Dinkybus

Just a few words of caution for a newbie. If you take anything really good, be prepared to be asked (repeatadly) if it is for sale. People don't like to see stuff and not be able to buy it, it's a greedy, competitive world out there. For your first time, it might be good to take nothing, but that is hard, everybody wants to show off something, to show you are a player, so to speak. If you do take things to sell, be sure to room hop around and see if you can find anything comparable, so you're not flying blind. Watch your stuff, a closed showcase is a good idea. Have fun, and be prepared to be amazed. Don't be discouraged because everybody seems to have such a headstart on you, there is still great stuff out there in the bush. Buy QUALITY.

What is the Crown Jewel is a highly subjective question, it depends on your taste. I kind of reject the notion it is a salesman's sample case, that is a collection unto itself, not an individual marble. Certainly VERY hard to come by, and beautiful, but a conglomerate piece. I must say, I am VERY impressed by the green mist Lutz in the YouTube video, that's a real stunner. I don't know of its location these days, but there is a killer end-of-day marble originally brought to light by Russell Coppel, that I admired a lot. I know he sold it, so I am (hopefully) not compromising its security. It is a very large, maybe 2 1/4" (if anything, it was larger), multi-colored onionskin EOD with two "windows" into the interior where there is a 4-lobed onionskin core. It looks like some kind of bird's nest, the outer colors are gathered at the pontil, in sort of a sling appearance making the windows, can you visualize that? The windows are oval, roughly. I think it has some mica in the outer colors, I'm sorry, I haven't seen it in over 15 years, so I am a little hazy on the details now. All I remember us saying was it's more of an End-of-CAREER marble than an End-of-DAY! It was not in mint condition, but wasn't too bad. Back then, he was offered a CAR for it, some kind of collectible Chevy, by his uncle Bob Vader I think. Russell wanted 5 grand for it (an extremely high price back in the early 90's or late 80's), and the car was supposedly only worth half that, so he passed. One picture is worth 1000 words, I am sorry I cannot provide one, perhaps someone else can. It was different! Seems like the colors were predominately white (base), yellow and red, but I am sure there was most everything to some extent. Other than that, onionskins with cloud mica storms seem to bring the most money, Morphy's sold one for a hair under 15K a couple years back, I had not heard of the O/S mica on eBay shown here that allegedly brought 43K. Was that a for-real sale, can anyone confirm? That would be the all time $$$ champ if so, by almost 30K. I am kind of skeptical of that price, it is SO far above anything I have ever heard of, but I'm not that well connected, anymore. A beautiful sulphide is a joy forever, but from a price standpoint, they have been weak for some time now, partly due to fakes. I can't see one taking the Crown. Their visual appeal is somewhat limited no matter how pretty the glass, or however many the colors on the figure, and they just don't require the intricate craftsmanship of a fancy onionskin or whatever. I'd vote for something flashy and labor-intensive every time. That's my 2 cents, thanks for asking!

