Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 I had to shine lighT through the surface that I imaged these marbles on in order to see the ribbons in them, they can't be seen without the direct light. I can't find any online or in several marble collectors books that I've thoroughly examined. I still think they're extremely rare but they seem to be so rare that I literally can't find a likeness. They're uranium glass too (they glow green under a blacklight as a result of uranium being used to make some varieties of glass in earlier times). Please let me know what these things can be called. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManofKent Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Have you got a photo in normal light? Might be Champion industrial marbles or play 'clearies'. A lot of their clear glass fluoresces under UV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 In normal light the ribbons can not be seen. And when they are glowing from uv the ribbons are invisible too. They all have just one pontil and the ribbons don't connect on both ends. I'll get some photos in differing lights and see what I can bring out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Please note that the ones with what appears to be light reflecting from behind them are actually reflecting light from beneath, through the bubbles that are in the marbles. And yes, these are the same ones... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 I took those photos using a black rubber cylindrical prop that I put on the surface of a flashlight lens, and the flashlight itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Hi again. We really need to see some photos in more natural light. By natural light I mean daylight or a flash. The light coming from behind makes it nearly impossible to identify the marbles. Sorry about that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Oregon Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 We understand that we cannot see the "ribbons" in regular light but it does help identify the marbles (or at least give us a feeling). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 The light in which they have been presented thus far is the -what I consider to be- "normal" light of a white lit flashlight. I guess that's just because when I see an object presented in the light of a flashlight I can pretty well trust that the sun will present me the same display of colours as the flashlight. I only opted to use a flashlight so as to intensify the magnitude of light being applied; and that, of course, was so that the light that I present you with clearly details the ribbons that I'm sure is the most important detail to go by. I didn't want you fellas sending me back replies about how they're clearie transitionals (because that's what you will find that they appear to be in sunlight, in the updated pics). I thank you folks a lot for taking the time to look at my marbles. Here are some pictures taken up close in the bright sun that this very day gives us... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 I'm not able to upload the new ones for some reason... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Ok, here ya go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Some more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 I wouldn't use the word "transitionals". Appreciate the extra shots. In my opinion, the reason you won't find them in the books is not because they're rare but because they aren't the kind that people find very collectible. It's pretty neat what you can see in marbles sometimes when you backlight them. However, keep in mind that if it takes a special light to see whatever was in the marble, then probably the maker of the marble didn't plan for it to be seen. There are some Mexican marbles which have dark surfaces and are covered with speckles. It's the speckles on the outside that are supposed to be seen. But sometimes, if you look really really hard, you can see cat's eye vanes inside. Weird things can happen inside the marbles. But if you have to work to see 'em, then they're curiosities, but probably not intentional. That's the best answer I have for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 Thank you very much for your assessment, I would like to send you one for your further assessment and for you to keep afterward. Would that be something we could do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 You're welcome. Probably wouldn't be prudent for me to be receiving mail right now. Too much in flux here. Sorry about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManofKent Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 20 hours ago, Adrian said: In normal light the ribbons can not be seen. And when they are glowing from uv the ribbons are invisible too. They all have just one pontil and the ribbons don't connect on both ends. I'll get some photos in differing lights and see what I can bring out... They don't happen to look like this, but a slightly greener glass do they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted July 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 No, they are greener and similar to that one but not with a ground pontil. They have what I would guess to be pinched or folded pontils. I've only really just began any kind of serious pursuit in the understanding of marble collector ins and outs. As to what I stated about the marbles being single pontils, I was wrong. Upon closer and broader examination i have found that they're not quite perpendicular with one another from end to end so as to meet up if you were to draw a line; but there are two on most which line up more with what I would compare to a ten minutes to six position, if you were to refer by comparison to a clock. There are some that are single pontil which I would assume are the end of the cane ones. The glass appears the same aquamarine that become of many jars, bottles, and other glass goods from the mid to late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. If they are old wouldn't that alone make them collectible? they've got bubbles, they are not consistently the same size, and they are not all perfectly round either. Don't those qualities indicate an early production timeline sometime between being handmade or transitionals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManofKent Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 It doesn't sound like they're pontils but I can't really tell from the photos. I wonder if they could be bottle stoppers - the photo I showed is an English bottle stopper, from a Codd type bottle (these are moulded). I'm not really familiar with American bottles, but the description sort of fits. Bubbles don't really tell you anything about the age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 Here are some photos of pontils: http://marbleconnection.com/topic/20970-pontils/ Machine-made marbles have "cutlines". They can be small points, little U's or V's, or longer lines. That's where the marble begins or ends ... where the glass was usually cleanly and simply snipped off before it dropped to the rollers. That's the little pucker that you are seeing here. Trying now to get some pics gathered up showing that effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 I can tell you have high hopes for them, but unfortunately they aren't rare valuable handmade marbles. They appear to be marbles made for glass transport. Glass has to be shipped somehow, and often it is made into crude balls to be loaded onto rail cars for shipment, then remelted into whatever the next use is... often fiberglass. The color can vary but blue-green is the most common and trash, wrinkles, bubbles, and strands of other colors and contaminates is common in them. It's just industrial grade glass. It can be fluorescent or not, it's just whatever scrap glass got melted down for stock. They are rough and have these characteristics because they are mass produced on machines with little to no quality control or concern about bubbles, wrinkles, colors, or anything at all really. Not collectible really other than as a novelty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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