psia-antique

Both are JABO...the one on the left blacklights I think.

Originally, when you shook a spray paint can, it had a metal ball as an agitator. The metal ball agitator was heavy and it rusted inside the can decreasing shelf life. Jack Bogard owned a marble company called the Bogard Co. He realized that the metal agitators were heavy and rusted. He also knew marbles would work as an agitator. He knew that marbles were lighter than metal so it cost less to ship to the paint factories and it cost the paint factories less to ship the paint to the retailers. He also knew that glass marble agitators wouldn’t rust so the shelf life of the paint cans would be significantly longer. Jack started calling on the paint companies. Soon, they were buying his marbles as agitators. He had created a new market, a new use for glass marbles. Over the life of Bogard Co., Jack probably made and sold more glass marble agitators than all of the other American marble makers combined (except for JABO.) Jack eventually sold off the assets of Bogard Co. and became a partner of Joanne Argabrite. They formed JABO. A couple of years later, they brought David McCullough in as a partner. JABO has made over 8,000,000,000 (8 billion) paint can marbles. They also make agitators for nail polish. In the last three years, JABO has run either 1 or 2 industrial marble machines for about 10 months a year. Whether 1 or 2 machines were run has depended on demand. The number of jobs has increased. Most of the industrial marble market has moved to Asia. American manufacturers are unable to compete as a function of the cost of goods sold. However, some orders are still given to American companies. To this day, it appears that JABO still makes the vast majority of industrial marbles that are made in America. The private runs of kids play marbles have represented about 10% of their sales while consuming about 5% of manufacturing time. The JABO Classic private runs of the last three years have produced about 8,000,000 kids’ marbles (or about 1 ½ years production of Classics in better times.) In the heyday, JABO was running 16 machines, had about 140 employees and subcontracted the total production of 4 machines from another manufacturer.

Who ever made these had made them before. You can tell by how well the AV is pulled together without many little pieces floating around outside the vane...very well executed!

Here it is Winnie.

I would guess that there were originally fifteen matching object marbles and four different colored shooters. Neat game.

JABO doesn't make cat's eye marbles and never has. Those mibs were made by another company.

BINGO!

A more serious response to Alan is that we are friends and via another medium has made a very good argument for metal salt looking like "lutz."

Hot Rod, I will spare you the large font and accept your speedy retraction....

Oh "Hot Rod"! I am shocked to hear this from you and suggest that you come to a run and APPLY some rod.

Lutz, in both hand made and machine made marbles, is expensive and therefore rare. The real reason people buy marbles is because they are pretty. Marbles are not an investment in the truest use of the word investment. Lutz is considered pretty and rare; therefore in both new and old marbles it is enjoyed. In machine made marbles, we only know of Alley and JABO as using lutz so it is extremely rare in machine made marbles. The number of Alley marbles with gold lutz found so far is less than 30 in three different color combinations. The number of JABOs using gold lutz is well under 40,000. To give you a sense of their rarity, I remind you that MFC made 48,000 lavender opaque game marbles. These are rare enough so most people can’t identify them even when in hand. If you like machine made gold lutz marbles, don’t hesitate to buy them.

No steelie or salmon streams around Clayton, but there is "some" fishing there in the St. Lawrence.

Griff, Local knowledge suggests that there is a stream with Atlantic Salmon in the Pulaski area....

I'm sorry. I misunderstood. You are correct. It is a spray of some sort that makes the mib look black. Mine are in storage so I can't back light them, but I have seen many colors under Vacor balck marbles...carmel, red, green, purple,etc.

Gary, The literature suggests that Galaxies only had a black base because..."Black is a natural color for this type's design, since most colors display well against it."

NICE! Thanks Freckles!

Vitro confetti marble mail Wow! I am so thrilled and surprised to have opened a little package yesterday. A marble buddy felt I should know about Vitro confetti marbles and asked if I would like a red one or a blue. My choice was whatever you have more of. Here is a picture of what I received. These 4 Vitros were accompanied by a strong and appropriate letter of provenance.

