Merry Christmas Mibsters.
Although I rarely post on this board, I'm probably one of the many marble collectors who visit frequently. I always enjoy discussions regarding CAC mibs, especially threads regarding the "exotics".
I'm sure this theory regarding their existence has been previously posted in some form or another, but figured it might be worth discussing again.
It seems like the point of contention between those who believe they are genuine CAC machine made marbles and those who believe they are contemporary reproductions, centers around the lack of any documented original box sets or the existence of cullet. Given their seamed construction, most agree that they are machine made and not torch made. But, what if these marbles were produced as a means of getting rid of the many different batches of glass left over at the end of a given day, week, month, or maybe even ,at the end of a company's existence? Kind of like Champion furnace scraping marbles, but manufactured without ever intending to package and sell them. Yes, they are indisputably beautiful and one might question why the CAC wouldn't see that beauty and move to fold them into production as a standard offering. If these marbles were produced as a normal part of some kind of clean-up or material purging process, they may have eventually come to that conclusion (if the company had remained in existence for more than just a few years.) What if producing these marbles was a means to get rid of all the remaining material when they shut down for good? Judging from the size of their building, they were probably a small operation, with a handful of close-knit employees...like family. How fun it could have been, knowing the doors were gonna close, to use up the remaining material to make creative gems like these. They would all have taken some home for their family and friends, but would have had plenty left over. Probably no trash pick-up in those days so they'd have buried what was left on the premises.
Although founded only on imagination, the above theory makes allot of things fall into place.
-- If "exotics" were never intended for production, you would not expect to find any documented boxed sets in existence, with the possible exception of marble boxes passed down within the family of an actual CAC employee or someone connected in some way to the company.
-- From the bits and pieces of stories that I have gleaned from posts, regarding secret or unauthorized digs at the Cambridge factory site, apparently many of these marbles were unearthed, but no "cullet" was found with them. Again, if not meant for production, there would be no cullet present to match-up with a specific "exotic" run. Within the context of this theory, the exotics themselves could be considered as reprocessed cullet.
-- Based on using waste or left over material as feed stock, whether it was a routine process or factory closing exercise, the marble runs would probably be somewhat random and unique, varying widely in the number of colors and glasses used. Probably why you don't see many (if any) posts of 2 or 3 marble "same cane” examples.
-- Again, from my recollections of previous posts on this board, I guess there are a handful of very fortunate people that have had some direct or indirect connection to one or more these Cambridge digs of days gone by. Is it reasonable to postulate that many of the exotics that have surfaced to date, could have originated either from one of these digs, or from within families of relatives once connected with CAC? Unfortunately, there are many reasons why those who may have obtained their exotics from either of these sources, would choose not to make any public disclosures for the sake of establishing provenance.
Sooooooo......, as O'Reilly always says, "What say you Sir (Madame)? Tell me where I'm going wrong."
mibstified (Bill)
