Ric

One incident I and, I am sure, Ron, will never forget - I think Bill was there too. Jake and I were visiting. As I recall, it was a WVMCC show but it might have been Sistersville. Jake was still pretty young, maybe 13 years old. It may have been the first time Ron and Jake ever met. We were sitting around drinking coffee after sleeping for about three hours, as usual when we were in marbling mode, and Jake came stumbling out of the bed room rubbing his eyes. He looks at us and says, "When I first woke up, for a minute, I thought I was in heaven." And I will say, anyone who ever spent a night in Ron's "marble bedroom" in Belleville, knows exactly what he was talking about.

Jake's most prized marble possession, hands down. He showed this to everyone that came in the house. And I mean everyone - all his friends, his first date, his prom date, all my friends, his mom's friends, people he'd never met, right down to his hospice nurses. It brought him a ton of joy, and he was proud as a peacock to have it. And I can guarantee, it had nothing to do with the marbles.

You make a good point, Roberto. And that's why I backed off on the Bennington idea a bit. But the "eyes" on the marble in the op suggest it was glazed and fired. I don't often see that characteristic on clay marbles, which is why I am sticking with kiln-fired earthenware. Even though, I think some people might call it a fancy Bennington. Whatever it is, it's a cut above a typical Bennington or earthenware marble, at least in my book. The colors are great!

You are probably right about that! 😄

It's got more color than most, no doubt about that. Definitely, brown, blue and green and some red too, and more where the colors come together - like purple. The colors do remind me some of the nicely colored Akron Rollers too so maybe I'll just go with a Super Fancy Earthenware.

I'd say they're WV swirls. Lots of different companies made them and it would take someone much more daring than I to declare a particular maker, which might help explain why you haven't gotten any input until now.

Nice marble. I'd call it a fancy Bennington.

Wow - bubble city! Looks like a 'bo to me. The only other possibility I can think of would be Kokomo, but it looks like the middle row here.

Here's kind of an odd auger.

Speaking of cars . . . he loved his Cutlass too!

Marbles were one of his favorite things, no doubt, and I was lucky he liked them as much, maybe more, than I did. We spent a lot of time together marbling, even after he discovered cars, and girls. 🙂 Another marble friend.

I call it a bo'nanna

That is way cool! Honestly, probably one of the nicest marble display stands I have ever seen. Isn't it great to have friends?

Those do look great backlit, Jess - I like bubbles! I back light almost every marble I come across - you never know what you might find inside. And some marbles, like the one I showed, are downright sad without it.

Days late and dollars short . . . the story of my life.

This is oxblood in a clear/amber base - too dark for me. I gave it away. \ It was a big one.

I'm not that keen on Akros . . . they usually find a new home soon after they come to me.

I am not even sure what this is called - a fountain, maybe?

The antique color is really pretty and that Akro blue slag is unforgettable - beautiful.

Alley made some pretty cool game marbles, for sure. I remember a game Galen posted a long while back - I think it was called "Glass Mosaic" or something like that. It had lots of Alley caligraphy-style (if I remember right) game marbles (monochromes - I like the description). Maybe somebody saved a pic (@steph?). I sure wish I would have - the mibs, I think peewees, were really cool.

These are always cool too - when you can find them.

Another good marble buddy . . .

Jake loved this guy too. Every time they saw one another Andy would pull a top out of his pocket . . .

Jake at 16, in one of his favorite places on the planet.