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Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: Mike E etc on February 28, 2004, 06:13:23 PM

Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Mike E etc on February 28, 2004, 06:13:23 PM
art glass collectable.
  For the past 10, 15 years they have gained a following. I would like some notions on where they may or may not fit in with collecting fine glass in general. Plus do you see a further growing interest in contemporary artglass marbles.

Thanks



Mike, new here, E
Title: Marbles
Post by: Angela B on February 28, 2004, 11:33:18 PM
Hi Mike,
Welcome first of all. Great to have new contributors.
This is just a personal view about marbles and glass collecting. Nice to be asked to philosophise on a stormy Sunday morning when I should be doing all kinds of work instead! As Adam Aaronson once told me, the Glass Message Board is a great way to escape for a while.
There seem to be two kinds of glass collectors. There's the eclectic kind like myself, with a great interest in absolutely anything made of glass, especially if its something I don't know much about. And then there are the specialist collectors who are only interested in the kind of glass they collect, like carnival glass or paperweights or marbles. But then I reckon there's a continuum in between, with most glass collectors being at least interested to read about other kinds of glass. If you'd like to write an article for us about glass marbles, it would be a good topic for the Glass Museum (http://www.glass.co.nz/)
What do other people think?
All the best
Angela
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Frank S on February 29, 2004, 12:19:48 AM
Hi and welcome.

As far as glass marbles as a collectible, they are a glass art form. I see them for sale at shows. I am sure they have a following as does most any type of glass. As far as where they fit in, if it is glass it fits. I like all glass, but there are certain shapes I like better than others. I like candlesticks, Jack In The Pulpits, decanters, rose bowls to name a few In fact I think I like to many shapes. LOL As far as what is in the future with their collecting, I don't think it should matter. Get what you like and when you want to. Just remember it only takes 2 or 3 of something to make a collection.
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Ivo on February 29, 2004, 08:05:35 AM
There is a little devil in the back of my mind which makes me justify the purchase of paperweights, candlesticks, Jack In The Pulpits, decanters, rose bowls etc.  with the argument that they are collectible and that there is a market for them.  The same little devil tells me NOT to buy ashtrays.
Title: Marbles & Ashtrays
Post by: Frank on February 29, 2004, 12:24:56 PM
But Ivo, ashtrays are the ideal display for marbles! :twisted:

As to marbles, I am impressed with the output of some of the marble artists - not yet indulged as the ones I am most attracted to usually sell for several hundred dollars a piece... but I am sure that some will join the rest of the glass one day.
Title: .
Post by: Mike E etc on February 29, 2004, 02:17:39 PM
Thanks for the responses Frank and Ivo. I should say that I come from this as one who collects/collected, new found poverty here, antique and early machine made marbles and also makes marbles. Thus the questions. My basic two markets are those who collect the older marbles, I make some mimics, and those who go for the contemporary look.
 From the responses so far I would gather that all that has to happen is that you as a collector has to get hooked on a marble or two. lol. There has been an explosion of lampworkers turning to making marbles and I believe the market is not keeping up.
  So, I should avoid ash trays...lol, the Akro ash trays with aventurine sell well.
   Ivo, I am a wanna be paperweight maker!
   I do have a small collection of vaseline glass of all kinds.
    An article...lol I have spent 45 minutes on this bit and I know when I read it later I will find a flaw...
Thanks for the input.

  Mike E

PS Frank, good luck on the lighting book, I have six or so lightbulbs packed away...glass, right..lol.
Title: marble weights
Post by: Frank on March 01, 2004, 04:32:25 PM
Mike E,

Make bigger marbles, flatten the base and heigh-ho a paperweight.  :oops: Get ready for the flak!

As to lightbulbs, they do tend to keep colliding with my glass research. It seems that almost every glassworks has been involved in lighting in some way. Prior to mechanisation around 1920 all were made by hand - so with demand in many millions per year by then, it is not so surprising.

It would be an interesting future subject to research the impact that the lightbulb had on glassworks fortunes - particularly when mechanisation came in. Perhaps it is no surprise that a lot of glassworks went to the wall around 1920, but I doubt lightbulbs were the only cause but could have had a significant effect then.

