Ric

Cool, I've never seen one with an amber base, but I don't collect them either.

I just looked in the archives, Ron is right, as usual.

Nah, I shook it really hard and all I hear is glass. My bigger worry is that you put 50 Red Ravens in there. lol

I don't think they are all Alley. The bottom one is a JABO Classic named a "Sweet Potato Pie" by Dave McCullough. The marble in the middle of the right column also appears to be a JABO Classic. I have doubts about a few others too.

A) Many of the early manufacturers had their own glass recipes and made batches from scratch - they didn't use cullet. BB) Very small quantities of uranium were used as a colorant (yellow-green) and uranium glass objects do emit very low levels of radiation. C) This is a very complex topic but here is a general idea . . . Different substances in glass can fluoresce and each responds maximally to UV of a specific wavelength and emits certain wavelengths of visible light in response. The UV lights sold for consumer use emit light in the very upper part of the UV range. Lower wavelengths can be dangerous. The spectrum of UV different lights emit can vary depending on the source, e.g., fluorescent vs LED. The intensity of the UV emitted by different sources can also vary. Together, this is why some lights produce more of a UV "pop" on a given marble than others.

That is a very nice marble! Given the size and, apparently, light enough damage to preserve the outer bands, I would have polished it too. Did Leroy Johnson do it?

These marbles were recently identified as being produced by the Kister Porcelain Manufacturing Company of Scheibe-Alsbach in the Sonneberg district of Thuringia. The company is primarily known for producing porcelain figures.

Nice sets, and thanks for the info on the clay "red man" - I had not heard that before.

It's a dandy, Chad.

I'd have it with my Alleys.

I think Alley on the first one - not enough for me to go on with the second.

First might just be a messy Pelt, I don't see a compelling reason to go Kokomo, although it could be, I suppose. And I think the second is MK.

I'm thinking Champion.

I'll say Akro, messed up Pelt, MK and Vitro - now that I know how to order them.

The RW&B is the tough one - Alley or Champion, IMO. I believe the others are Alleys.

Wow, nice find. It doesn't look bad for the size - I don't think they made them much bigger. Have you ever heard the idea that may have been used in ball valves?

What size is it and is the base light blue?

Well, I am not as sure about Alley anymore. There are a lot of reflections of the surroundings on the marble. They are very distracting and make it hard to see the details.

I'd have this one with my Alleys.

it looks mostly like a JABO to me.

I hate it when I misjudge the position of a log, get the chainsaw stuck, and have to get my other chainsaw to cut it out. I mean, I've been doing this stuff for near 50 years and it still happens once every couple of years.

And they're great fun to examine with backlighting too!

@wvrons Thanks for the clarification and for reminding me of the history, Ron. All of the poly bags with the Paul Bunyan Ravenswood labels and the paper "Akro" tag I have don't look like original packaging to me. The bags lack the typical double seam you'd expect, the header is narrower than the bag and the top of the bag is folded over before the header is attached - not like any original Ravenswood poly bags I know of. My thinking is that someone found the Paul Bunyan marbles "in a dusty bin" somewhere, and also found the mesh bags and Paul Bunyan Ravenswood headers, bought some new poly bags and put bags, tags and headers together themselves. The "Genuine Old Fashioned" mesh bag labels always seemed to me not to be authentic either. Why would Ravenswood label their marbles "Genuine Old Fashioned"? I mean, they may be old fashioned now but they weren't when Ravenswood made them, unless maybe they made them shortly before they closed and were reminiscing about the ones they made in the 1930s. I do think that the mesh bags of Paul Bunyans that lack the "Akro tag" are likely original, which would fit with the age of the toy, but I am not sure if Ravenswood ever packaged Paul Bunyan marbles in poly bags. Have you ever seen a Paul Bunyan Ravenswood label attached to an old-style double seam poly bag that is the width of the header? Who knows, maybe there's one in this box but I doubt I will ever find out. lol

I got confused Ron, I thought Art was talking about the two light green ones I posted. Are you talking about those or the 10 oxbloods I posted? To me, the oxbloods are Akro for sure, but I am not sure about the two green based marbles I posted. Do you think those are Paul Bunyans?

I was joking around, Art. Although I do think one of the Ravenswood employees was convinced they were made at Ravenswood (memories surely can falter though). Have you seen the ones I posted in Akro boxes? I am talking about these marbles, BTW.