Ric

Yeah, that too.

From brother Billy's archive . . . Obviously polished.

@The Nickel Guy Great job - your stand looks even better with marbles on it! And I appreciate the creative repurposing too!

I wish I would have kept my cache of "foreign" Cat's Eyes. Unfortunately, that's all I knew about them around 20 years or so ago when I parted with about 10 gallons of them - they were not American made. I kick myself for that now that we are learning so much more about them. And it was very much against my nature, since I usually will not part with a marble that I can't identify.

@Nantucketdink Great examples - thanks for posting them!

Given the numbers, I'm guessing it was a happy accident.

I'd still like to see a couple of back-lit pics, just for fun. 🙂

I have found lighting angle and proper reflection are the keys. In the bottom left marble in your second pic, the reflection off the metal is coming too directly back at the lens so you get a "hot spot" and can't see the metallic reflection well. In the lower right photo, the reflection comes off the marble at an angle away from the lens and the metal shows much better. Of course, every marble is different so you may have to play around with it some but, in general, considering this will lead to better results, IMO.

Colors are that of a regular old Tricolor P&R - I think it's one of those so called "MK swirls".

This is one of my favorite mementos from Ron - he called it a "quiz box" - there are five different companies represented.

Thanks for posting these detail photos, Aiko! There are some very nice colorful Cat's Eyes. I hope to start looking for examples in my own collection soon.

I agree with Vitro Conquerors.

The colors don't look Vitro to me. My guess is a dug Marble King.

I would really like to see this one backlit - I'm leaning toward CAC - maybe a Bloody?

Nice marbles, Jess - probably the best examples of metallic corkscrews I have seen - the first one is exceptional!

Congratulations, that's a great group!

I think it's a sloppy Akro Auger - maybe "lazy" is a better word . . .

Thanks for the reference, Steph. I imagine many children would enjoy the story and, as far as I can tell, the illustration looks very good too.

I think I know which transitionals you're talking about (pinched "pontil"?) and I think that many of them have now been attributed to Japan.

The best Parakeets would have 3 colors with very little or no white showing. If the white on yours was covered with a fourth color it would be a Parrot.

Here's a really old pic of mine - I should probably take a new one. When I put them in Chuck Brandstetter's hands he was convinced they were not Vitro and was on board with the consensus MK ID. I am still not entirely convinced but where else are you going to put them? The only other possibility I can imagine is that they are a foreign type I have never seen before. No fractures on these.

I have a group of those and showed them around to a variety of very knowledgeable collectors at a few different shows - the consensus was, MK Bumble Bee patch. I know . . . pretty crazy, right? I'll look around and see if I can find a pic of mine and I'll post them here when I do.

Is that a Type I Tiger Eye - veneered on clear? Or a Parakeet on opaque white? What a great marble!

@VaMarbles That is a really nice little group of Vitros!

Richard Gartley and Jeff Carskadden are both academics and their books are written in that style. They have also published quite a few articles in academic journals - mostly about history in Ohio. Together, they authored two of my absolute favorite marble books: Chinas: Hand Painted Marbles of the Late 19th Century (1990) Colonial Period and Early 19th Century Children's Toy Marbles: History and Identification for the Archaeologist and Collector (1998). Each has a great reference section, and I have also enjoyed reading many of the resources they cite. I highly recommend both books, although some folks might find the academic style off-putting.