Ric

My favorite lullaby.

One thing is for sure . . . in 100% complete cave-darkness that candle threw an amazing amount of light. It is true, ANY light is better than NO light. (If you have a hard time seeing the cave, stand up. No kidding, the viewing angle will make it easier to see.)

Great sort of folk art, Griff. I really like it. Is it ~3" diameter?

Charlie Stutsman (1914-1999 RIP) was a long-time antique dealer and marble distributor from around Evansville, IN. He purchased Champion Agate marbles made by Dave McCullough during the 1984-85 "New Old-Fashioned" era and marketed them to kids and others at fairs and flea markets around the area for many years. David Chamberlain mentions Charlie and his marbles at Joe's site. Charlie had quite a system, a combination of sorting and salesmanship: I was happy to get one of these sets from David a number of years ago. I think it's a fun way to catalog some of Champion's New Old-Fashioned marbles and can see why kids would find it fun to try to collect them too. In fact, I think it's still a great way for kids to get involved in the hobby and collecting. While some of the marbles can command $10+, the majority can be had for far less, and with a bit of hunting around the marble community, you could probably still complete Charlie's list and build a 'complete' set. The marble numbers read from left to right and top to bottom. The bottom row has two #25 variants, three #26 variants and the last marble is #27. Different views of the same marble are shown in each photo. There is considerable variation in some of the marbles, and #s 25 are not Champions (even though Charlie cataloged them as #CA25). The first two #25s are the light and dark variants Charlie describes in the list. The blue #26 is shown in David's article. Why the variation in the #26s? Who knows, perhaps the #26 position was limiting when he was building sets of 27 marbles. Regardless, there really are some great marbles in the set. Almost all are named. The most popular are probably the Pumpkin (#1, aka Hotwheels) and the Red Cloud (#4, aka Cherry Bomb). But I like the Honey Bee Slags (#10) with lots of clear. Here are a couple of more examples of those types.

The trucks come in different colors but all the Ravenswood boxes I have seen are green. You roll the marbles down the run and they back up in the lowest trough. Then you back the truck into the lever, which allows the marbles to roll into the bed so you can haul them off - sorta fun.

Another

A candle in the dark . . .

and a few bubbles too.

A few loose ones:

"Cats In The Bag" . . . good thing, my understanding is you don't want to let them out.

Chalky Conqueror HTF Elite variants Bulls' Eyes Antiblackies

Nice All Red . . . It goes to show that the "messy" ones are often more interesting (better) than more typical ones. I love it when Vitros swirl!

It beats "cowtail", which is another name I have heard for these.

Nice Galen, I'll bet it smells as good as it looks - if that's even possible! MMMMMmmmmmmm!

Bob, nice photo. All the masts add a lot to it, at least for me. I think it would be much less interesting without them. And Winnie, that is a surreal looking skyscape - beautiful.

Bags with the same front and different reverse have the same marbles?

At 25 ct, I think she means these: https://www.dynalon.com/PublicStore/product/Sterilin-100mm-Square-Petri-Dishes,502.aspx?sku=4270

They look Pelt to me too.

I'd say the second one is also Alley.

Faceted pontil - too bad it has a little blow hole. lol

More ecologically friendly than Lite-Brite, no doubt. There are similar foils in Transogram Mosaic games from the 1930s. The foil is usually applied over clay, isn't it?

A rice-sized piece of misplaced glass is not uncommon. I have seen the same on at least one completely different marble. I wonder how it happened - a drip or something? Tater Bugs with drizzle are around, although I don't recall ever seeing multiple bits of glass on a Tater Bug. Does that seem odd?

Pretty blue and a super pattern - reminds me of burl wood.

Tater Bugs

I don't know if this fits but there is a 6-vane caged style purple on the right. I may have a full 4- or 6-vane somewhere - I'll keep an eye out.