Ric

Interesting . . . some headers recently sold. Same seller, even more recently. Maybe they had a gross.

Happy Birthday Ron - have a great one!

Congratulations to you and yours, BJ. Baby's a cutie and so is big sis.

Very nice. Great oxblood pattern.

Cool Steve, I'm liking that second marble in the 4th row. And is that a red Pelt slag I see in the 5th?

Nice pick-ups Al. Of course, I really like the swirl, and the colors on that Opal are awesome!

Thanks for the input. I'm thinking they are HTF.

Nice Steve, those shooters are cool!

That really is an impressive fix. I didn't even know such a repair was possible - outstanding work I'd say.

How common are Vitro Superiors with "oxblood"? I hadn't seen one before I came across this one the other day. It's Superior on one pole with a good bit of Vitro's "Ox" on the other. Sorry about the poor pics.

I agree, Steph. It looks like Marblemama's uploaded some interesting ones.

Here you go Miser. I didn't intend to ignore your questions. The marble is about 7/8" at the largest and out of round by about 3/32". There are lots of bubbles in a kinda cloudy green glass. I have seen some of the marbles intended for fiberglass production. This doesn't look like the ones of those that I've seen. After looking at the "pontil variations" page at the Akron marbles site, I thought it might be a hand made puree with a strange melted pontil or something, but I'm pretty much over that. lol. Here are a couple of other pics. And Dan, thanks to you for the pics too.

Thanks all. Like I said, I know very little about hand made marbles. I've seen a lot of wrinkles, creases and cold spins on machine mades that sorta look like a pontil but this one seemed unusual.

about pontils or hand mades. Is this one? A mist maybe?

I think Steph's got it. Those big fluorescent pink marbles were made by Jabo in the mid 1990s. -Ric

Original post updated 3/9/2010

The original post has been updated.

Here's some common types with a few atypical ones thrown in just for fun.

And for that, I'll yodel - OpalllllllLadyhooo! O.K., that was lame. Thanks for the picture, Bruce.

Hey Delbert, The construction of the marble you showed looks considerably different than the construction of the marble in the original post, doesn't it? It's also difficult to discern the colors from the pictures, so . . . ?

I apparently heard the same things you did, Steph. I always thought multiple colors were required too. But I also have a few with an opal base and a single color so . . . ?

Hey Gary, I'm glad you enjoyed the post. You are correct that not all pinkish mibs are Jabos. On the other hand, they sure made a lot of them with that pinkish base. And if I am not mistaken, they also made some transparent ones with pink swirling inside too.

That would be a nice find, Delbert. Could you show us a picture of it?

No kidding . . . there's some nice patterns in that group. -Ric

Alley's Blue Skies and Blush Lines: Honoring Alley's Blue Lady R. Shepherd, B. McCaleb, B. Burkhart, and R. Anthony Alley's Blue Lady is the venerable matriarch of Alley's Blue Skies and Blush Lines. The marble was made by Alley Agate when they were located in Pennsboro, West Virginia, and it was named by Ron Shepherd at the Sistersville Marble Festival in the Fall of 2008. The base color on these classics is a sky blue variation and the striping is a lavender pastel. The striping ranges from thick and dark to thin and light. Notice how a rich blue color outlines the thick dark stripe on the first example below, while white accentuates the lighter lavender striping on the others. Alley's Blue Skies Line Ron Shepherd named Alley's Blue Skies Line. Marbles in the Line prominently display the sky blue colors typical of the classic Blue Ladies, with the best examples showing a significant amount of white. Sometimes the blue is found as the base color. At other times, it appears over white or together with other colors. Several examples are shown below, along with two Blue Ladies, displayed as honored guests. Named examples include classic Blue Skies, a Spring Sky and a Blood Red Sky.* Named Marbles from The Blue Skies Line Blue Skies are the namesakes of the Blue Skies Line. Each displays a sky blue color typical of the classic Blue Ladies. The best examples show a significant amount of white striping. Four variants are shown below. It should be noted that Champion, Heaton, Jabo and Vacor all produced marbles with a color combination of blue and white. Therefore, careful examination and comparison to known examples may be required to discern Alley's from those produced by other companies. Stormy Skies prominently display the classic sky blue colors of the Blue Skies Line, with the best examples showing a significant amount of white. Each also displays one or more additional colors, which are often dark and reminiscent of stormy skies. For example, those below display gray, dark brown or black striping. Alley's Blush Line Bill McCaleb named Alley's Blush Line to honor the Blue Ladies, which are the first marbles celebrated for displaying Alley's Blush. The pastel colors of the Blush Line range from pinks to lavenders to purples. Marbles in this Line can vary from transparent to opaque. Several examples are shown below, together with the two classic Blue Ladies, appearing for an encore. Marbles in the Blush Line earn the designation "Lady" by displaying the same lavender striping as the classic. Named examples include a Lady Tater, Lady Gaia, Opal Lady, Ebony Blush and Kurly Blush.* Named Marbles from The Blush Line Opal Ladies have a highly translucent base with sparse wisps of white or color inside. Some may appear opalescent. All display the lavender striping of the classic Blue Lady, mostly on the surface. Notice the yellow-tinted base of the first example below, and the opalescent appearance of the second. Lady Taters display the Blue Lady's Blush on a Tater Bug's base. Like Tater Bugs, the base of these marbles can vary, with more desirable examples displaying a fully developed pattern and additional color. The example in the top row, below, is flanked by a classic Blue Lady and a Tater Bug. The latter type was named by Sam Hogue because their colors and patterns reminded him of potato bugs. * More photos, names, and descriptions for some of the marbles shown are Forthcoming, and will be added to this post when available.