AGGIE - a shooter made from the mineral, agate.

ALLIES - derived from alley tors; prized shooters made of semiprecious minerals.

ANNEAL - to gradually reduce glass temperature in an oven or Lehr, so has to inhibit cracking in glass.

AVENTURINE - a type of glass containing particles of either copper (goldstone), chromic oxide (green aventurine) or ferric oxide (red aventurine), giving glass a glittering or shimmering appearance.

CANE - a long glass rod constructed of layers of different colors.

CHALKIES - unglazed marbles made from clay, limestone or gypsum.

CHIP - the spot where a piece has broken off the surface of a marble, usually from being hit. Small chips are sometimes called "flakes". A barely visible chip is sometimes called a "pinprick" or "pinpoint".

CLAMBROTH - milk glass marbles in solid color having many thin outer swirl lines of a different color or colors running from pontil to pontil.

CLAY - marbles made of clay which may or may not be colored or glazed.

CLEARIE - clear glass marbles made in a variety of single colors.

CLOUD - an End of Day marble where the colored flecks of glass in the marble are not stretched, such that they resemble clouds floating above the core.

COMIC - marbles manufactured by the Peltier Glass Company from 1928 through 1934. They have one of twelve different comic characters stamped and fired onto the marble, such that the transfer is permament. May also have a transfer of Tom Mix or Cotes Bakery.

COMMIES - playing marbles made out of clay.

CONTEMPORARY GLASS - a marble handmade by a modern craftsman.

CRYSTAL - very clear, colorless glass.

CULLET - pieces of broken glass that are to be added to a batch.

DIAMETER - the length of a straight line through the center of a sphere. The size of a marble is measured by its diameter.

DING - the mark left on the surface of the marble by a small blow. The glass on the area damaged is still intact (unlike a chip). This mark is sometimes called a "moon", "subsurface moon" or "bruise".

DIVIDED CORE - swirl-type glass marble having colored bands in the center running from pontil to pontil.

END-OF-CANE A handmade marble that was the first (start-of-cane) or final (last-of-cane) one produced from a cane. These are identifiable as marbles where the internal design ends before one of the pontil marks.

END OF DAY - a handmade glass marble that contains small stretched or unstretched flecks of colored glass that do not run continuously unbroken from pontil to pontil.

FLAKE - Spot on a marble where it hit another, and a thin layer of glass came off. More shallow than a chip.

FRACTURE- an internal stress line caused by a blow to the surface, chemical stress or thermal stress to the glass. This term also refers to a hairline crack in a sulphide figure caused during manufacture.

FREESE IMPROVEMENT - modification made to Akro Agate machinery that eliminated tiny seam at either end of a machine made marble and made them smoother. Involved off-setting the rollers on the marble-making machine. Named after an Akro employee and implemented around 1927.

FURNACE - a pot, day tank or continuous tank fabricated for melting glass.

GATHER - a portion of molten glass on a punty, sometimes called a glob.

HANDMADE - marbles that are made without the use of machines. There usually are cut-off marks (pontil marks) on one or both poles of the marble. A handmade glass marble is made by twisting glass off the end of a glass cane or by gathering glass on the end of a metal rod (punty).

IMMIE - a glass marble streaked with color.

INDIAN - handmade marble consisting of dark base glass with colorful bands applied in the surface or on top of it from pontil to pontil.

LATTICINIO - a swirl-type glass marble with thin strands in the center running from pontil to pontil that form a net when the marble was twisted.

LEHR - an annealing furnace or oven.

LUTZ - handmade glass marbles that contain finely ground goldstone.

MACHINE MADE - a marble that is made by machines. Generally, they are perfectly round and have no pontil marks. These marbles were made after 1900, predominately in the United States.

MANUFACTURING DEFECT - a fold, crease, additional melted glass or open air bubble on the surface of a marble, or a hairline fractures in sulphide figures.

MIBS - the game of marbles, from a shortening of the word marbles.

MICA - mineral silicates that occur in thin sheets and are reflective or silvery in appearance. Coarsely ground flakes of mica are sometimes placed in handmade marbles.

MILKIES - translucent white glassies.

MOON - semi-circular chip on a marble.

ONIONSKIN - an End of Day marble where the colored flecks of glass are stretched, such that the core resembles the skin of an onion.

OPAQUE - a handmade or machine made marble that is a single color and that is so dark that light does not shine through it.

PEE WEE - a marble that is 1/2" or less in diameter.

PEPPERMINT - a handmade swirl marble that has bands of red, white and blue under the surface.

PINPRICK - Very tiny mark left in the surface of a marble. May be from either manufacturing or hitting another marble. Tinier than a Pit.

PIT - Very tiny mark left in the surface of a marble from manufacture or from hitting another marble. Too small to be called a chip.

POLISHED - work which has been done to the surface of a marble to make it more presentable by clearing up cloudiness, surface roughness, scratches or small chips. A polished handmade marble no longer has pontils. A polished machine made marble is missing the top layer of glass. A handmade marble that has been polished, but that still has its pontils is referred to as "buffed". A machine made marble that still retains some of its original surface is also referred to by the same name.

PONTIL - a rough mark left on the pole of a marble where it was sheared off a rod or the end of a punty.

PUNTY - a long solid metal rod used to hold a glass object that is being made.

PURIE - a small, brightly colored Clearie.

RIBBON CORE - a handmade swirl with a single or two flat bands in the center running from pontil to pontil.

SHOOTER - the marble used to aim at and strike other marbles in a game. Regulation size is 1/2" to 3/4".

SINGLE GATHER - a marble that was made completely on the end of a punty and not from a cane.

SINGLE PONTIL - a marble with only one pontil, created from either the end of cane or single gathered.

SLAG - a marble made from two different colors of glass that were melted together in the same furnace pot. Due to the differing densities of the glass, they would not melt into a homogeneous color. Handmade slags have pontils. Machine made slags consist of a colored transparent glass with opaque white swirls.

SOLID CORE - a handmade swirl with a series of bands in the center running from pontil to pontil that are spaced so closely together that no clear space remains between each band.

"SPARKLE" - Mark left on a marble from tapping another. No obvious moon under the surface. The spot just sparkles in the light.

STEELIE - a marble made out of steel that can be either solid or hollow.

STRIAE - elongated imperfections in glass caused by temperature differences or unequal density of the materials used. Striae are not fractures.

SUBSURFACE MOON - Mark left under the surface of a marble when it hit another. No glass is missing. Circular bruise mark.

SULPHIDE - objects made of china clay and supersilicate of potash that are inserted into a transparent glass sphere.

SWIRL - either a handmade marble with bands or strands running continuously unbroken from pontil to pontil, or a machine made marble that is manufactured by injecting one or more colors into a base stream of glass.

TARGET - the marble in a game that was shot at by the shooter. Tournament regulations set the size at 5/8".

TAW - derived from alleytor; a prized shooter made of semiprecious stone, usually agate.

TRANSITIONAL - early machine made marbles that were made partly by hand and partly by machine. Usually the glass was gathered by hand onto a punty and held over the machine. As the molten glass dripped down to the machine, a worker would snip off the proper amount and allow it to fall into the machine to be formed machine. The marble usually has one pontil.