akronmarbles

Fall of 1928 was the start of production according my research.

Bo hit the nail on the head. It's not a soft vs hard thang.....just go to your studio and make some art damnit! It's all cool to me - I wish everything was made of glass. I always thought that a glass toilet would be money...lol

Lampworking is the art of making items with prefabricated glass rods. The rods are heated by a torch - or in the old days, an oil fired lamp supplemented with air bellows.

The industry started in Ohio because the machinery and methods were invented by Ohio residents - basically in Akron. Akro Agate didn't move to West Virginia for cheap natural gas ans silica sand - they moved out of Akron because their business was completely stolen from M.F. Christensen and they wouldn't dare open their competing shop in the same town -they went to Clarksburg for secrecy. There is volumes of evidence to prove this out. Granted - glass industries did thrive in West Virginia and the Ohio valley due to gas and silica sands - silica sand being the major constituent of glass cost alot of money to transport - so historically, glass houses were located in close proximity to these sources - sometimes within amile of a quarry or deposit.

Wow - this thread was started just about a year ago. You didn't offend me Steph. I’d rather agree to disagree then get all worked up over something I solely do for pleasure. I see all sides of the issue - I personally think it's strange to sign my name onto a marble - but for obvious reasons and majority opinion, I decided to sign my creations.

As far as sizes go = 1 and 5/8" is about tops for the cobalt ones - the largest purple MFC I have seen is 1.25". The green and amber can be found up to 1 and 7/8". I am not sure about white - maybe 1.25 to 1.5". The glass egg I posted is hollow - it measures about 3" in length. It's the only one I have ever encountered.

All melted pontil. Big blue MFC - 1 and 5/8" Nice lime green - it glows under UV light. Read the article it's sitting on.. More hand gathered yummyness...

A very rare James Harvey Leighton blown 'slag' glass egg. These were made while he worked for Sam Dyke in Akron.

I know they are not marbles, but they were made by S.C. Dyke in Akron - these all date to 1884. The same time Sam made these he was turning out his first clay marbles. The first one says 'Merry Christmas' and the other says 'Blaine Logan' - for the 1884 election. The jug in the second image says 'Cleveland Hendricks' - also from the 1884 election.

I know, that you know, that you know, that I know, that you want to get your hands on a white based christensen Agate.

Orange peel translates into cold forming rolls or 'short' working glass. Any glass marble made any time on any machine could possibly display this attribute.

Here's a peach based example.....It's only a half though looks to be in the 29/32" range as well.

Wait - I thought it was a white brick. That's what the diggers told me anyways.....lol

IMHO - hand gathered and delivered to a forming machine. I was lucky enough to see the fragment Bill pictured in person......

The American made examples were mold pressed - more like injected. The foreign made examples are Prosser molded - it's a small hand press arrangement - a little bit larger then a pair of pliers. With the American method - the glass wasn't poured - it was more like 'forced' into the mold cavity. The finished item looked like a golf ball on a tee connected to a base - kind of like a globe on a stand. This large piece was placed into the annealing oven. After it was cooled down - the 'tee' and base part were knocked off of the ball. - thus the rough spot. With the German method - a large glass rod was heated up and a sphere was then pressed out of it with the hand tool - sometimes the tool would be mounted to a work bench.

Here's some of Bill Tow's camera magic......

I think that is my pic - not good enough to be a BT photo....

BT - All of the examples that i can think of that are 1" in size can be traced back to Harry Heintzelman (sp???) who then passed them to Fred Wright then off to other collectors. The other two cases are both from groups that came out of Akron - definately distant family members - one was a coffee can full of marbles that contained only MFC marbles including a rare 1" crystal brick and a solid white 1 & 7/8" industrial marble. Another group contained a crystal brick and a few "moss agates" along with an example of every type of 'brick' you would ever want to find. IMHO - Both groups represent hand picked marbles taht were kept by the makers them selves.

They were not a regular production item. All of the examples I know of originated from an employee of the company.

Nice pics Bill..... Here is the result from an experimental batch melt yesterday. The color is good but I need to coax it out more. I hope to be making new oxbloods very soon....

Andrea - your marble is an MFC IMHO - a 'green brick'

The noted German glass historian Herbert Kühnert said the following about glass marbles made in Lauscha by the famous Greiner family in his book - Urkundenbuch zur thüringischen Glashüttengeschichte - 1934: "Die in dur hütte aus Greinerschen farben hergestellten märbel wurden, wic es scheint, in einem zunächst zu Unterlauscha befindlichen schleifwerk geschliffen." Or in English: the marbles were ground in a mill located first in Unterlausche. There you have - ground pontils. For more info, see - German marbles with ground pontils....

I'm an ass! Cool.