Ric

Bingo!

Yup, that's a good Alley.

It's probably been 15 years since I had that one in hand but it's an over the top Copper Head, as Fire said.

It's a good question, Fire. I don't think I have seen a convincing one either. I have a couple that look like they could be but they're really just Rainbos where two wide ribbons have come together to form what looks like a patch, but only if you're not paying attention. All the others I have seen claiming to be Pelts, I'm pretty sure are Akros. 😄

These are great points, John. It is pretty easy to see the more or less planar coiling aspect of the transparent marbles I showed on page 2 of this thread. I tried to show the ends of the stream on opposite sides of the marble in the lower right two views for each marble. It's there on the opaque marble I showed too but because of the opacity it's a little harder to see. I do not see the same sort of coiling on the Hopf wirepulls I have - they appear much more random to me.

I operated the same way for many years. If I could not identify the marbles I kept them together as found. But once I was confident about their identity they got mixed together with others of like kind. On occasion, I had to make small adjustments as new information became available. But the system worked well for me. Today, I have far fewer unidentified marbles than I used to and the vast majority of them are not American made. And I only hang on to those if I find them particularly interesting. But I am in the waning days of marble collecting and I plan to part with the vast majority of my collection over the next few years. My interests and preferences in marbles have evolved considerably and I am moving in a new direction. 🙂

😄

The ". . ." in my quote elided that - I focused on the "usually". I've spent about all the time I care to trying to learn who made this marble. Given the nature of the piece and the fact that I can't find any similar "LT" marbles or other glass work online, I'm guessing the artist is not well known or prolific - Brian Bowden did not recognize the name or signature either.

So here is what I have learned about Larry Thornhill (Thanks to @Alan for the tip!) . . . I have not been able to find any examples of his work online. The only references I could find to him were from the glass artists Theo Keller (Turtle Creek, PA) and Lance McRorie (Flame Tree Glass, Roswell, GA), who both mention learning flamework techniques from him in their bios. I also found a statement from him on Glass Message Board (2008), "I consider myself a hobby artist and don't sell my glass very much. However, you may have ended up with a marble or dichroic paperweight that I marketed several years ago. I usually sign my work with an LT . . ." I can't be 100% sure that this is Larry Thornhill's work, but given the circumstances, I think it's pretty likely.

I actually just rubbed the sig with a pencil - worked great, and the graphite came right off after the photo.

@akroorka That's a killer Royal, Art. Beats the heck out of a fidget stone - being a work marble, I'm surprised you haven't rubbed the AV right off of it. You really should carry it again - just for the sheer enjoyment of it in retirement. 🙂

I have had a few pocket marbles over the years but the "magic bean" is the one I've carried ever since I found it digging the Alley Pennsboro site with Nola, Ron and Billy. It's one of my favorite things. 🙂

The interesting thing about game marbles is that they often have the same patterns/seams and colors as seen on the company's other marbles. Some of the monochrome Alleys can be pretty cool - I've seen some killer flames.

Another one of Billy's good ones . . . Bill McCaleb that is - his pics.

@Shamrock Marbles Does this marble ring any bells for you, John?

Thanks a lot @Alan. It's a start, which is way more than I had. I'll let you you know what I learn, if anything.

I just want to call out @Alan before this winds up on the 7th page. And @Fire1981 too. 🙂

I am sure if you search Akro Carnelian in Google images you'll see quite a few photos of them.

I am hoping someone will recognize this 3/4" marble and/or the artists's marks, which I had to pencil-rub just to have a chance at photographing them. To me it looks like LT / 03, although that "T" does looks a lot like a "7", so maybe LO / 73. I really have no idea . . . what do you think?

That second one is a very nice Carnelian variant, IMO.

The photos are great, for sure. But I still like the marble better - it's an excellent example, IMO. The mottling really is over the top.

It's pretty but it doesn't strike me as American. I'm a little envious of the foreign variety you find up there - we just don't see much of the older foreign stuff down here.

That's why they call it "veneer" - just a surface coating of color - it really reduces the price of making colorful marbles when 98% of the marble is clear transparent glass. They used the same trick with white base glass, which is only slightly more expensive.

Yes, another Type I Tiger Eye - backlight it to make sure you get to know the clear transparent base glass - look especially at the places where the patches and ribbons interface.

I don't think it's Vitro - looks more Akro to me but, again, I am not entirely sure it's American.