Incase anyone is wondering this is crate number 3596. Carrara Bianco Honed $12.95 a Square Foot also available in Bianco Penny Polished in 1″ size and also available in 3/4″ size. This pictured above is the 1″ Penny round. We have an entire page dedicated to Penny Rounds here.
It has taken a few years but today I can spot an incredible lot instantly upon arrival. Even before it is cut from the crate and unsealed. You can tell instantly after a few hundred crates (well thousands). When you look at it you know the box is white it has two sheets covering it. The crate sheet and then the shrink wrap of the box.
If it looks good through two sheets then it is going to look amazing out of the packaging…. so let’s unwrap this and take a look. Honestly and I know it is sad….. but this part I like. I like to see how good it looks. It really, really matters to me. How white the Carrara base is, the veining purity and how I would rate it from one out of ten. The Bianco collection is seven or higher on a scale. Italy grades their marble ‘C Grade’ and ‘CD grade’ the CD is lower, much lower in quality. It is dull base with smudged veining. Carrara marble has a quality scale pretty much like diamonds. You are looking for clarity of base and veining. The Builder Depot does not sell the CD grade in it’s Bianco Collection. We do sell it but offer it as a discount product here to help our Italian quarries as they come across the blocks and other than the big boxes someone else has to help them out. There is significantly more ‘CD’ Grade shipped to the USA. Italy estimates it at over 90% with ‘C’ grade making up a fraction of the quality level in the USA.
The price point from Italy between the two is a factor and lack of knowledge by the US consumer is the other. If you see two pieces of “CD” Grade and never compared it to a sample of “C” Grade you could never tell the difference. Buy a sample of this and take it into your most expensive and luxurious looking showroom. They will not be able to compete with it. Not on price but on quality. The price they will not believe you. It is not the retailer the store designer who you are speaking too’s fault either. They are not trained, few are. They work is a shiny, perfectly created showroom. That is where all the money went. All the money went into smoke and mirrors so you the consumer would believe them. Would not look past the pretty showroom. But if you could, if you had the knowledge. If you knew the grades. Then you could simply comment “had you not spent a fortune of the banks money on this showroom, then you could have invested into the quality of the product more”. Instead you chose to invest in something I cannot take home or use. A very expensive showroom. “Wonderful choice! I think I will buy direct and skip your cost structure as explained more here on a whiteboard”.
This you can tell the base is as white as the white boxes. Then it has just the right amount of veining. This is a really impressive lot. In retailers this would be $60 to $70 a square foot. This most likely was a block, the block was cut into a few slabs for a special customer and the other half of the block was processed as Penny rounds.
Everyone has their own idea of what is perfect. Every lot is different. To me personally this is incredible. I would put this on a floor and paint my walls. Use a grout that matches the veining so it would be slightly off white, light gray. The look would be exceptional and perfectly bright.
When you get the very, very best blocks that Tuscany has to offer, it is great to add into the Carrara Italian marble Bianco Collection. Please note: This post was written May 25th 2016. You cannot see this in 2018 and ask for the same lot. It will be sold. This will be sold before the end of June or taken by employees, like me 🙂
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