Checkout the Kilokat lighting forum, link on my site at http://www.ysartglass.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Bulbs/lightbulbs.htm

There two or three glass artists wanting to make lightbulbs as part of their works.

Frank
Title: How to recognise a collectable marble?
Post by: Bernard C on March 01, 2004, 06:37:13 PM
Mike E,

I buy marbles at car boots &c, and bag them up in 11s with an alley and a leaflet giving detail of various games, taken from a '30s encyclopedia of sports, games and pastimes.    These I sell every now and again at the Milton Keynes shopping centre antique fair - and they go like wildfire!   My marble mountain has been on the local wireless (translates to radio) and may yet appear on local TV.

I am completely lost on paperweights and marbles, both of which remain mysterious to me.   Would you be so kind as to recommend a website or a cheap and  cheerful publication that would help me spot a "good" marble, one that I should seek expert advice on?   I don't need an identification guide - just enough to put something special on one side for investigation.

Thanks, Bernard C.
Title: Domes with colured bits in
Post by: KevinH on March 02, 2004, 01:00:29 AM
Hi,

I'm a paperweight collector of the non-flak variety! I actually started with "coloured Victorian glass" and anything else that took my fancy as long as it was cheap enough, but then I got hooked on the "domes with coloured bits in".

Although I am now both a "generalist" and a "specialist", I had never found myself drawn to marbles as a collecting theme. But in the past year I have become aware of "Art Glass Marbles" and I can see that people would indeed enjoy collecting these as much as I enjoy my own focus.

Here in the UK, I dont get to see many Art Glass Marbles, but I have recently checked some websites and I was reminded that Teign Valley Glass in Devon, UK started out in 1981 as Marble makers. They provided thier sister business, "House of Marbles" with "Victorian replicas". Their products are now "worldwide".

Neverthelss, it does appear that the main following is still within the US, and that seems to be borne out by the fact that almost all of the sites listed under the subject are US-based.

However, Sweetbriar Gallery, a major UK paperweight dealership, are now offering some items from Cuneo Furnace, a US Marble maker. And I have to admit that those items are tempting me into the field! The ones currently shown in the Sweetbriar website are all 2 1/4 inch and are very well made with coloured swirls and filigree twists. It is the size and form that, with my paperweight collector hat on, draws my interest.

Apart from that, the closest I actually have to a Marble in my own collection is a 1 3/4 inch diameter, 1 1/4 inch high 'paperweight' with an "extremely artistic" blue and yellow-green central swirl. I say it's "artistic" because I made it - during a one-day course at a glass studio. The instructor said of it, "Well ... we'd call that a marble"!
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Mike E etc on March 04, 2004, 10:48:19 AM
Frank,
   I know one glass artist who takes marbles that do not sell and grinds a flat spot and calls them paperweights, not my cup of tea.
  Light bulbs as art....I like it!

Bernard,
  you can make some good money with new machine made marbles. There are a couple companies who are making some very nice marbles and some turn out so good that there is a following of collectors who look for the best examples to collect from these companies.
  Check my site out, there is a lot of links to marbles and other things related to lampwork.

KevH,
  There are some marble collectors in the UK...I have sent three or four that way.
 Thanks for the information.
 I think it is great when a collector gets to try there hand a molten glass, it had to be fun for you.


Mike E
Title: Marbles
Post by: Angela B on March 07, 2004, 05:02:12 AM
There's a page of books about Marbles at http://www.book-seek.com/marblebooks.html
- and there are some great books about marbles.
All the best
Angela
Title: Re: .
Post by: CerianB on March 15, 2004, 10:18:58 PM
Quote from: "Mike E etc"

   Ivo, I am a wanna be paperweight maker!
 
I *am* a paperweight maker!  Well, I've made one, ok?  

