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Different Types Of Mica Marbles


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What are all the different types of Mica marbles ?
I have a few. The price is going up of late and I am really not going to blow a few hundred to get more, so I am going to list what I have.

What qualifies as a blizzard ?

Also, I saw a listing for a "Ghost core" which I thought was sort of funny. As I began underlighting my marbles...to my surprised, 1 was Cyan ,loads of mica, no big surprise but I was surprised to see outlines of a core on the inside and a solid color inside of that. Granted I cannot tell anything other than there is a clear core with a ribbon inside of it,but I thought...well, Ghost core, that may apply :)

Also, the color ranges ? I know color shades tend to make the difference with some. I have Cyan,Aqua,Cobalt and something that is a cross between Aqua and Cyan. What different colors are there ?

What are the rarer and more common colors /

Just trying to educate myself. The big cobalt I may just keep since it is nearly perfect on the surface and has both pontils....and usually when I have mibs with pontils I get cracks,chips, all kinds of damage, but rarely mint :)

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There are all kinds of different shades and types of construction. Mostly your blues (ie: cobalt, aqua/cyan), ambers, greens, clears. Less common are yellows, oranges, purples. Then red which is considered a 'holy grail' for some collectors. A black one would be cool but haven't seen a true black, just a really deep purple.

Blizzard usually refers to the amount and distribution of the mica. If it's mostly uniform and there is a ton of it close to the surface, than that would fit the definition. Most Mica's have a ghost core as a result of their construction and probably not deliberate.

Mica can also make an appearance on other marbles, like onionskins, peppermints. Not so much on swirls though. This of course is all based on my opinion/experience and I certainly haven't seen them all

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Yellow ones turn up more often than red, in my experience, although it's sometimes hard (on a computer screen) to tell if it's a true yellow or the color marblealan used to call "pilsner," And purple is a little easier to find than yellow, but not by much. Lavender is hard.

Never been able to corner a red one.

Sometimes there's a fuzzy thread core (especially visible in colorless) that's a pond-scum green . . . yecht. But whether there's a thread core or a ghost core, it doesn't seem to make much difference, value-wise. As far as I can tell.

Love mica blizzards. But I also look for ones where larger pieces of mica have slipped in. One of my favorites is a small pale ice-blue one that has a couple of tiny flecks but one big chunk, like 1/4" wide . . .

In general though, exactly what I'llhavethat1 said . . .

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Dans is very sweet and quite a bit darker than most I have seen. It has been explained to me by several marble makers that the iron punty can slightly oxidize and give the slightly colored whispy colored core found on many micas?

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