I've had some marbles polished by folks that do that sort of thing. Marble would have to be pretty sad for me to have that done though. The marble itself would have to warrant polishing value wise or rarity. In a case where a marble is so scarred up it has no value a good polish can help it , but it's value would still be far below an unaltered one. Some folks just like pretty shiney marbles for their own enjoyment. In that case, polish away.
Looks like you have some interesting ones in that batch.
I love picking them up and get between 5-15 on every river dive I do and I got several on Monday during a trash removal dive in front of a home that dates to 1820's. Several were similar in color and pattern to the one you just purchased. What do YOU look for in a marble when you are in a purchasing mood?
Enclosed is a poor photo of a 'shooter marble' also recovered on monday, I say poor because the photo does no justice to the colors which are purple, yellow and white and poor because it is in with some pipes I found in the same area. I can take better photos if you are interested.
Could be a Marble King. Hard to tell from that angle. Just going by colors. I look for odd Slags I don't have and any slag over 3/4" is of interest. Especially purples, aquas, reds and oranges.
Sulphides do pretty well. Painted marbles? LOL Basically I don't like to polish a marble if it changes the original glass pattern. Veneered marbles don't fare too well either say Marble Kings and Vitros for example.
Well now with all that said I am out of my league here, I recover them when I see them on the bottom simply because they are glass and colorful. As for all of these names and terms I am presently clueless and will need some books to help me before I post in this forum again. I feel like I did the first time I found this site for bottle collecting. Furthermore I did not realize that they were so popular or collectible.
How should I be storing these finds of mine Road Dog to maximize their collector value should I have any worth re-sale?
They are fine in that bowl as long as you don't shake them around. If you have an pristine ones in there that might be good I would separate them out. I got plenty around here in Jars and containers. The one I circled in the bowl looks interesting. Got a better pic?