Poplarhead

When I saw the blue and brown/red marble I immediately thought Vitro Aquamarine. I found about fifty in one group at a show a few years ago and bought. That looks just like several from that group. Don

And thanks to Clive Cussler for caring enough to initially look for these sunken ships and make them availablle for all of us to be able to see again. While this guy doesn't get his credit on many thimngs he "privately" finances expeditions to discover these shipwrecks and then leaves them for governments to do a proper archaeological survey. Don

Neat stuff Steve! Don

Ron Simplican is the fellow you are referring to I believe, who is a long time collector. Yes he did have a nice display of Ravenswoods (I have a couple display cases myself of his and some from Ron Shephard's forays into the Ohio River :-) ). Ron also had Christensen Agate cullet he dug many years ago at CA plant. If you want to get a true take on the Christensen Agate exotics talk to this very long term collector. He didn't think they were original and by the way Les Jones wasn't even sure himself ( I know because he told me this in person). When a guy walks into your room with a 100 guineas for sale as I saw in Indiana show some years ago the nose gets to working... Don

Pictures from my collection. Why people called them Berry Pinks - see how Marble Kings were advertised and distributed. Don

Edna: I had a number of the Vitro Cosmic shooters that I sold on Ebay. The ones I got were sold in a kaleidoscope kit although were same as ones in bags. Don

Edna: I don't think the peewee catseyes you showed earlier were Vitro Agate. More than likely a foreign catseye maker (Imperial Taiwanese or Vacor). Great Vitro Agate collection though! Don

Thanks for post. I wondered who distributed those blue and light green shooters... Don

Another use was as laboratory distillation column packing. I saw a factory box of Peltier peewees that had been shipped to a laboratory. I am sure that was what they were to be used for as we used small glass spheres in my labs long ago. Also I saw a very large slag above 2 " a few years ago - closer to 3 "- I imagine it was used as a pump ball. By the way the last time I saw Guy, I gave him a special Peltier knowing he was a collector of these. A plastic check valve with a Peltier Rainbo in it. Hope Denise kept it... By the way I hit the Holy Grail in a junk large Ebay lot this morning. Package had been left on front porch by mail lady! Inside a very nice Blue Galaxy- great because rest of Peltiers dinged in lot! Don

Guys: There are so many stories around these that it is comical. If you saw the way they were being pawned off at shows it was like a "deep throat" operation you would understand. Bring a 100 to this show- hit a few dealers who buy 20-40 at at atime. Take a 100 to next- all mint shape. Hear from guys who were immediates to the big buyers on west coast claim they don't believe the story on the marbles but hey collectors are buying them. Even one of the names above was confronted by a very knowledgeable collector and he just shrugged his shoulders '' people are buying them". Of course if you are selling them and made thousands of dollars then you would believe they were real too. I was offered them at a show twice and could have bought them too but elected to pass, once even pissing off the guy when I said "who is making these new CA knockoffs?". He immediately came back to that question and told me he had dug them and cleaned them personnally. Ron can vouch for that as he was in room with me. And one of the sellers comes looking for the guy selling the CAs but he had left and tells us he really doesn't believe the story but the colectors buy everyone of them. If you believe them to be real - the more power to you. Nothing is going to persuade you since you probably have a number of them and other than exact scientific testing to determine the real age of the glass there won't be an easy way to tell. I am just skeptical (more thna anything else I have seen in this marble hobby) after what I saw transpire and because of the high dollars passed off on this part of the collector field. Don

Well Ken- when there is no cullet to support it, when no original boxes are found with them, when all the examples I saw at shows looked like mint off the factory floor condition but were supposedly buried 70+ years and just unearthed, when old time 30+ year collectors who I have met at shows dug the CA site and say they are fakes.... well you get the drift. Don

Yeah and the most unuaul thing is it doesn't look like any of the marbles being touted over the last few years as dug CAS.... Oh yes I have pointed that out many times before! Don