What makes marbles valuable

Designed as the industry moved from handmade to automated, the Pontil marble is recognised as a transitional marble. The hand-blown glass marble is 5.

The popular piece is among the nicest and cleanest designed marbles, hence the price and interest with collectors. As most vintage marbles are made from agate, granite, or glass, a painted sulphide marble is a rare sight. This near mint example includes a standing bear sulphide figure encased within the marble, a rare feature on its own.

After separating handmade from machine, separate those marbles into sub-categories—cat's eyes, swirls, etc. Within sub-categories look for obvious similarities and subtle differences. Find two similar marbles that seem to be different. Hold each up to a light with a 30X magnifier glass.

Compare size. Many smaller marbles were manufactured specifically for use in games and are still being produced today. Compare coloring. Antique marbles are brighter because they were made with better materials. Machine-made marbles are duller. Compare quality of glass. Antique marbles are made from high quality glass, whereas machine made marbles are lower quality glass and shatter easily. Once the above inspections and comparisons are made, it should be more obvious that some of the marbles are newer.

A few of these include:. A banded opaque marble features an opaque base with a colored swirl. This marble is a very rare find. The swirls run from one pole to the other. The End of Days Indian is a rare type that features broken stretched flecks. Lutz is finely ground copper flakes or goldstone that's used with a transparent clear base glass.

If you find a Lutz with a transparent colored base, you have a rare find. The End of Day marbles were made from the end of the day's leftover glass bits and pieces. These marbles weren't marketed and ended up as giveaways to the workers' children. Since these marbles were made from scraps, each one turned out to be unique. The base was either transparent or colored.

It might have a core or be coreless. However, the core was simple flecks of different colored glass bits. The Submarine marble is a mix of several styles, such as flecks, panels, and other features. It always has a transparent base glass. If you find a Submarine marble, you'll end up with a very rare marble. A Sulphide marble features a transparent base with a figurine centered inside the marble.

The figurine is often an animal, human figurines bust of full bodied , flowers, and other objects. The figurines were thought to be made of Sulphur, but they are made from clay. A rare Sulphide find contains two figures known as doubles. There are other types of handmade glass marbles that don't follow the same design rules as other glass marbles.

These include:. Akro Agate Company created many marbles that are collectibles. These were made from opalescent glass that the company dubbed, Opals. Today, these collectibles are referred to as Flinties and Moonies. Aggies were marbles that made from agate. It became a common name used for almost any type of stone marble. Many times, Aggies were colored with mineral dyes to create a range of green, blue, black, gray and yellow marbles.

While ancient Roman marbles were made of clay, later marble designs also used clay. Bennington marbles were salt glazed clay marbles. The glaze created what are called, little eyes pits. China marbles were made from dense white clay and were painted with colorful designs.

Of the three types of clay marbles, the China marbles are considered more collectibles. A popular must have, was the steelie. These novelty marbles were ball bearings that were relegated to be used as marbles.

As with any collectible , the trend for what is considered valuable depends on the rarity and demand of the marble. Modern-day marbles were produced with lower-quality glass since demand superseded purpose.

They were cheaper and can shatter easily. Antique marbles were handmade, so it was difficult to achieve a perfect design.

Asides from the pontil, they also have flaws like marks that could indicate age and bubbles. These bubbles were made when the glassmaker would blow into a round blob of molten glass. Antique marbles are found in a large range of designs and types. Some handmade ancient marbles were made from clay and other minerals like alabaster and limestone. The German glass marbles are the most popular types across countries. And, they came in the following styles:. They are usually white or yellow.

However, you can find rarer ones in yellow and green. Solid Core Swirls : This marble has a clear base with one or several colored strands of color tightly packed together within the core. Coreless Swirls : The Coreless or Banded swirls do not have any band at their core, but they possess strands or swirls at the outer surface.

The base of the marble is usually green, blue, or clear. These marbles possessed an opaque and sometimes translucent base with a stretched colored swirl. The rarer versions have multiple swirls and are multi-colored. These marbles are opaque with a characteristic black base and possess stretched bands of colored swirls on their surface. These marbles are classified as the crown jewels of marbles and are heavily sought for their beauty and brilliance.