“Pixie Dust” cat’s eyes were made by MK prior to July 19, 2010. They were meant to be the first step of experiments leading to a four vane gold lutz cat’s eye. MK has pictured the marbles and they were also shown during a television interview in the local area this summer. Some of these marbles have been sold on eBay in the last few weeks and it is unclear how they got into circulation. The gold lutz cat’s eye was the first suggestion to Beri. The reason for this choice was so that she could help her reputation and that of MK by building on the old traditions of the company. If she had a four vane gold lutz cat’s eye that was her marble to give to folks, she would be able to build a lot of good will in the same manner as Berry Pink did with his namesake marble the “Berry Pink.” The idea and suggestion to her was that the only way to get one of the “golden cats” was get it from her as a gift. These conversations and others started in Sept/Oct 2009. There have been conversations about these and other projects at MK over the last year. Beri did not have the materials to make the marbles so arrangements were made for to get enough materials with which to experiment. The original plan for the provision of materials grew from two kilos of each of four colors of aventurine to 25 pounds of each of the four colors. The “Pixie Dust” mibs are really just the first step on the path to a much bigger plan. In perspective, the “Pixie Dust” mibs are to MK what “Sammie’s Sparkle Big Brother” are to JABO. They are a very important learning step. They are pretty, but what was learned from this experiment will lead to much prettier marbles. Better mibs will be made at MK. Beri was at Sistersville and gave some of these mibs to some people and sold them to select others.

Thanks Ann and Steph.Reading is the foundation of learning and research. If you want to learn to play golf,read. If you want to learn to ski,read. If you want to learn about marbles, read a lot!

If you Google eBay business model, you will find all you want to know about starting you own auction site if you choose. Remember the corporate history of eBay. It was started by computer guys as a social experiment to see if buying and selling would become more efficient with a market which had more "transparency." By definition eBay is an efficient market. For a thorough understanding of this market, you need to understand how the Over-the -counter market (OTC/NASD) and its clearing corp. work since eBay is so similar. The Sherman Anti Trust Act will answer most of the monopolisti cquestions, while the definitions of a monopoly and an oligopoly will answer the question of size and control of any particular industry. Good luck to those who step into the shark invested waters of starting a new market.If you choose I will put you in contact with a brilliant man (next week since he is flyfishing this week) who is trying to start a "third market" "(OTC) trading of listed commodity futures." I would also suggest that you go back to the early 70s and become familiar with a bill before the Congress. It was Bill HR5050 (if memory serves) dealing with "third market" regs for "OTC trading of listed securities." All of the markets NYSE, AMEX, CBT,Chi Merc, CBOE, OTC, Paris Bourse, etc. are based on the premise that equilibrium can be found by bringing all the buyers and sellers together in a compressed time and space. And yes I have been on the floor of all of these exchanges and executed trades on two of them. SNO

There is a Tenn. marble club being formed. There are 3 or 4 members so far I believe. The founders are Jim Storsberg of Murfreesboro and Gerald Witcher of Brentwood. Email me here with your phone # and I will call you and give more detailed information. Rumor has it that Chuck Garrett is going to form an Illinois marble club and Gary Stetson may do the same thing in Maine. There is apparently a pro forma setup mechanism in place for anyone who wants to form a marble club in their area. Alfie Bard and Tony Banas have formed the Nutmeg Marb;le Club in Connecticuit.

