Art & Antiques by Dr. Lori

Ancient marbles were made of clay such as marbles that date back to the Roman era. Modern marbles are made of glass. Collecting these beautiful orbs has been a popular pastime for centuries.

For collectors, it is all about the look and feel of a marble. And, that comes from a marble’s most common material … glass. Understanding how glass is made and its properties can help new collectors spot the most valuable marbles.

Marbles come in many forms and colors with some interesting names. Marbles are known as end of day marbles, banded opaque marbles, clambroth marbles which look like the color of thick soup, and even Indian marbles in black and bright contrasting colors. Other marbles include are sulphides, swirls, and lutzes. Some are named for their designers and others are named for how they look or feel. Some of the most popular and valuable marbles feature glass making techniques like latticino and ribbon work.

Understanding how glass is made can help any marble collector spot valuable marbles and improve the value of his or her collection. For instance, latticino core swirl marbles are highly sought after. They are beautiful, colorful, and intricately made. Latticino marbles are made using the advanced glass making technique known as lampwork with canes, mosaics, and ribbon canes. Internal twisting may be added to the latticino glass method for an amazing result. With latticino core swirl marbles, the marble’s core looks like lattice work. Latticino marbles feature a lattice core of a contrasting color. Some latticino marbles can bring $30-$50 from collectors.

These marbles come in many types like ribbon swirl and divided ribbon swirl marbles. They are characterized by a contrasting color swirl inside of a clear glass marble orb. Swirls are made using glass canes of various colors. The glass canes, typically of different colors, are swirled inside a clear base to make a swirl marble. A marble’s core may be colored or clear. The core may be a solid color or clear glass. If an inner decorative swirl has a more than one color in the swirl rod and a clear orb base, then that marble is rare and valuable selling for up to a few hundred dollars for one marble. These inner swirls are twisted during the glass production process to create swirls. Most solid core swirl marbles command up to $50 each. What else impacts value? Size, condition, and color all matter when evaluating marbles.

Some swirl marbles do not have a core. They feature a single linear swirl twisted inside the marble and are typically thin and highly colorful. Specialty swirl marbles that can be worth hundreds of dollars include: Joseph’s Coat, Gooseberry Swirl and Peppermint Swirl marbles.

Some marbles are clear and others are opaque glass. An opaque marble with a band is an opaque marble with a colorful swirl. They are but fun to collect. They don’t command a high value but they have some interesting derivations that bring good values. For instance, a common opaque marble would cost a collector a few dollars, but a rare clambroth opaque glass marble or indian marble in black with colorful elements would be worth between $50 to $250 each.

Ph.D. antiques appraiser, author, and award-winning personality, Dr. Lori presents antique appraisal events nationwide, appears on Netflix’s King of Collectibles and History channel’s The Curse of Oak Island & Pawn Stars do America. Visit www.DrLoriV.com and watch her popular videos on www.YouTube.com/DrLoriV.

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