I've been a Collector for just about a year now and when I spotted a reasonably local glass studio offering a "have-a-go" session, I jumped at the chance.  Didn't get to do the glass gathering but wow! what a buzz I got for that hour with hot glass.  Fantastic  :D
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Mike E etc on March 16, 2004, 08:24:43 AM
Cerian,
 that is cool when a collector gets to try there hand at hot glass, it gives one a new perspective. Here is a link to a few of the 3/4" paperweights I have made in the past; http://www.glassartists.org/Gal116_paperweights.asp



Mike E
Title: great site for handcrafted marbles
Post by: guest in seattle on May 12, 2004, 04:32:15 AM
I enjoyed the discussion on marbles as a collectible artform.  Recently I found some incredible glass marbles at an artshow and just received note from the Seattle artist Todd Martin, that he launched his website a few weeks ago.  

www.toddmartinglass.com

I highly recommend this site.  It is beautifully done, complimenting his amazing work.

Something to keep in mind is that not all marbles are made the same way.
Serious collectors know that inferior/most artists break off the punty in the flame and then buff out the rough spot.  I believe that the more valuable collectable is one that has been completely crafted IN THE FLAME, as Martin's are.  He explained to me at his artshow that he does no buffing, but instead works with a smaller and smaller punty and in the end lets the flame itself smooth out the rough spot. This is something I hadn't known before and now that I am inquiring with other glass artists, I am finding that Martin is rare.  His work is just beautiful.  

If you haven't explored his site, I urge you to visit it.  He also makes pendants, bracelets, large sculptural pieces combining glass and bronze, as well as his own unique solid glass wine stoppers.  I got some wine stoppers and a glass cork pull (he doesn't have those on the site, but you can buy them if you go to one of his art shows) for a friend's wedding and it was their favorite gift.

Happy collecting.  And yes, marbles are very collectible.

Seattle glass collector
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Bernard C on March 30, 2005, 12:37:49 AM
I see that our moderator has moved this topic to the Paperweights forum.   A most sensible course of action as marbles and paperweights seem to me to have much in common, and are easily distinguished from other types of glass without specialist knowledge.

Sadly, the MK Shopping Centre Fair is no longer.   The finances did not add up any more.   So my main outlet for packs of old marbles has disappeared.   I am still buying them;  in fact I bought a sweet jar two-thirds full of marbles recently at a local auction.

I might try them at a glass fair — some glass collectors must have children or grandchildren of a suitable age for marble games.

Anyone have any useful ideas or suggestions?   My problem is that my margins are not large enough to be able to sell them wholesale, and I cannot justify expensive table-top space at antique fairs to them.   It's a help yourself from the box-on-the-floor approach, a million miles away from modern art glass marbles.

Bernard C.  8)
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: glasswizard on March 30, 2005, 09:49:43 AM
My favorite artist is Josh Simpson. I have a nice collection of contemporary paperweights, but the reality is I cannot afford Josh Simpson paperweights. His marbles that I own are from the Inhabited Planet series and to me are a great represenation of his work.

To view his work, here is the link to his website  http://www.joshsimpson.com/site/index.html


These are the three Inhabited Planets I feel very lucky to possess.
http://tinypic.com/2i8e20
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: chopin-liszt on March 30, 2005, 09:50:44 PM
:D Well, now I definitely have an excuse to browse the paperweight forum! I do like marbles, have been watching a few on eBay in the states, with a view perhaps to starting on them. I'm still not keen on paperweights though :twisted: Cheers, Sue
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Leni on March 30, 2005, 09:57:01 PM
Quote from: "chopin-liszt"
I do like marbles .... I'm still not keen on paperweights though :twisted: Cheers, Sue

 :shock:  :shock:  :shock:
Big marbles, small paperweights.  Small paperweights, big marbles!  :?  :roll:

Leni
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: chopin-liszt on March 30, 2005, 10:01:57 PM
:roll: Obviously I just like my paperweights in the round! :roll:
TTFN, Sue
Title: Re: great site for handcrafted marbles
Post by: aa on March 30, 2005, 10:20:12 PM
Quote from: "guest in seattle"


www.toddmartinglass.com

Something to keep in mind is that not all marbles are made the same way.
Serious collectors know that inferior/most artists break off the punty in the flame and then buff out the rough spot.  I believe that the more valuable collectable is one that has been completely crafted IN THE FLAME, as Martin's are.  He explained to me at his artshow that he does no buffing, but instead works with a smaller and smaller punty and in the end lets the flame itself smooth out the rough spot. This is something I hadn't known before and now that I am inquiring with other glass artists, I am finding that Martin is rare.  His work is just beautiful.  Seattle glass collector


Quote from: "glasswizard"
His marbles that I own are from the Inhabited Planet series and to me are a great represenation of his work.

