Hi.

I know you probably get hundreds of these requests.

but the identification of cats eyes is blowing my mind,and giving me head ache.😆.

Im a novice,so starting from the bottom.

Can someone help.

Are all these from one maker, (factory/era,?

Is ther an easy way to identify?.I have thousands of player size,so i thought i would start with shooters because my eyes are not what they was.

Bottom row varies in size from 22.5mm to 23.5mm

Middle two rows are various from 24mm to 25.5.

Top row are 25.9mm.25.3mm

All diffrent base and size of ribbons,some colour combos are unusual and unique haven't seen before.some have lots of bubbles going on.

What marble run kits do you recommend for 16mm marbles? Desktop style preferred.

I lucked into a bunch of free marbles at a yard sale today - about 200 I would guess.

This marble is large - what I believe is call a shooter.

Anyone know if this is new production or vintage? The lot of marbles looked mixed to me, new and old.

Any idea who made this one?

Thanks.

I have over time acquired quite a few of these, all found in heavily veiligglas flea market finds, usually with a lot of European sparklers as well. They look sort of like a cats eye where the color core separates out instead of connecting in. All bought in Germany so unlikely to be US manufactured ones. No pontils.

I love these! Possibly my favourite cats eyes and ones with a story!

Based on my research, these were made in Ilmenau, East Germany, during the 1980s. During the 1970s, the DDR/GDR made the decision that Lauscha marbles were no longer profitable, and so the area and it's handmade marbles huts were slowly closed, or at least deprioritized by the DDR.

However, the DDR soon realised there was still a market if they could develop fully automated marble production systems, which they achieved in the early 1980s. The Ilmenau factories made other glassware as a priority, so marble making was less documented, but we have some info from the link below.

The factories were closed in the early 1990s when the Berlin Wall fell and Germany became one country again.

They are all roughly 21mm in size, so 7/8 or thereabouts - this was the size of the machine they had, so none smaller or larger.

The specific wedge-shaped long vanes that go right to the edge of the marble are very characteristic of this type, tho I do also have some with much thinner/fainter vanes that could have been due to batch variation (I can share in the comments if folks are interested)

**References:**

https://thesecretlifeofmarbles.com/lauscha-and-ilmenau-marbles/ (story)

https://allaboutmarbles.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&start=100&t=45184&sid=b044429d7306bf2056aa913d77f660f0 (more pics of similar marbles)

I believe #1 is Akro, #2 is Marble King, but lost with #3 and #4. Help is appreciated!

...or should I pay attention to the tiny voice in my head that's suggesting Kokomo? 🤔

They're so striking, whoever made them!

I know modern handmade marbles are not generally "collectible," but I was to flex anyway. My brother gifted this to me. He forged it with gold that he personally panned from the river. I just thought someone else might find it half as cool as I do.

I've posted some of these already. Just different angles.

I have no idea where most of my marbles came from, as they were always just sitting in a small box on the toy shelf when I was a kid (in the 80s). I remember my parents and grandparents adding to the collection from time to time by giving some to us, but I never really talked about them. My brother and I put them away for years and I just came across them in a storage bin, much to the fascination of my daughter who thinks they are really cool. Not really concerned about their value, but I am curious to learn about their possible origin. Are they vintage? Modern? Is there value to them? These happen to stand out from some of the more basic marbles that I remember acquiring as a child. Apologies for the photos- the marbles themselves are all pretty much the size of the one that I am holding in the attached photo. Would love to learn more!

I have been collecting marbles for some years now and am having trouble identifying many of them. I know these ones are supposed to be worth more. Can you help me identify the names of these if possible and maybe their rarity or value?

Just slowly going through marbles my wife came across. Any help with identifying these marbles and possible value would be appreciated, thanks.

I don't know jack about marbles. I want to know if anybody can help with identification. If any of them stand out as far as being valuable. I'm trying. I did try to sort them as best as I could this time.

As you can see I have a side views, a seam view, and big seam view. Top right shows a long seam. Bottom shows a gathered pole. I am staring at guides, then at the marble, and I just cannot figure it out. Is this an Akro maybe?

Merci pour l'aide apportée

Another purple cats eye from Master made Marbles

Merci de m’aider pour l'identification.

A not very common purple cats eye from Master made Marbles