Ric

And then we come to this beauty - tried and true, no doubt. Look at how well-formed and well-liked that one was - a real example of its type.

Spoken like a true oogly aficionado - well put, I like it a lot for those very reasons too. And being weird likely helped it survive all of these years. With the as-mades, it was less than ideal for its intended purpose but it was just too cool to pitch or even lose, and it managed to stay in excellent condition, really - I sure don't want to be the person that messes that up.

Yes, One way you can tell it is newer is that the colors of the polar patches match. On older patch and ribbon style Marble Kings, you might have a polar patch color that matches the two equatorial ribbons (a single color Rainbow), or you could have one color on the polar cap and another color for the equatorial ribbons (two color Rainbow), or the colors of the polar patch and each of the equatorial ribbons might be different (a Tricolor Rainbow). Of course, there are many variations of this basic scheme, with different bases, lots of different hybrids and blends, and many of the more colorful styles are named. But one thing is usually true, the colors of the polar regions on the older marbles will be different, and on the newer ones they will usually be the same. Of course, this is just how I understand it. 🙂

The structure reminds me of those foreign "figure eight" types.

They might even call that one something special, like a "cloudy cat" or something similar. I think I recall Elizabeth Klempski @Pinx writing something about similar Vitros in her book.

It's a mutant Navarre.

Many of you have probably heard me refer to a marble as "Oogly", and I mean no disrespect, some of them are really cool, others might be hideous. But it's a term of endearment for marbles that are not quite right, and certainly do not representative the best of their type. But for some other reasons, which are largely in the eye of the beholder, maybe rarity, uniqueness or oddity, these are marbles that you just don't let go of easily. Think of them as marbles that only other Oogly marble connoisseurs might appreciate. 😄 Here's one I found at the Indy show earlier this month . . . This marblehas got some cold-creases and a tail that appears to come out of the pontil and run over half way around it. I'm surprised they even bothered to melt the pontil on this poor thing.

I wonder about Vitro possibilities for the white-based ones. Hard to tell one way or the other from this pic.

Might be, but maybe not. IMO, it's the best Vitro in the bunch, regardless.

Most are Master but I think you have a purple slag in there, and the four marbles with orange/red on them lower right should be looked at closer.

Top left is a Peltier Rainbow. The other two are Vitro. The right lower Vitro might be a Buiscuit and Red Eye Gravy.

There are many Vitro Conquerors and variants in your first tray. Looks like a few Vitros in the 2nd and 3rd trays too.

Some sort of crazy hybrid Vitro, IMO. It's weird enough that I would keep it. Very cool.

I let it go in a recent trade for $$ and marbles. Fifteen years ago I never would have parted with it. But I have plenty of marbles and I'm starting to let go of some good machine-mades that I have had forever so other collectors can enjoy them and I can add to my hand-made collection. 🙂

I can't imagine why they aren't Bronze Zebras, but then, I'm not a Pelt Head either.

Good deal, there are times when it makes good sense to change a title. This way anyone searching for "red slag" will find the thread.

The nicest one of its type I ever owned . . .

Big crazy Caged Cat's Eyes . . . sorta flamey. 🙂

Well, this is sad news. I always enjoyed speaking with Don. I too admired his kindness and appreciated his willingness to share his deep knowledge of marbles. He will certainly be missed. I extend my deepest condolences to his family and others who mourn his passing.

I'll add a few here . . . I don't think I would call them all "furnace marbles" but I think most are.

Wouldn't surprise me if Bromo-seltzer bottle scrap was used for base glass.

It's two, two, two marbles in one! It's a Cairo Slag. And a very nice one too! Cairo made a marble they called a Cloudy Day way back in the day. It's more like wispy blue and white in a bubbly clear transparent base. It's cool but this transparent blue one is a way better marble, and the size is a big plus too, IMO. If it was mine, I'd have a tough time letting go of it.

Thanks a lot for the info and for showing us more examples. That's a really nice group!

I'm posting this one for brother Billy - his marble, his pics . . . He really liked this one. It's large, about 1" or a tad bigger as I recall. I'll bet if I searched the forum long enough I could probably find a post were he told us. One of the perks of being Billy's friend for so long, and his being a bit techno-phobic, is that I was basically his IT guy. I helped him maintain his computer and back up his much beloved photo files for decades. And I was lucky enough to be his designated backup. I've probably got 98% of his marble pics and related photos on my system. The archive is a bit of a mess with poorly named folders and files, lots of duplicated filenames - some with different photos, etc. But I've got it and I am really glad I do. And I can guarantee that if he sees me doing this, he's loving every second of it. 🙂

@VaMarbles Nice start to Saturday!