To view his work, here is the link to his website  http://www.joshsimpson.com/site/index.html



Harvey Littleton's immortal words: "technique is cheap".
Let's keep things in perspective - Todd is a lampworker, working over a flame and Josh is a blower working from a furnace. These are completely different disciplines and each would choose whether flame finishing is feasible or not. It is probably easier for a lampworker to flame finish, but cold working and polishing is time consuming and skilled and should not diminish the finished piece. The really important thing is the actual appearance and content of the piece.
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Anonymous on March 31, 2005, 08:28:54 PM
:twisted:  The real reason I like marbles is that they're not small paperweights, they're beads without holes, and I collected glass beads before I started on other glass :wink: TTFN, Sue.
Title: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: chopin-liszt on April 01, 2005, 10:37:33 AM
:shock: That last bit was me. I seem to need to log in twice before I'm accepted, and it's not just for the paperweight bit either! :? TTFN, Sue
Title: Re: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Hourglass on October 25, 2009, 01:17:02 PM
Just been reading through the posts on the marble side of glass and yes, they are collectable, or at least here they are as I've mentioned before, the Teign Valley Glass works, museum, House Of Marbles is just down the road and they do have millions of them in varying forms and sizes. Haven't seen them being made as yet but the larger ones, 25mm and 50mm ones are done on a rolling machine and come off with striation lines on them which to me makes them look cheap but if you pick them over you can find very smooth ones. Old marbles around here are plentiful and fairly cheap, I bought 215 in a cardboard box at a boot sale this morning for £6 and these were the old traditional ones in sizes and varying colour inclusions from 15mm to 30mm and all between. I will certainly be looking for more and from time to time I still keep turning up the odd marble when working in my garden.
Title: Re: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Frank on November 25, 2009, 01:53:15 AM
Test of a good marble has to be its rolling game play qualities. Would love to play with artists made marbles. Sensible marble play would cause little if any damage, it was the jangling in the pocket that mucked them up.
Title: Re: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Hourglass on November 25, 2009, 09:50:27 AM
I think it's the 'rolling quality' or the lack of it that makes marbles more interesting and when playing with them makes the 'game' more interesting. Old marbles tend to have slight irregularities in shape and most are not perfectly round and when playing with or rolling them on a level smooth surface they tend to deviate from the line which used to, in my memory, made playing with them more interesting and needed a certain level of skill. It is surprising how tough marbles are and how hard they can come in contact with another or other object before they will incur any damage, they will of course chip, flake or split if they have a flaw in them or are 'shot' with the velocity of a bullet. It's quite difficult to find genuine old marbles from the 1900's now as the traditional type is still being produced and are difficult to identify apart from obvious wear, colour inclusions and patterns and other things like small internal air bubbles. Perhaps someone knows a definitive way to identify older marbles? You see a lot being offered on eBay as 'vintage' marbles but most actually turn out to be quite modern and new.
Title: Re: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: glasstrufflehunter on November 30, 2009, 05:41:17 AM
Most of the 'marbles' I have are of stone though I do have a sizable one made of blue aventurine. I have a couple inexpensive chinese millefiori as well. I hve yet to add any of the more serious studio artists.

I did have something funny happen one year I had my paperweights displayed on a rack that was visible through the window. Many were of a spherical shape. One day a neighbor kid spotted them. His eyes went round. "Those are some huuuge marbles!"
Title: Re: contemporary marbles & your feelings about them as a...
Post by: Hourglass on October 08, 2010, 06:39:49 PM
This topic seems to have been neglected of late. Marbles here in the UK seem to have been overlooked in the past but are now becoming recognised in their own right especially now several art glass manufacturers are producing 'collectable' marbles. Below is one that I recently purchased which I believe by it's pontil and other forming marks to be Victorian an inch in diameter. Below this one are a group of new 1"1/2 marbles which are being produced by TVG (Teign Valley Glass) which is very local to me. The far right and far left ones on the top row look slightly 'squat' but this is an optical illusion as they are all perfectly spherical. I will attempt to photograph these better sometime to do them the justice they deserve.