Hello to all who long for a show in Michigan. I was one of the 3 promoters who organized shows in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the late 1990's. We decided that our "theme" would be "Oldies Only, no reproductions allowed" to fight what we thought was a disturbing trend in fakery, etc. The first year, we had a fairly good reception from the marble community, and decent turnout despite one local yokel calling folks to diss our show before it even happened. We had no less than 8, perhaps 10 people come up to us spontaneously and tell us that "so and so called me and told me the show was going to stink, it was going to be a ghost town, we (the promoters) were the 3 Stooges, and he wasn't going to attend", etc. Of course, the dissenter DID show up the night before for a litle room trolling, just in case his predictions didn't come true. Most disapointing. He did not come to the show proper. We lost a little money the first year, and a little more the second, although making money was not our real focus. We just wanted to break even, and perhaps shake out a few interesting examples. Making money would have been nice, of course. I don't recall much coming out of the woodwork, but I wasn't everywhere. I guess even back then, comtemporary makers fill enough tables it is hard to get by without them, so maybe we shot ourselves in the foot, but I have no regrets. The 3rd year, after one of the 3 promoters quit ignomiously (actually, he didn't even show up for the second show, or call to say he wasn't), we couldn't get ANY room or table reservations by the cut-off date with the hotel, so we just killed it, never to return. The other promoter has since died, and I have no desire to try again, to say the least. It is treatment by one's fellow collectors like this that drove me back into privacy with my accumulating, I haven't been to ANY other shows since, 13 or 14 years. Actually, there were a few other "incidents" involving other collectors that helped me decide to withdraw unto myself, it wasn't just the failed attempts to run shows that did it. I am fond of telling people there got to be too much lying, cheating, stealing, and backstabbing going on to want to be much of a part of it all. The rat race caught up with marble collecting, as far as I was concerned. I have no problem with folks making money from marbles, I certainly did plenty of that, but there are right ways, and wrong ways, to go about it. Helping other people fail is one of the wrong ways, counterfeits are another (this was just a couple years after the famous "California Sulphides" debacle, for instance), and it just seemed like all the fun had gone out of it, EVERYBODY was now a dealer on the hustle. In case anybody cares, let me remind ya'll that marble collecting was formed around the notion that marbles used to be made by serious craftspeople, and were truly different than the ones that came out of machines. Until the mid 80's and later, you couldn't hardly GET anybody to LOOK at a machine made, unless it was in its original box with 24 or 99 (etc) of its siblings. I now confess to being just as blind as the next collector when it came to early MM's, some of them are outstandingly beautiful and rare, we just kind of had "tunnel vision" until the price of hand mades got so high, there had to be an alternative. Some of those early MM's are as old as hand mades, but what really sets them apart from new hand mades is the FACT that they had to risk the proverbial gauntlet of the playground, to survive. I find NO challenge in collecting new hand mades, no matter how beautiful and intricate, with styles undreamed of "back in the day". They are as sterile as collector plates or figurines, you can just order up one any size you want, and so can the next person, in fact they can order up one bigger or smaller, whatever suits. I am in awe of the skill of the contemporary makers, wish I could do it myself, I wish them good luck, but I cannot help but think their existance muddies the waters for us, and certainly will for future collectors. That is why we tried to run a show without them. I'm not sure I need to present my qualifications, but I have been in the hobby since about 1975, I attended the very first "marbles only swap meet" ("Amana 1") in the bail bond office in Davenport in 1978, and the next 9 or so Amanas until I missed one. I named "Marble Collectors Unlimited", you can ask Gary Huxford. I will always love marbles, but cannot say the same for some of my compatriots. I sure miss Bev Brule and Jim Ridpath, they brought a bit of decency and order to the situation, they knew where the bodies were buried and often weren't afraid call a spade a spade. Good luck to show promoters, perhaps you can learn from some of our mistakes.

My thanks to Scoop for getting my pics onto the board. I don't know what is wrong, so I will have to study the photo tutorial. I use old technology, it shouldn't be throwing any curve balls at the computers of today. Whatever. It is very tempting to do a little buffing on the big DRC, but I am holding off for now. I ought to write my dissertation on polishing and see how many agree, it is a controversial subject. I'll just say I am happy to finally own the big DRC after all these years. I actually met the former owner in 1976, when I first hit the trail looking for marbles. She was set up in an old roller rink with several other dealers, one of whom I bought my first sulphide from, he was a real crook, and sensed I didn't hardly know what I was looking at. He had a goat sulphide that had the figure actually broken in half, and when I asked about it, he acted like it was in his case by mistake, and raised the price right in front of me! I didn't know any better, and was dying to own a sulphide, so I bought it anyway, for $30. But back to the dealer with the DRC, I don't think it was until the 80's until she showed me her collection. What a journey! It has been rather barren this century, so I am glad to finally be able to write off the unfinished business of the big DRC marble, without going bankrupt. I only know of one more possible little stash out there (in the wild, so to speak, not owned by a collector), I guess I ought to try to track it down. Stay tuned, sports fans. Marbles just happen sometimes..........

Mib$~~Here is my 2 cents worth about your marble. I am certain your onionskin is in its original condition, that is, not ever polished. It has been played with on rough ground, which produces a lot of small damage, and hit a few times, which produces the larger chipped areas. I used to polish a lot of marbles, but have kind of fallen off the vine because I felt it was giving me arthritis, and also felt the dust might be dangerous. I will, however, do something that is rare and beautiful, so the effort is worth it, but don't find many prospects anymore, alas. Perhaps if I got out there and looked, I would. I would, for starters anyway, just hit this marble with a worn-out 600 grit emery paper on my (wet) wheel, that makes it shiny but removes almost NO material. You can really see what you have then, and do more if you so desire. A great trick I discovered to protect pontils was to cover them up with fingernail polish, first one, let it dry, then another color (red and white work well) so you can monitor your progress and not get too close to the glass. FNP is fairly tough stuff, and comes right off with FNP remover, of course. There are other tricks of the trade to prevent very much shrinkage or out-of-roundness problems I can't go into here for space and time considerations. Heck, these things were not very round from the mathmatical standpoint anyway, so don't worry about that too much. I was a friend of Larry Castle and am devastated he is gone. He "healed" a sulphide and an end-of-cane onionskin (OK, an end of day) for me and they both came out great, but it is an intense process, and the marble must be polished afterwards. I recommend it only for desparate cases on rare marbles, since 20 years ago it was $75 each. Anyway, if I owned that Leighton marble posted a couple places down from yours, I would also probably do it with the 600 grit I mentioned above. I did exactly that on some I had years ago, and they came out great. I sold them to Bert Cohen and he loved them in full knowledge of what had happened, I made a few bucks and I bet he did too, which is fine with me. Wish I could find more........I'd keep 'em! If you have any questions, email me directly, I don't know everything, but have polished a lot of marbles. Dinkybus Don

