Ric

sort of a gun-metal gray. It's darker in hand.

kind of gray . . . a good amount of fine aventurine too. And that IS a nice marble, Ann. The gray in that one is great - nice extras too!

Nice Alley.

It would be great to see a pic. Here's a bag of Heaton swirls.

I think it could be a Heaton Robin's Egg. Sorry, it's an old, not so good, pic.

i agree with Steph, it's a nice marble regardless of what it is, but it doesn't look like an American marble to me either.

It looks like the box could be right and I think they still made Benningtons in the early 1900s so . . .?

Very Warholish composition, Bob. I like it.

I don't know about huge, but a belt buckle from nice Alley cullet is something I would wear, for sure. A couple of nice lapel pins would also be great. PM me a quote!

Are baseballs any type of blue ribbon?

Wow, Craig, you're full of surprises. Those are great! How long did it take you to shape and polish them?

I think the swirls and some of the Cat's Eyes look like they could be Heatons too.

A few more . . .

Is there a folded seam up the other side of that bag? I don't see one in the pic.

I just qualify particular Champs as 'newer' or 'new old-fashioned' WV Swirls, since Champion was pretty much in continuous operation in WV since the vinitage era. Mid-Atlantic made newer WV Swirls too. Sammy's are just new, I suppose. I haven't really thought much about a hard cut-off date, where I would start to qualify the phrase WV Swirl with 'newer' or "new" but I could probably come up with a couple if I cared more about it. As far as big ones, Alley made plenty up to 1", and perhaps a few bigger. Cairo, Champion and Heaton up to about 3/4", maybe a few 7/8". Ravenswoods over 11/16" (3/4"-7/8") are uncommon, if I am not mistaken (ignoring the Paul Bunyans).

All but the lower corners are 1/2" or less.

The cool thing is there's not a rough spot on it and it's pretty good sized too - and I really do carry it around. lol

Alley pocket marble It was tonged.

I'd say Alley on both. Here's four Pennsboro's. They could use a bath. Chalky

In my mind, WV Swirls are vintage marbles, which were intentionally made as swirls at a WV company. I would not consider JABOs to be WV swirls any more than I would consider CAC or the occasional Akro or MK swirls to be WV swirls. But that's just me . . .

You have to like Masters. The last one is sweet.

Plants are crazy, the diversity of organic compounds they produce is amazing. How about the burning sun - setting over Lake Michigan last night.

Apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze - at least that's what I've heard.

Apple, real - McIntosh, fresh off the tree.