Posted by ourfriendben in wit and wisdom. Tags: David McCullough, Edna Eaton, JABO, JABO marbles, marbles, Weldon Eaton add a comment Our marble buddy, aka Paul Revere, recently gave our friend Ben and Silence Dogood some sad and shocking news. Fellow marble enthusiast and pillar of the marble community Weldon Eaton was killed by a freak auto accident in Moab, Utah last week, when his vehicle blew a tire and rolled down a 15-foot embankment. (By God’s grace, Weldon’s wife Edna and grandson Joseph emerged from the wreck with cuts and bruises.) Our friend Rob, who has been to Moab many times, told us when we conveyed the news that roads in the area followed steep ravines and were definitely not for the faint of heart. But our friend Ben is writing this post not as an obituary but as a tribute, because Weldon Eaton inspired countless people throughout his life, and I’m convinced that he’ll inspire you even in death, whoever you are, whatever your interests and passions. Read on and you’ll see why. Our friend Ben met Weldon because Paul Revere had invited me to attend one of the exclusive JABO Tribute marble runs down in Reno, Ohio. (A marble run is the actual marble production process, which is fascinating to watch, and JABO is the premier machine-made marble producer in the world, thanks to its presiding genius, David McCullough.) It was such a thrill to get a behind-the-scenes look at marbles in the making and to meet the marble community’s cognoscenti. Thanks, Paul! The first time our friend Ben saw Weldon, everyone had gathered for dinner at a local restaurant. As I took my seat at the table and introductions were made, I was immediately struck by his intensely blue eyes. Our friend Ben has blue eyes, but they paled by comparison to Weldon’s. But it wasn’t just the color of Weldon’s eyes that impressed me: It was the look of wisdom, patience, humor, and kindness that they held. They seemed to say, “I’ve been around a lot of people, and I’ve spent time studying them, and I know them, their strivings and failings, their strengths and weaknesses, their greatness and their quirks. And I still get a kick out of them.” Meeting those kind eyes was like encountering a rock in the midst of a swiftly flowing stream, a place of strength, a place of safety in the turbulent waters of ordinary life. It was so unexpected in the chaos of the restaurant and the excited marble talk, it took my breath away. The next time I saw Weldon, he was walking. If you could call it that. The steel braces that confined his legs helped him move them forward as his arms bore his weight, their steel poles inching forward step by agonizing step. What on earth had happened, I wondered: Was he wounded in a war? Had he suffered a crippling accident? Was it childhood polio? No wonder he had mastered patience, that hardest skill for us frantic moderns to learn. No wonder he had been able to slow down, to take the time to actually see rather than simply looking. Much later, Paul told me the back-story: Weldon had been born disabled, his legs bent on top of his abdomen. The doctors told his parents he would die. Many excruciating surgeries later, his legs were straight enough for the braces he would wear throughout his life. A lot of children who’d been through what Weldon endured would have taken to a wheelchair and expected their parents to see to their needs for the rest of their lives. They had, after all, already been through enough. Not Weldon Eaton. As a child, he helped his family pick cotton, carried on a tarp down the rows. As he grew up, he participated in the recreational activities his friends and family enjoyed; he was a lifelong hunter and fisherman. He went to college and on to get his master’s degree. Along the way, he met and married his college’s fiesty beauty queen, Edna, who saw the man and not his legs; they were married 49 years at the time of the tragedy. He and Edna raised a son. Weldon was on the board of his church and was a member of the volunteer fire department, along with many other memberships. He was a very active member of his community. But the most amazing thing to our friend Ben was Weldon’s choice of profession: He became a school teacher and athletic trainer in his home state of Texas. Think about the courage this took! Everybody knows how cruel and mocking kids can be over the least little thing: a wart, nerdy glasses, the wrong shoes, bad hair, a pimple. Weldon could have gone to work in a lab or somewhere where he’d be working with other adults. But he followed his vocation, and he followed his heart, and he faced his classrooms and his athletes every day. And our friend Ben is certain that he inspired generations to rise above their perceived limitations and follow their dreams. Marble-lovers who knew Weldon well have many wonderful stories to tell of his generosity: How he always carried marbles in the pocket of his bibb overalls so he could give them to kids; how he and Edna created a “marble tree” outside their home in Waller, Texas, placing hundreds of marbles around the large roots of a tree at the street so anyone passing by could take one. What a good friend and supporter he was to the marble community, and how he never lost his sense of wonder and enthusiasm for those colorful little balls of glass. Our friend Ben’s life was enriched, changed for the better, by meeting Weldon once. I can imagine how richly blessed those who knew him well must feel, and what a hole his passing has left in their world. I can only hope that all of us whose lives Weldon touched will carry something of his spirit—his kindness, his patience, his humor, his generosity, his courage, his wisdom, his tolerance, his enthusiasm, his endurance, his sense of community, his faith—so that others may see and be touched and inspired in their turn. It would be a fitting tribute to a wonderful man.

Edna is home now. The refrig is full of food made by friends from Waller. There has been a continual parade of friends and family. There is even a rumor(all marble stories have rumors) that there was a small pillow fight after midnight last night. Behave girls! Edna is doing very well and is even planning her marble trips for the rest of the year. I continue to be amazed at how fast this has all been. Edna's faith had made very, very tough times easier for her and her loved ones. The funeral will be Wednesday and the burial Thursday. I can still hardly find words for the events of last week. I can only say that Weldon is free and in a better place. God speed my friend.

This the largest and rarest of the "clawfeet". This would have been on a very large table. It is called the "Green Man Series" with bullet mold mibs and is ascribed to Pennsylvania maker from 1890 to 1910.

Bo, as a compliment to you all others I propose that in spitr of your ideologial differnces with the "macine, you did it the right way. You served and saved lives under terrible circumstances. You did not run, desert, dodge the draft,or go to Canada. Thank you for defending our rights while we enjoyed them.