Hello All~~I hope my reply gets to post, I have been having bad luck getting it online. I am quite new to posting of any kind, so it is all learning. It looks like my trophy is a bit less exotic than I might have thought, I am very impressed by the Tacoma trophy. It might be mine pre-dates it, and they developed into fancier ones as the years went by. Or, I thought maybe mine is later, perhaps wartime, when they had to cut back on materials due to the war effort, and made the trophy's a little less complicated. Mine certainly can't be higher in rank than a city trophy it would appear, perhaps it is only a school trophy, although it seems like that would run into a LOT of trophy's. Perhaps someone with access to old Marble King records could really determine how many were given out each year, and at what level. Whatever, I appreciate all the kind words and information that have already been posted. If I learn more on my own, I will try to post it. This is fun! I am glad I could add something not often seen to the discussion, so we can analyze it, and get other folks to dig up info to share. Good hunting to you all.

Dear Marble Collecting Comrades~~Can anyone give me a little more insight into this trophy I just bought? It is 14 inches tall, and in overall good shape other than some plating loss. I know all about Berry Pink and Marble King, or as much as I need to know about his sponsorship of marble tournaments, running Marble King for years, etc. What I would like to know is: What level of competition does this trophy represent, state, regional, or national championship? I feel it is too fancy for just a city tourney. Are there any others known? I have collected marbles for over 30 years, and have never seen another. Most unfortunately, the winner did not have his/her name engraved on it, or it might be possible to date it. Does anyone know of other styles used by MK, so that the range of years this one was used might be able to be determined? Mine apparently came out of the estate of a lady collector of many things, from Adrian, Michigan, not the estate of the winner. The front plate says: MARBLE KING TROPHY presented by BERRY PINK to the CHAMPION. The unit was apparently manufactured by Dodge Inc. New York Chicago Los Angeles, at least the plastic base was. I am quite stoked by my purchase, needless to say, it is undoubtably a rare piece. I have attended about 12 Amana's, 3 New England, and 5 Columbus shows (all some time ago, I admit) and never saw anything even related to it, such as smaller versions, etc. Any insight would be appreciated. I tried to upload more pics, but was told I cannot upload that kind of file, JPG? If someone could help me, I would be happy to upload as many pics as you want. The kid on the trophy is wearing high-top tennis shoes and "plus fours", a sleeveless sweater and a long-sleeved shirt, and a tie, not forgetting his big smile and crown of course. I'm prejudiced, but I find it quite charmng. I was on pins and needles for 2 weeks before I managed to buy it. The butterflies in the old stomach were really flappin' at the auction, I was deathly afraid some heavy hitter would walk in and crush me! Score one for the old timers, we ain't dead yet. Having just bought it, I'm not too keen on selling it, unless someone made me "an offer I can't refuse". Right now, I'm in the afterglow of what I consider a coup. Nothing like a good hit to revive your enthusiasm! Thanks for any help. Dinkybus Don

Hi Chris~~Thanks for the welcome. Bob's eBay name was Woodcutter44, perhaps with no cap. He was born in 1944, natch. He sold some of his marbles at shows like Columbus, too, but that was before he knew he was a goner.

I have just registered with this chat, or I would have notified the marble world sooner of the passing of Bob Lustig in September 2005. Bob was a marble collector for over 20 years, ranging far and wide from his home in Fenton, Michigan. I actually first met him in Kansas City in 1985, at an Everett Grist extravaganza and auction. He made many interesting finds, and like us all, truly enjoyed a bargain, even if he had to burn $50 worth of gas to get it! He was a co-promoter of the short-lived "Antique Marbles Forever" shows in Ann Arbor, Michigan still the only show I am aware of that refused to allow reproductions, contemporaries, whatever you want to call them. He was for the old stuff, and also loved a good boxed set, big or small. We smashed a couple of new marbles for political effect at the first show, a stunt he got a real kick out of. He knew of his impending fate (liver failure), and sold most of his collection on eBay awhile before the sad event overcame him. Life had taken some negative turns before he died, he had financial troubles, and lost 2 of his several dogs, one his second favorite. He also loved cats, and enjoyed their company a great deal. He lived in the country, and had a raft of them. He was a Union (AFL-CIO, I think) carpenter for 30 years, and retired as a teacher at the Union School about 10 years before he died. He built the house he lived in for 25 years, and had plans to do more, but ran out of time. He had no children. He will be missed, he was a very social fellow.