As an eBay seller, my goal is to provide comprehensive and clear descriptions and photographs of all the marbles sold. I sell all types of vintage marbles, mostly produced before 1950 and I cater to both experienced and novice collectors alike; designing auctions to have something here for every collector. If you've purchased swilterding marbles before, I'd like to thank you again for your patronage. This business model is built on honesty, accuracy, promptness and professionalism.

Comments on shipping charges: I will combine shipping if purchasing from multiple auctions, please wait until the auctions end for the evening and I will send an invoice; if you are an international buyer, please email before bidding to confirm the shipping price.

Comments on AI: I do not use it; I write my own descriptions.

Comments on grading and identification of marbles: (for machine made and transitionals; note, I am a bit more forgiving with handmade marbles): For the most part, if I state without qualification the identification of a marble and its manufacturer, you can be sure I know this from experience. From time to time, I might make an improper identification; there is a lot going on with marbles and no one person can know it all. Couple this fact with misinformation found in the various opinions circulating in different marble groups across the county, and sometimes I find that I might have learned a fact/identification the wrong way. If I have uncertainty as to the determination I am making, I will tell you.

As for grading, I've given up pretending to know what people really think is a near mint marble, and those that aren't—opinions vary greatly on subjective assessments of marble condition. I've come to conclude that the only way to rate the condition of a marble is to describe it accurately. While I appreciate that there are a number of different kinds of grading scales in use, I have developed something that works well for this particular site. So here is my scale: I look at the marble with the unaided eye and grade it, then I hit a loop on it...first 3x power, sometimes up to 20x power or higher for questionable features, and issues that might involve polishing (I do not polish marbles, but occasionally obtain them in whole collections). I describe all as-mades and let you decide what amount you'll tolerate, because very often you have to accept these with some types of marbles (note: I suspect that many with defects were not chosen for shooting in marble game play, hence many of these survived the wages of children playing with them). Grade: A: Mint, uncirculated. The best there is. Only one or two very minor flaws that are only easily detected under magnification, and certainly mint 'in-hand.' There can only be minor as-mades, and only localized light surface scuffing in isolated areas of the marble. In a word, perfect, and not very common; most circulated marbles never get there, and even those that appear perfectly mint in hand, probably all have some flaws under close examination. Most of the marbles for sale here on this site won't be perfect and the grading is designed to give only the cleanest marbles this rating. When you see this grade, you can be assured you are bidding on a marble as good as can be found. A-: In hand perfect, feel is perfect, and may contain a few of the following: some minimal scuffing, light scratches and short annealing fractures, a few minor tiny microscopic pin pricks or small fleas; most of these issues are not obviously evident without careful, close, examination. I feel most of our A- marbles would still be considered mint by many collections and will look great in collections. B+: In hand very nice, smooth glass with a few slight rough spots, some scuffing and light scratching, no deep areas of glass loss; these always have much or most of the surface area of the marble without imperfections -- that is, some views are error free, or nearly so. In truth, many of a collector's prized marbles are in this condition and I often notice that many of my B+ marbles rate in the low 9's for those that use a numeric scale. Generally A through B+ grades are respectable marbles in great condition, and the flaws are only a minor issue or two with these marbles. B: Still a nice marble in places, but a number of easier to find fleas and microscopic pin pricks, some light hits, scuffing, surface with some abrasions and wear, no major areas of glass loss, in hand without magnification the marble looks very good but flaws

can be seen without magnification. There must be unblemished areas in parts of the surface of the marble, and glass loss not densely distributed throughout.

B-: A marble in this category is starting to accumulate problems, so more of the above B marble, most notably, there is no view of the marble that could be considered the 'public side' of the marble...the one view that is free of most imperfections at higher magnification.

All types of as-mades (chiefly bubble pops, cold rolls and seam roughness) are mentioned, but those are not typically included in the grade...partly because some types of marbles are prone to these. In some cases, where the marble is perfect, bubble pops and cold rolls of substantial size will downgrade the marble to A-. All B marbles are not used heavily and will always present with nice areas of the marble. C: I will only post these for rare and desirable marbles to allow those who can't afford the mint examples a chance of owning an example, and in those cases, I will tell exactly the horrors the marble contains. Sometimes to have a representative, we have to accept them as they are. These of course, have many fleas, scuffing, hits, sparkles, moons, fractures, explosions, battle scars and all manner of other possible kinds of damage.

Condition definitions:

Dimples are slight, smooth concavities on the surface of the marble. Sometimes called shrink spots, these result from uneven cooling of the molten glass that shrinks to some extent. These are valuable traits of older glass generally, and will not look normal in polished examples. Dimples are a great indicator of an original surface of a marble.

Pin-pricks, or micro pins, or microscopic pin pricks are slight losses of glass only visible under increased magnification; the higher the magnification, the more evident these become, even in MINT, grade A marbles. These are always less than 1mm in diameter.

Flea bites are micro pins that are a bit larger, approaching 1mm in diameter (yes, I measure these). Flea bites are not very deep and not much larger than 1-2 mm in diameter.

Flea and micro pinprick clusters are concentrated groupings of these in very close proximity to each other.

Bubble pops: Shallow to deep 'caves' resulting from the loss of a thin veneer of glass covering an air bubble after the marble has cooled. Some species of machine marbles, especially those with many interior bubbles, are prone to these. These are not necessarily easily avoided in some types of marbles.

Fractures: One of several types. Hit fractures are associated with fleas and hits and spider out in different directions and typically more than one. Annealing fractures are isolated and not associated with hits and thereby are 'as-made'...I describe how long they are and if straight etc. Some types of marbles are prone to these, especially larger specimens are very often do not effect enjoyment of a marble, especially when shallow and short.

Sub-surface moons: These are hits that leave the surface intact, but then lightly fractured the glass below it. They can sparkle or not, and can be slight, half, or full moon fractures.

Sparkles: Small imperfections or light hits under the surface of the glass that often only reflect at one angle of incident light. Many of these are inconsequential to the enjoyment of marbles. Some can be missed since they often require a very specific angle in order to detect.