Ric

The left one is a Peltier Comic "Bimbo" (best in the group), and I think the other two are probably Masters.

I think the outer two are newer style Marble Kings and the center one is a Vitro Blackie.

Not sure about the first one. I think the second is a Peltier Rainbo and the third is a Champion New Old Fashinoned from the 1980s.

Gotcha. Thanks again for taking the time to enlighten me!

That's a pretty marble, Art. What size is it? FWW, I'm thinking it might be a Ravenswood.

Jumpin' Jimminy, Art, that marble is crazy! I have never seen a patch with anywhere near that much drizzle! It looks like there is AV in the patch. Is there any in the drizzle? Super cool!

Thanks again, Alan! Am I understanding correctly - that canes were used in the production of German sulfides? I always imagined a gob gathered from a furnace.

One of my favorite Alley Pennsboro marbles . . .

A Ravenswood Buddy mesh bag with more than its fair share of marbles . . .

Jackson's Marbles 25 count red mesh bag . . .

Champion Agate 25 count mesh bag . . .

Nice mibs, Brad. That first one is a dandy!

An uncommon vinyl Playday Marbles 30 count bag with Ravenswood marbles . . . The bag includes a nice uncommon 7/8" marble.

Some Ravenswood color . . .

Thanks, Dave. I am sorry to say I will not be able to attend the Des Moines show this year.

Excellent, Alan. thank you very much. I appreciate the time you took to post this. The Stankard pieces are amazing - the detail is just incredible. So just one more quick question and I promise I'll leave you alone (at least for a while). Would the method used to make German sulfide marbles also be considered a "torch paperweight technique"? My guess is "yes".

I have had Menudo and while it wasn't my favorite thing, it was far from the worst. I am not picky about food, in general, but there are two things I've tried that I would not allow within one foot of my lips again: 1) Swedish Lutefisk 2) Chinese Century Egg I do understand that some people enjoy these things but the texture and taste of each induced an immediate gag reflex for me. It's hard for me to even imagine that some person tried these things for the first time, either purposefully or accidentally, and then thought, "MMMmmm, I would really like more of that". I can only believe that they were literally starving. I shudder just thinking about it.

I appreciate this comment Alan. You should know that I am essentially clueless when it comes to the actual techniques used to make such objects. Would you please elaborate a little on the "torch paperweight technique"? I imagine it would be used to produce the grass and tree? Just a little more explanation would be very helpful. One of the things that I find pretty amazing is how the "sulfide" birds are positioned on the branches. I imagine the tree was produced when they were placing the birds, perhaps by using an orange glass rod to push them into the clear gob - sort of like the figures in Germans were placed using a metal rod? I really have no idea how this was done, any thoughts you could provide would really be appreciated.

Hey Dave! I hope all is well. It's good to see you here! Nice marbles, as usual, I really like the raspberry color on that first one!

I have seen Chinese "Birds in Fire Tree" sulfide figures in glass objects of various shapes that were probably made as paperweights or aquarium ornaments. I have also seen "marbles" that had been made by cutting and grinding those objects into spheres. In addition, I have seen some spheres that I think may have actually been produced as marbles, since they have no flat spot and show a pontil much like a typical German sulfide. Although, I suppose they too could have been shaped from a much more common paperweight/aquarium piece by a skilled glass worker. Here are examples of what I am referring to. This sphere was most certainly ground from another object. I have only seen one sphere with a pontil for sale in the past 25 years or so and I am still mad at myself for not purchasing it.

I guess it's true . . . "every squirrel finds a nut".

I think this is what I used to know as a Hermaphrodite (from Old Rare Marbles) but I could be wrong. I think the name has fallen out of favor though and I have no idea what they call them now. ORM refers to this one as a "Rare Dragonfly-Girl Scout-Cub Scout Marble King Hybrid"

I think the original Hermaphrodites would have a patch of blue or green too. This may be a newer version though.

I think those on a transparent bubbly UV reactive base are fairly HTF but I'm not much of a Pelt guy so . . . ?

I think it might be a very nice albeit unusual TriLite - the colors look Vitro to me.