Leaderboard

J.H. Leighton’s 1891 patent for the manufacture of solid glass spheres marks a major step forward in early American handmade marble production.  His process began by hand gathering molten glass on the end of a steel rod, carefully building up the amount needed for a single marble. While still hot and workable, the glass was rotated within a grooved former, shaping it into a near perfect sphere while remaining attached to the rod. After the marble was formed, it was cut from the rod, leaving a small rough projection where the glass had been severed. Rather than leaving this as a simple cut mark, Leighton refined the surface through a controlled finishing process. The marble was exposed to a concentrated flame, softening the uneven area without disturbing the rest of the sphere. Once properly heated, Leighton applied a specialized concave tool similar in appearance to a small golf tee to the softened spot with light pressure. This action pushed the remaining glass back into the body of the marble, smoothing and blending it into the surrounding surface. The result is the distinctive “melted” or “pressed” pontil, a defining characteristic of Leighton’s work and an important innovation in the evolution of American handmade glass marbles.

Marble mail days are the best days of the week! Sincerely grateful to add this piece to my Leighton collection. Always on the hunt for great Leighton made marbles! Measures 1 7/16”. Thank you for looking!

🙏✝️🙏☺️

Master Tigers Eyes

Here's kind of a neat one... Peltier "Poison Bee"

Another shout out to the York Nebraska marble museum and cateye1212 on ebay! Scored these two awesome deep amber pinch pontil Yasudas. One of them even has some nice teal inclusions!

Been awhile since I dug these out for some fresh air. Enjoy

Thank you, Tommy. Another note: That packaging was a second generation. The first generation (2003) had the trimmed bag top up inside the header. The marbles were trapped (not removable). I decided to invert the bag so the zip-lock was at the bottom. That allowed the marbles to be removed for enjoyment.

Its not sounding my JABO memory, but It could still be. Vitro is my guess.

A Jabo we recently added and some MK and this pretty little box

Kim here. Favorites are JABO/DAS and more recently NLG. Have only been collecting about two years. I go to a lot of estate sales so have quite a bit of "everything"... or they might be nothing. Time & ID videos will tell🤭. This group has been super helpful... so glad I found you.

19/32” 4-color Popeye.

Oh I really like this one. So glad for all the close up shots too! Wonderful collection and great video you put together. Thank you! Click on the link to You Tube Worlds Largest Marble King Collection - Curated by George Armann The sound effects and background music is always a plus. You are a funny one Stephen, I'm a big fan. Thanks!

.80” corkscrew double ribbon auger with akro dug cullets

there is also the "Destroyer" which was a black based speckled marble made by Vacor style up to the year 2000...these are fairly rare and hard to find. "Destroyer" second set down in the photo below:

I've added a few new marbles to my collection. Thought I'd share ☺️

Wasp

I never did get a watermelon

good Sunday! 🎧 3.mp4

Today I received a letter from Maxx's father, who turned 93 years old this January. The letter was written by his wife. I am withholding his name for privacy. "Maxx's father was a seminary student preparing for the ministry around 1956 or 1957 when the company went bankruptcy. The cause was a trusted employee who took all the company funds and disappeared. This was something I heard from my mother-in-law many years later. After the bankruptcy Naoyuki spent his remaining years battling illness. He attended our church wedding in October 1963 in a wheelchair. 2 years later on the morning of 13 October 1966, he told his wife 'Smile, smile. Heaven is here,' and passed away that night at 10 p.m., surrounded by family."

Heaton, htf color.

I really do see what you're getting at. These which you are showing today are nicely constructed. Wish I could be more helpful. Signed, Here for moral support

Forgot about this one, was with my Popeyes… 5/8” there are 4 black hairs tracking the yellow.

And I am thinking Vitro... Agree with pretty awesome mib either way!

Master with aventurine 3/4”

Needless to say, Linda and I are huge Akro fans. The 1 inch uv slag is the newest addition to our collection. ☺️🙏✝️🙏

May have one or two Akros or Vitros in here

I love these. Beautiful marbles. Thanks for sharing!

Great! I am really pleased that these Vacor are exciting so many people, unlike in the not very distant past

Imperial

I would not call the Destroyer "speckled". It has a very rough frit surface.

Shooters

@marbomanBeautiful Spirals! Happy Akro Friday y'all! My favorite in this group is that last one, with that baby Blue stripe.

Bullseye to me. Unusual coloring.

Here is a Block Auction where I have no current financial position: https://bid.marbleauctions.com/online-auctions/blocks-marble-auctions/contemporary-handmade-john-mccormick-3-packages-total-9-marbles-9049057 If you notice the dates “2003-2005”, these were sold either at Moon Marble or eBay. 20+ years ago. These “Patches” were made using a technique published in Drew Fritts’ book. The glass used to make these marbles was Spectrum stained glass (COE 96). Fun to demonstrate how they were made. Very quick. The shortest demonstration during any Marble Crazy at Moon Marble. The bottom package was a “Citrus” set (Lemon, Lime and Orange). [Please move to “Public Auctions “.]

X2

I had this pink one from Jabo too that had glitters of metallic in it…one of kind

X2

1° Peltier 2° MK

Getting down to group of just don't know. A is a weird mix of colors with almost straight seams. B has the beautiful blue color w/bubbles and the white is not "painted on" but is 3D. C the seams run up and down from the patch, not on the edges of the patch.. color combo makes me thing Akro but again, seams are odd. A = .62 B = .65 C = .68 Thank you so much!

I'm seeing Master on the last one on the right. If I had to guess, I would say Akro Pelt and Master. In that order, first picture.

Thanks all for your help and input! I have read that JABO used an old Vitro machine for some of their runs, resulting in 2 seam marbles that can resemble Vitros. So maybe that is the case here. But the majority leans Vitro, so I'll put it with my Vitros. I like it no matter who made it! It was a killer find.

Seemed so simple... Marble King Bumble Bee... but when I went to put them with "known" others... they don't quite look the same. Headed as the newbie to a marble show in a month and want to be sure I have labeled correctly.... opinions welcome!! Thank you. A = .63 B = .66 C = .69 D = .62

Thank you for the ID and the explanation. Sometimes just an ID doesn't help me understand why.

The case is a cigar display from Frederick and Nelson department stores.

Types like this are very difficult to ID but I think at that size, it's probably a JABO or maybe DAS.