How to Group Marbles for Sale on Ebay

[Oldhouse]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this site and have been researching marbles that I found in a sack of my 95 year old late mom's stuff. There are 11 pounds of marbles. It looks like quite a few are Peltiers. I've been sorting by color. The good old "Sesame Street" method - like things together. So I have some similar Peltier color groups that have 15 to 20 marbles in each group. My question is this: Should I sell all of the same colors together or put together different colors and sell them as a lot? How many in a lot? What do you collectors like? I don't know how to list their condition either. Nothing broken or chipped, but beyond that I don't know. I can borrow my husband's micrometer for the photos, so that the exact size can be seen. Any suggestions that you have would be most welcome!

[Steph]

Hello.  Welcome.  A few pictures now could be a help.  We could at least confirm whether we're looking at Peltiers and which era of Peltiers.  

There are so many factors.  If you don't want to spend a lot of time learning the ins and outs of marble identification, grading and selling, then I would say mix it up and don't overthink it.   

Take good pictures so people can judge condition for themselves.

Maybe the introductory pictures you show now could also help us make suggestions about lot size.   Some might be good enough that you would want to sell them individually.  Some might be common enough that you would want to put them in moderate-sized groups.

 

[Chad G.]

"Welcome to Marble Connection Mary"    

  I hope being here will answer all your questions plus,  & open a whole new world to you !!

                                                                                                                                                                                              Again "Welcome"

[Oldhouse]

Hi Steph and thanks for the advice. Thanks Chad, for the welcome! Here are some pics of the marbles. Some of them in the plastic bags haven't been "sorted" yet.

[Chad G.]

I see Marble King, Peltier, Vitro, there are some vintage amongst the bunch !!

[Steph]

The colored groups are attractive. I see a lot of vintage, from a range of manufactures as Chad noted.  I can't say offhand that I see any that are newer.  So that's good.

I think the common wisdom would be to shy away from selling by color.  But what you have here are common marbles so I'm not sure how much money they would make.  With that in mind, it's possible that selling in colored lots is as good a plan as any.  With creative presentation and good photos, they could surprise. 

[Oldhouse]

Thanks Steph! I think I'll put together lots that have a color range. About how many should be listed in one lot?

[Steph]

Another of those complicated questions. Maybe you'd get the same amount of money for 5 or 10 or 20 or 60.  With eBay it can be a matter of luck and how much time you want to put into it.   

I'll just throw out a figure of 15 to 20 because your groups with those numbers look attractive to me.    Other people might find other numbers appealing.  Maybe you'll want to do a variety of auctions at the same time to get people interested in combining wins.   Maybe some will have more and some have less and you can figure out what is working out best for you.



 

[Oldhouse]

More good advice! Thanks so much!