Hello and welcome to the another review from the Pop Quiz Series! Today we are going review a popular type of marble with several variations. Have fun and good luck!
I inherited an Almond Roca tin full of marbles from my Great Grandfather and it’s been in the back of my closet for the last decade or so. But after stumbling upon this subreddit and looking through the identification guides I was inspired to look through them. Minus the two tricolors in the first image I think they might be varieties of Akro, I think there’s a couple of slags as well, if not please correct me. The second image I couldn’t confidently ID or guess at so if I missed anything cool let me know! Happy to provide more pictures if needed.
Hello and welcome to the another review from the Pop Quiz Series! Today we are going review how to identify marbles using properties other than seams which is where a lot of new collectors tend to get hung up. Have fun and good luck!
Each is about .75in, has a cold roll defect, and a divot. They remind me of Bennington 'eyes' almost.
Hello and welcome to the another review from the Pop Quiz Series! Today we are going review how to identify one of my favorite types of marbles. Have fun and good luck!
What are metallic and what are Abalone swirl marbles?
Abalone, as seen in the marble above from my collection, is the result of environmental factors reacting with the marble glass. It’s not an as made property. There are as made metallic marbles, but those will tend to have metallic streaks or swirls that stand alone as their own swirl color rather than striations of metal atop of and following an existing base color as seen here.
For a better explanation of this process we can look to antique glass experts and their understanding of how glass reacts to the elements when buried for a long time.
Per this thread (https://www.allaboutmarbles.com/viewtopic.php?t=13203&start=25) on the All About Marbles forum—
The reason they look like Abalone is because of "Patination". If you see this on marbles, it's because they were buried a long time ago and dug. It takes certain chemicals in the glass and the right kind of earth to do this. It basically breaks down the chemicals in the glass and causes it to corrode.
Staining or patination is highly variable and unpredictable. Although glass is a highly resistant substance, it is still subject to slow corrosion by water and environmental chemicals. This is a function of the specific composition of the glass as it relates to the chemistry of the soil and water that the glass resides in, as influenced by amount of exposure or contact time (Munsey 1970).
Patination is more common in [glass] bottles with a high soda (and low lime) content. Water will gradually dissolve or leach out the soda component of the glass, leaving a coating of sodium carbonate and eventually silica behind. This process continues year after year, resulting in a buildup of very thin layers, like the rings of a tree (though without the dating opportunity that tree rings allow).
Particularly susceptible bottles or those that have been in contact with water or soil for a very long time (e.g., a 2000-year-old Roman bottle) will exhibit pitting, which is the extreme corrosion of the glass surface. (See image #3 - a 1900-year-old Roman bottle with surface pitting.) Eventually glass will corrode completely away in any environment given enough time (Kendrick 1963; Elliott & Gould 1988)
Just got these recently I tried to organise them based off patterns the last 2 photos are ones I couldn't tell, if there's any other information needed just let me know
Hi all, I have heard you and gotten better pictures. A couple observations. The small dark (without light) translucent marbles are not perfectly spherical. What I thought was flakes or tiling on them is actually chips in the marble from play. They are also smaller than a normal cats eye and I have a pic of them with a shooter for scale.
I also included a pic of a multicolored marble. There is only one that looks like this in the jar. Same with the blue swirl. The purple marble is here as well.
It rained today so they came out to play!
Thanks again!
A few more for ID check!
Pretty sure this is Vitro and thinking it could be a Trilite
Curious one but settling on JABO based on the colour combo and glass quality
Peltier Rainbo? Or something else?
I thought this might also be a squished Peltier Rainbo where the ribbons ended up more like a patch
I think this might be a Seike/Duck experimental swirl but would love any other thoughts. Seems to include half and half-like blond in addition to more swirly bits
My latest German handmade and first Maypole type! Nearly a peewee
Appreciate any and all input as always!
Thank you!
This was in a jar of marbles I bought, I’m not sure if it is made like this or has been painted.
Hi everyone,
I bought a small jar of marbles 8 or 9 years ago at an antique store. Currently, my young daughter gets all excited when it rains because that means I pull out yhe marbles and we play with them. She has started asking me what the names of the marbles are. In particular, the purple one.
I confess. I know next to nothing about anything beyond a cats eye. My answers of “shiny red, blue, and lime green” no longer suffice.
Which brings me to the purple one in pic 1. It is her favorite. What is the proper name of this marble?
For my own curiosity, the ones which appear black but are actually metallic grey, smokey purple, and amber light (pic 4). What are they called?
Thank you in advance!
So..
Two blue based German handmade “Indians” with 360 coverage and two onionskins.
They're not mint, but they’re high 8s in condition imo.
Left to right - 11/16, 5/8, 19/32, 9/16”
I THINK this is a hand gathered transitional. There are no seem lines, a '9' gathering point, and (hard to see) what looks like a pontil on the opposite side.
A ‘Superman’ is one of the most sought after type of marbles by antique and vintage machine made collectors. There are several marbles with the title ‘Superman’ with the most desired being made by Peltier. Some collectors argue that the only marble with the title of ‘Superman’ is the Peltier NLR variety. In the simplest terms one of the key ways to identify ‘Superman’ marbles is through their color scheme which will always be blue, red, and yellow. This is to say that all ‘Superman’ marbles will have blue, red, and yellow, BUT not all marbles with blue, red, and yellow are ‘Superman’ marbles.
Today I'd like to share some Japanese marbles - these were made by the Seike company, also known as the Duck Marbles company.
User Shiro Aiko has made some amazingly detailed posts on Marble Connection, sharing photos of marbles with known provenance to the company. It's so cool that this new info is still being uncovered even in the last year! 🥰
The first 2 pics show Half and Half marbles, which I think of a 'Fat Patches' - the opaque white patch is thick, not a veneer, and you can see it through the clear base.
The rest show Mushroom marbles - these are all 'thin stem' examples (some have a fat stem, looking more like an Eringi mushroom, but I haven't fully confirmed any of those yet).
They come in both clear/opaque, and fully opaque versions.
When I found my first Mushrooms, I thought they might be Vitro Helmets at first! They have a similar appearance, tho they don't have the different coloured 'face' like a true Helmet!