sissydear

Lewis L. Moore was the plant manager at Vitro Agate and a great marble maker. The Tribute group named a marble in the Legacy Run (November 2009) at JABO for him. At our last run December 2010, his widow, two of his children, and a daughter in law were in attendance. Meeting them was really nice and they had a great time seeing the old machines and talking about vitro marbles.

The hand made makers I've watched don't start with a ball of glass. They gather a glob of glass, marver it, it looks like a rectanglar piece of glass. They add colored rods, frit, lutz, crystal clear glass,etc. This involves many trips back to the glory hole and more clear glass gathers, then they twist the rectangular glass and it becomes a rod (rounded), It is then ready to make individual marbles. Some call the resulting rod of glass a cane and some call it a "stick". Many marbles can be made from the same cane, depending on the size you are making. My friends use cherrywood molds to shape the marble round. They work with soft glass. The two ends are never perfect and it is impossible to tell by looking at the finished marble whether it was the "first off" or the "last off". I only know because I saw which one came off first and last. Clear areas result more in the first and last. BUT, my friends cased the different stages of the marble with clear glass so there is always some clear showing in the "middle" marbles. Artists who work with "boro" use different techniques, take longer to make one marble, use more gas, more time and the resulting marble costs more than the old soft glass which can be turned out several at a time in a short time. That makes the boro marbles more expensive. The antiques you are looking at in this thread are made like what I described.

This is probably the first marble off the cane. The colors have not yet moved enough to be where the maker wanted them. I have full canes of marbles by Bob Hamon and also by his nephew Boyd Allen Miller. The first off the cane isn't what the maker wanted. The second marble off will have the construction look the maker was going for. What you guys call end of day is not always the "end of day".

Alan is correct!

Glad to have you here, Ron. Edna

You could have posted them here free. Edna

I got some killer marbles in the mail Monday too. Mike Barton sent me Peltier Mansions in a collector box, signed and numbered and 2 Barton marbles made on my birthday in 07 and 09.

I got some killer marbles in the mail today. Todd Burnworth sent me a wooden collector box of Sammy Hogue marbles.

I still think you're one of my angels - that mirror did not fix itself. LOL! Very Happy Birthday!

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. What could be better than spending the day with your favorite son and grandson? Oops, I only have one son and one grandson. We had a great time.

OK it's my eyes. LOL I see at least two of the marbles that appear to be blue. (appear to my eyes to be blue) I'm going to stop answering based on photos. Flash washed out colors, my increasing cataracts, not being able to turn the marbles and see the whole thing, make my opinion just about worthless. We had one of these with helmets and gave it away to a big vitro collector. Sorry if I confused anybody.

I'll look at them again. I saw conquerors with green patches. Maybe he has rolled the marbles around so that there is a green face showing and then in the next marble the white helmet with a stripe. That would make them helmet patches. I'll look and come back here. Steph, your eyes are better than mine. Some of them do look like helmet patches. However, I've not seen an orignal one with different colored helmet patches in one tray. If the blue ones are helmet patches, then there are more than one kind in that tray. I don't think the original ones had a mix.

I've never seen one with those marbles in it. They are usually solid colored marbles or helmet patches. Can't tell you if that one is original or had marbles added to it. Thinking about time lines, I doubt the marbles are original. The conqueror and victory type patches were made during WWII and I think the jewelry trays are older than that.

I do know a marble maker that makes hollow marbles. They are blown and then he does some other stuff to them. So..... they could be described as handblown glass marbles.

Dave reads these threads regularly.

http://glasswizzards.yuku.com/ Glass Addiction Link

What contemp board shut down? Glass Addiction is still up.

I guess we were. When I saw yours I almosted posted "What Burt said". Edna

Sorry, my post appeared twice so I deleted the second one.

The critcism I felt was a personal criticism of my answer, not a critcism of JABO marbles. I no longer react to criticsm of the marbles. I take criticism of JABO or their marbles as a "given" from many people.

The JABO ribbons go through the base glass. Break one open and look. They are not veneered.

It wasn't glib and it was a good answer. I did take offense at your response, but i accept your apology. Color choice is up to the investors of each run and David McCullough. Buy what you like. Investors use colors they like.

One reason is that white base glass was used in a lot of them. Sorry i answered. i don't have all the answers. Thought others would post different observations. Mibs, you shouldn't ask if lf you're going to criticize honest answers. Yes, a lot of the Joker marbles had a white base. Don't think any Tributes had white base glass until the one inch and it was mixed until all the marbles were yellow or blue. Buy what appeals to you. Nobody twists your arm.

I don't know about rarity, but they are pretty. Have a great Holiday season, Mike. I saw your page in the new marble book. Do you remember telling me that nobody would collect your marbles? Wrong! Edna

About the titanium pen - make sure the marbles you are signing are free of grease - like from your hands. Wet the tip of the pen and then bear down hard. It will write small enough to not detract.