Jabo: Recreated
By Steve Sturtz
JABO is closed and will be reopening in the near future with a
new glass maker. No longer will the three glass makers who made JABO famous be
there: Richard, Ronnie, and David are gone.
I think of all the wonderful things that have happened… the
wonderful marbles that have been made by David McCullough in the last 20 years
and particularly the last five or six years with the Experimentals. I have
documented the beginnings of these marbles in “David’s JABO Renaissance” and in
“2008 JABO Classics: The Experimentals.” The rest of his great body of work will
be documented in the near future. I believe the standards of excellence he has
set in machine-made marble making will stand the test of time.
JABO no longer has a proven think tank so they begin anew with
high hopes, great expectation, and a very curious marble buying community. There
are huge shoes to be filled and there will be many questions about their ability
to do so.
That said, whoever is lucky enough to run JABO Classics in the
near future has a huge advantage. They will have the advantage of using the tank
that David McCullough has designed, a tank that reflects his latest advancements
in marble-making. So over the short-term, anyone who makes marbles in that tank
should get a reasonable
I wish the new unproven team at JABO well, but they will be a new
JABO. They will be using a tank that David McCullough designed with almost forty
years of experience. It is a tank that can and should make great
The contract runs are supposed to continue according to a
statement by JABO’s accountant. These runs provided a way for JABO to generate
incremental income to (reportedly) move from losses to becoming a profitable
business again.
One thing is very clear. Any marbles made in the future will not
be the same. They will not be McCullough JABOs. In the past, all of the
Experimentals that were made were JABO contract runs. They were contracted with
JABO on the condition that David McCullough makes those marbles, not because of
JABO, or the JABO name, but because of the art and skill of David McCullough.
Anyone who comes in behind David is going to have a very steep learning curve.
The new crew will also have to make improvements to what has already been made
before them. I am not aware of anyone who has that much experience or such a
strong supporting cast. So any marble that is made in the future will not be the
same as those made in the past. They may be better. They may be worse, but I
wish anyone who makes marbles at JABO well. They are keeping one of the last
marble companies still opened.
No matter what happens, David McCullough is retired and JABO
enters a new era. David will be missed for his kindness, knowledge, and
beautiful marbles.
Good luck to the new and very different JABO.
© Steve Sturtz July 2009
JABO: A Classic. Sturtz, Steve; Johnson, Michael.
David’s JABO Renaissance. Sturtz, Steve; Johnson, Michael.
2008 JABO Classics: The Experimentals. Sturtz, Steve.