Masa's decision to make the core of this carved wonder all dark cobalt blue was brilliant, because the result is a stunning silver masterpiece that seriously POPS in hand with the dark backing! This marble has wonderful patterns ALL OVER it, and you will have a blast studying it. I can't stress enough how amazing it is that Masa is able to create marbles like this - the process of getting that entire pattern to fit perfectly all together on a sphere is stupefying. He has to mask the entire marble in reverse to then carve the pattern on to the marble blank that he created, and then he painstakingly lays silver leaf over the entire pattern, leaving only the leaf exposed on the raised design. It's unbelievable what he does, and the patience to do it is beyond me! A master of a gem waiting for your collection!