Ric

Nice marble, Dave. I agree, it's a great color too - I really like that brown tone.

Those are a couple of nice Tiger Eyes, Chad - nice comparison pic of Types 3 & 4.

Oh my golly, Al, thank you so much for posting these pics - you have totally made my day! I remember both occasions like they were yesterday. The Sistersville Show was always so fun, especially when the weather was nice like it was that day. And that grin on Ron's face is how I see him in my mind even today. And wasn't it the Texas show where you and I went in together on a nice group of Ravenswood batch glass red, white and blues, some of which had metal, and then just laid them out on the bed and took turns picking them? Seriously, Al, I can't thank you enough for posting these. The memories are priceless!

It's interesting to me that yesterday you said "these marbles are the worst", and now you seem to have taken a liking to them. 😉 The likelihood that you are going to find four Vitro Confettis together in the wild is so near zero that I think you can discount the possibility entirely. The other issue is that if they actually were Vitro you would never be able to convince anyone of it so they still would have the collectible/monetary value of a Vacor. The only way I would ever trust that I had a Vitro Confetti is if it came directly out of Linda Simmons hands and into mine - Ron said the same thing. Linda brought her collection to the Indianapolis Show in January and we looked at them over and over, and compared every detail side by side with similar Vacors. While there may be some differences between a particular Confetti and a particular Vacor, those differences were not reliable indicators since they didn't hold true for every pair compared. As far as I am concerned, iron clad provenance is really the only way you will ever know you have a Vitro Confetti, at least one from the Parkersburg location, so it is only provenance that imparts any real collectible or monetary value to those marbles. I am not as familiar with the ones made later at Anacortes, since I have only seen one or two with provenance in hand. But I have a feeling the same sort of issues might pertain to them.

Somebody asked if I had a picture of myself with Ron and I had been looking for one all week. Turns out, I couldn't find any, probably because every time we had our photo taken together somebody else was taking it. I know Billy had lots of them but I never got any copies. Then this afternoon when I was looking through my photo archives I came across this one. It'll soon be framed and hanging in my office. Anyways, because my email provider won't allow me to send large attachments, I figured I would post it here where they can access it. I think this was at one of the Decatur shows in 2010. Man, I miss these guys.

I sure hope so. Marbles aren't so yummy. I accidentally swallowed one when I was a kid and it took a couple of days to get it back. Please don't ask me what I was doing with it in my mouth because I have no idea. All I can say is I am glad it was round and smooth.

Yummy! lol

I am not embarrassed to say I have two drawers full of Classics in the archive - there's probably at least a couple of thousand of them in there. Some day, I need to go through them and get rid of duplicates. According to my wife, that day should happen soon. And while I hate to admit it, she's right. We're probably going to move in two years and I have a lot of liquidating to do before then. I am hoping to pare my collection down to a few thousand favorites. lol

I used to do a little program for local cub scouts when they could still earn their marbles belt loop. I'd tell them a bit about the history of marbles, pass around examples they could look at while I was talking, teach them how to play and have a little tournament with them. Most of them really enjoyed it. At the end, I would give them a pamphlet about marbles and marble games and let them fill a bag with marbles to take home. The box I kept the marbles in was a big flat and I had lots of vintage marbles, JABO Classics, and in later years, some JABO investor run marbles. Guess which marbles always went first. First to go were anything with bling from the investor runs, then the colorful JABO Classics, then usually the colorful Vitros and then the rest. Most of the time, I came home with nearly every vintage marble I brought.

Just put them in your hand with a bunch high end Alleys, show them to a little girl and tell her she can pick one. I can almost guarantee you won't lose any Alleys.

Bliiiiiinnnnng! I'll bet those would make some little "glitter girl" very happy. They remind me of my great niece, that's what I used to call her when she was young. She put glitter on everything, including herself. lol

That's a nice Vitro, Scooter, I really like the "script style V"!

I can tell you like marbles, Melissa, and that you like learning about them too - it was obvious to me from the start. And I will try to do a better job of explaining what I am thinking, at least occasionally. 😉 And I appreciate a thank you now and then too but please go easy with the accolades, they are wholly unwarranted and the attention embarrasses me. Maybe I am weird that way but I have spent most of my life trying to do things as best I can without being noticed. When it comes right down to it, I am just a guy who really likes marbles, which makes me no different than many others here. And I promise you, there are many other collectors around who make me look like a rookie. 🙂

I'm counting on @Melissa's good nature and hoping she won't hold it against us for sorta hijacking her thread . . . I have forgotten everything I once knew about this truck - who modified it, when, and how many are out there. And I'm hoping someone else might be able to clue me in - maybe @Nantucketdink?

That's a neat monster truck, Dave. I don't know anything about them but it sorta looks like it could use an alignment. Regardless, I'd have played with that when I was a kid!

@Fire1981 Wee-boy is a hilarious - almost too goofy. What were they thinking - like, what's the point? 😄 And you should sculpt a mini-me to put on that Zamboni!

I'm not sure, Kimber, but I am thinking about a newer Marble King.

All nice ones, Tommy - looks like there might be a Sistersville or three in there, and I'm thinking that last one might have a good UV glow. Does it?

I have to ask again . . . is this marble really not one iota over 1/2"? lol

Me too, those reflections on the surface make it even harder to decipher.

The thought did cross my mind, and you may be right, but something about it made me think about another possibility.

This should give you a start . . .

A generous offer indeed! Please check your inbox. 😊

It looks like an odd Wales type marble to me. Just the other day I was fishing around in my Vitro archives and found a red one in with my Conquerors - stuck out like a sore thumb.

Nice couple of marbles, Dave. That blue CAC is very pretty - nice base glass and a great pattern, clean as a whistle too!