get much more obvious

[m!b$]

Well, at least it's better than if they had left a gaping hole that you could see right through. I hate those.

[m!b$]

If I hand-polished the second marble to remove the scratches and nicks, while attempting to preserve the basal pontil, then later decided to have someone try to fix the major flaw by reheating, would that make their job easier (and less costly)? I would think it would, but just want to be sure.

[richsantaclaus]

Polishing it will not heal the open spot at the pontil I am afraid. Polishing only removes glass. Making the hole become closed during torching will have to have glass removed so the colors are pulled up and together. One more thing, there is no gurantee on what will happen witt old glass during the heating process.

[m!b$]

But if only the major flaw was left to fix by reheating, then would only that area have to be reheated, and not the rest of the marble? I was wondering if glass might be needed from the rest of the marble to fix the flaw. And if the rest of the marble had already been polished and glass removed, then glass might not be available.

[Guest browse4antiques]

The pontil on the marble in post #24 is not original to the marble. Whoever did it was (I guess) unaware that onionskins like that do not appear with regular pontils (never mind that the pontil is obviously an imitation). ... Roger

[richsantaclaus]

Because the marble has SO much volume, the entire sphere has to be reheated or it will thermal shock (blow up!) if one attempts to just heat a section I am afraid. Come over and see the floor of my studio!!!