Jackson Marble Company

 

Pennsboro, West Virginia

1945 – 1946

 

 

 

Jackson marbles are rare.  Though some of the Jackson Marble Co.’s output is distinctive, including swirls with as many as 4 colors, Jackson’s marbles probably rank between Davis’ and Kokomo’s in terms of the need for caution in identifying them.  It is estimated that only six million were made.

 

The company was founded by Carroll Jackson who had previously worked at Champion Agate.   He used one marble machine, built by George Murphy, a well known marble machinist whose shop built the machines of several companies.   Jackson started producing marbles in about 1945 and quit in about 1946.  He still had stock on hand for the next year or two.

 

Carroll Jackson had done his homework before he started.  He had potential buyers lined up.  His company was the earliest of the 1940’s boom of new companies in Ritchie County, WV, so he had a head start.  Unfortunately his promised buyers did not follow through and the pragmatic Mr. Jackson was one of the first of Ritchie County to opt out.   

 

Jackson marbles have become known for their fluorescence thanks to the use of Vitrolite cullet in their production.  However, not all fluoresce and Jackson was not the only company which used Vitrolite cullet.  That is just one of the problems with narrowing the identity of West Virginia swirls down to a specific maker.  The different companies’ machines were made with the same or similar technology, glass tends to behave in similar ways no matter which machine is streaming it, and many of the West Virginia marble companies shared cullet sources.

 

The difficulty in identifying Jacksons is compounded further by the fact that some of the marbles in Jackson bags were made by the Playrite Marble and Novelty Co.  After he finished packaging his last marbles, Jackson sold his surplus bags and headers to Playrite and Playrite apparently used them.

 

To get an idea of how rare Jackson marbles are, that is, how relatively small a number six million is in terms of world of marbles, Alley was able to match Jackson’s total output in a matter of days and Ravenswood could match it in under a month.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

More information:

 

American Machine-Made Marbles, 2006, Dean Six, Susie Metzler and Michael Johnson