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This section of marble terminology, like the mother of invention, is provided as a necessity. In our case, to keep us all on the same page, as many misuses and misspellings are quickly adopted by new collectors and dealers in the ever growing hobby, spreading like a bad cold.

More to come.

Aggie:  A marble produced from the stone agate. Aggies were common in the 3/4" shooter size due to their ability to withstand the repetitive abuse as a shooter marble in game play. You will often see Aggies riddled with subsurface moons, yet no missing surface material. This can be attributed from the higher level of silica and its molecular structure.

​​Antique: One hundred years old, or older. Vintage, as adopted by the garment industry: Twenty-five years old, or older.

Aventurine: Often misspelled as adventurine, though as fun as it may sound, there is no "D" in aventurine.

Claudia: A dug patch style Akro Agate marble in orange and blue, measuring over 1", named after Roger Hardy's wife, "Claudia". This was in conjunction with the naming of the dug orange and blue corkscrew measuring over 1" from the same run and subsequent dumping. When Akro Agate authority and owner of the Akro Agate Museum Roger Hardy uncovered these marbles, the corkscrew was named after Roger as "Jolly Roger". Both Claudia and Jolly Roger marbles measure over 1". Anything smaller and certainly anything not part of this dig, is not a Jolly Roger, or Claudia.

Color count: How many colors? In opposition to claims sometimes bordering absurdity, one may become long winded on this topic, prompting a dedicated, separate page seen here.

Cullet: Sometimes misspelled as "Cutlet". Cullet is batch glass broken into manageable sizes for remelting in glass production. Post-production cullet, a byproduct or scrap from glass production.

Floater: As coined by Steve Sturtz, is a transparent marble with a suspended, internal mass of colors that appear to float in the matrix.

Frit: Sometimes mispronounced and misspelled as "Frits" or "Fritz". Ole' Fritz had nothing to do with it. "Frit" is crushed glass particles mainly used in handmade marble production and other glass art. It is sometimes used in contemporary machine made marble production. Referred to as "Frit Sprinkled". One vintage style would be that of the Christensen Agate Co. "Guinea". The Guinea's uniqueness is a larger range of thin flakes of glass, verses modern crushed fragmented glass.

Hand blown marble:  A misnomer for a handmade marble. "Blown" suggests air inside. If it's hollow, it's not a marble. There are marbles with internal air pockets referred to as air trap, though the production of the mass of the marble was gathered, not blown.

Jolly Roger: A dug corkscrew style Akro Agate marble in orange and blue, measuring over 1", dug by and named after Roger Hardy, the Akro Agate authority and owner of the Akro Agate Museum. The accompanied dug patch style was named after Roger's wife, "Claudia". Both Claudia and Jolly Roger marbles measure over 1". Anything smaller and certainly anything not part of this dig, is not a Jolly Roger, or Claudia.

Pontil: A scar, or nipple remnant on the surface of some hand gathered types and cane made glass marbles. Cane types include pinched and ground/faceted. Hand gathered Grenier were ground. Hand gathered Leighton brand, patented and exclusively used the melted style. Cold roll creases on modern machine made marbles are often misidentified as pontils and sometimes misspelled as "Ponytails". Very rarely will these defects resemble the symmetry observed in actual pontils. If it isn't round and is smooth, it's likely not a pontil.

Ram's Head: An error marble produced by DAS brand, in which two mirrored spirals on opposite sides of the marble resemble the spiraling horns of a male sheep's head. This occurrence is exclusive to DAS brand. However unintentional, the rarer, symmetrical double spun specimens among the fray of defects are quite attractive and collectible and deserving of the naming.

Shooter: Many long time marble collectors have expressed their disdain for the use of the term "shooter" for marbles over 3/4". As old as tournament marble competition, as set by tournament rules, a shooter must be 3/4", or smaller in size. The question of "What about larger sizes", will often arise. The best answer is to label it as the actual measured size. Terms such as "Big Boy" (Marble King), and "Boulder" are commonly used, as well as very large marbles measuring well over 1" are often referred to as "Toe Breaker". Some confusion, and the commonality of larger than 3/4" marbles being referred to as shooters, may be due to the fact that some later vintage brands, as well as retailers of Vacor de Mexico and other imported marbles, included a 1" machined marble in retail sets and labeled the package as containing "one shooter". The choice in the use of the term shooter boils down to whether one is apathetic or principled.

Steelie:  Hollow, steel marble. Identifiable by an 'X' seam on one hemisphere. If it's solid and heavy, it's a ball bearing.

Tank wash: Not a marble washed in a tank. The "tank" being the crucible, the "wash", in concept, being the firing of the crucible and removal of old glass with new in preparation for a new run. However, this is a misnomer, redundant in principle and not a real thing other than a term devised to grant authorization of marble production at companies' expense. The process of running out the old glass with new is precisely what happens at the beginning of any run, so a tank wash is an unnecessary procedure that no one would knowingly do. Not only does this apply to JABO, Inc marbles, this also applies to a known vintage marble run but does not detract from their value.

Transitional marbles:  Hand gathered, machine rolled marbles. The incorporation of a machine roller devise was a transition from the traditional hand gathered and hand rolled marbles. Later, fully machine made marbles were produced. Not all hand gathered marbles are transitional. M.F. Christensen invented and used the process. Early Akro Agate, Christensen Agate and Peltier Glass also began briefly with transitional style before full automation quickly followed. This type will exhibit a smoothed over creased pontil. Excluded are Grenier and Leighton, the latter often referred to as Navarre. These did not utilize a roller mechanism. For more information, see the gallery section "Hand gathered marbles". Expanded view images will include additional information.​​​

Wet Mint: So perfectly smooth and flawless, it looks wet. There is categorically no such thing as "Wet Mint Minus", as the phrase "Absolutely perfect, almost", is also redundant.​

... more to come.

Marble Terminology

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