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Robert Brown And His Brownie Marbles


wediscount2

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post-299-0-43588100-1364593568_thumb.jpgpost-299-0-42128000-1364593583_thumb.jpgpost-299-0-15352100-1364593602_thumb.jpgpost-299-0-42279800-1364593617_thumb.jpg Bought these from Brownie (Robert Brown) in 1987 and they were all old marbles.They showed up 1 weekend, all of them at the antique fair. There were different types of glass. I realize glass is glass, but a few of the marbles had a soft feel to them almost like soapstone. If you have ever held a large Clambroth, it has a different feel than say a large Swirl, well a few had that Clambroth feel.

There was also 7 or 8 old rock marbles in with the group. I knew they were old when I bought them as they "ALL" had a nice patina on them, and that only comes with age. Not sure who made them but I think they were West Virginia marbles, and hand made probably by someone affiliated with the early West Virginia glass companies. They did not have conventional pontils on them instead they had a little round bump on the pontil end (ends). I no longer own them but I'm sure there out there floating around somewhere. Main point of this little tidbit is: don't give up on the auctions, flea markets and garage sales as you never know what's going to show up. Ronnie

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i miss stopping by to see brownie at the milton west virginia flea mkt, the guy was a class act with many stories and an excellent china marble maker. the storie straight frm brownie was as follows : "most of those were works from charles gibson and old man hamon."

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i miss stopping by to see brownie at the milton west virginia flea mkt, the guy was a class act with many stories and an excellent china marble maker. the storie straight frm brownie was as follows : "most of those were works from charles gibson and old man hamon."

Yeah, OK Scott, thanks for the info. Brownie was a real go getter. Remember that summer at Springfield you and I were standing there watching the deep pockets pick Guineas from Haney at $400 a pop, well Brownie had found that box of Guineas at a yard sale and sold the whole box to Haney. Never knew who old man Hamon was. Did Brownie say he was a glass craftsman and if so was he making marbles in the 40's and 50's. Sue has a hand painted china marble that Brownie gave her, and it's one of her favorite marbles. Ronnie
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i couldnt tell any marble, was made by either of those two. not enough detail in the pics for my eyes. i dont know when those guys started making the marbles but brownie remembered washington courthouse, springfield antique show and a few other markets that he sold most of those guys work. brownie taught tom thornburg, the ENTIRE CERAMIC MARBLE ART FORM, i think tom does excellent work. brownie did inspire another ceramic artist, i think it was a woman named penny kelley. i do remember the guinea incident in springfield.

old man hamon was a glass artist and did make marbles. two of his nephews john hamon miller and boyd miller went on to make marbles. i worked with boyd often over the years. edna has more knowledge of the hamon glass/bloodline than i do

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The marble in my avatar is a 3 inch Robert L. Hamon.

Ronnie, I think the marbles in your post are early ones. I didn't discover Bob Hamon until 1992. His work was greatly changed by then. He had opened an art glass studio. Before the shop was his, everything had to be functional - bowls, vases, perfumes, etc. His Dad's generation thought art glass was unnecessary. Bob's dad had 2 brothers and they didn't do art glass either. Joe Hamon, a cousin did a little, but had the parents attitude about art glass. Bob Hamon's father was O.B. Hamon (Okie Boyd) His brother O.C. Hamon was the father of Joe Hamon. Joe has a son and a daughter that learned glass. The daughter, Cheryl Hamon Jackson still works glass. I have marbles she made and a couple pairs of earrings. Pretty!

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I found this old post and would like to share some photos. I have No. 1 of 100 of BIG BLUE III and numerous others including personalized marbles to my grandpa from "Brownie".

I have quite a few from Robert Brown. My grandfather was good friends with him and I'm trying to learn more about him. He is mentioned in Greenburg's Guide To Marbles (hardcover 1994) if this helps anyone else that may find this.

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