kbobam

Wow. I could throw a baseball from here and have it land in Northern Virginia. I hope Jo and Mary are friends, otherwise my geographical 'sister' is making me feel very 'unloved'! Or 'dissed', in the lingo of the Nation's Capital which separates us! Kidding. Bob

Nice! (Although I bet the Last Dances were, too.) I like the idea of trading within a specific family of marbles. Nice way to balance the collection. Mary made a comment a while back which I hope I'm not misinterpreting. It suggested to me that she thought almost anyone could find something they loved in any of the 'special runs'. Made me realize that I'd been neglecting quite a few of them, and when I looked around a little more than I had been, I found some terrific new things which I hadn't even been considering. There're still more than a few to go! Never traded before, but maybe giving the buy/sell/trade section a whirl with something like "Aces to Trade / Looking for Last Dances" (or whatever) would be worthwhile. Especially for people like me who're operating on a small scale and probably only hope to wind up with a few marbles perfect for them from each run.

Forgot to ask! This marble was described as a Tri-lite 'Elite'. Can someone tell me if this is valid, and what distinguishes your elite from your riff-raff Tri-lite? Thanks, Bob

I'm still trying to get a photo of the Tri-lite which really shows the in-hand look of the marble. Can't be done, of course, but I think I can get closer. This one's okay. What's lacking so far is the 3-D 'ness' of the blue and white. The white 'stripes' are actually more like the edges of ribbons which penetrate into the marble. What look like blue stripes here are the trasparent base at the surface. Funny how some marbles are so much easier than average to photograph, and some are way more difficult, with neither giving you advance warning of the situation. Cheers, Bob

When I'm in a good 'silver-lining' mood, I like to think of the ones that get away as opportunities to find a better one for a better deal!

"When Bob posted his picture of this Eagle..." Just want to point out that I didn't take that shot. Edna described a marble, which sounded like one in an auction I was watching. I 'borrowed' the photo for confirmation purposes. So credit and thanks to the original photographer! (And if you're the seller as well, congratulations, since I think that one went out of my league.) Bob

B-B-B-B-BLUE ONES? Oh-oh!

I like the way your glass thing works. Gives a little reflected backlighting, similar to what happened when I put marbles in the snow in one shot.

So "unusually appropriate"!

Let's see. Couple of quick things to add to this if I may. Reference to Catfish's avatar was because a certain percentage here seemed not to like it. Personally I think it's great. And I'm not sure if Randy's notes were 'violin music' to my complaint, but that would certainly be reasonable! ( :

Hoo-boy, Bo! The original Jokers are something (although I'd probably call them 'semi-simple') but is that other marble(s) one of these? It's my favorite marble in the whole world! (Except for a wonderful gift marble from someone special, but that doesn't count for pure statistics.) I do like the intricate and complicated ones as well. Like everyone else it would seem. It's just that the simple ones can sometimes be the most dazzling of all. Bob

Hey Charles! Once again I'm going to convince everyone that we're related, but your plugs seem to frequently cause me some sort of immediate reaction. This time it's slightly different. I don't like any of these, although I'm sure there's something special there to the more-experienced. On the other more positive hand, checking out the rest of your auctions, there're quite a few things which are awesome imho. I guess the 'to each his own' is one of the things which makes this whole game interesting! Happy Saturday, Bob

If Nathan's tools can make marbles like his avatar, and the many other wonderful things at eyecandyarts.com, they must be really good! (I was particularly blown-away by the marble stands.) Happy Saturday to everyone, Bob

Edna recently posted photos of a large number of beautiful marbles from the same 'group' in her 'Gift from David Mccullough' topic. Take a look if you haven't already. Because of her post I took another look at one I was 'half-watching', slapped myself, and immediately jumped on it. Quick 'jump-shift'. Recently displayed a large solid black Williams marble at work, along with a little sign which read "So Complex in its Simplicity!" This was meant as a humorous spoof on 'hoity-toity' art critics and similar people, but sometimes the concept is valid. Went back and looked at Edna's post again, and now as the proud owner of one humble marble was able to look at hers individually, rather than just being awe-struck by the magnificence of the entire collection. And the little sign seemed to apply. These marbles are deceptively 'simple', but there's so much there! Cheers, Bob

Like the big bubble in the middle.

That first one would have knocked a lot of marbles down a notch when we did our 'brown' thing. Just gorgeous!

Well hello, Mary, And hello, Gary, It's so nice to see you both and write this song! ♫♪♫ :doh: Thanks, Mary. Looking at it, I think the subtlety of that reflection is a good balance to the 'loudness' of the marble. Gary, I have no idea. The gold pattern is definitely on the surface as opposed to 'going into' the marble, but whether there's 'protective' clear glass I couldn't tell you. If no one here has any thoughts on how this sort of thing is usually done I'll try asking the seller, who seems to have some connection with these marbles. Bob ( :

A 1 3/8 marble from George Williams, whom I've been getting into lately. Cheers, Bob

And thanks to BJ too! I guess I just didn't see the tilde (better word than what I said) way up there in the upper left. Those other symbols will be fun to use too. Bob

Thanks, Steve. The SuperSplatt avatar is great! And anyone who hasn't checked out your new Kokomo post ought to. Fantastic. Bob

Hey S- (How do you type one of those diacritical marks, anyway?) It really is impressive how those small file-size photos are looking so good. I have an FZ-30 Lumix, which I think is pretty much the same type of camera as the Olympus. Although I'd like to get something a little better for what we're doing here, it's still pretty darned good as you know, and nothing can beat our zoom range for being ready for anything at any time. The next camera might be an addition, but certainly not a replacement. Bob P.S. Catfish has nothing on you! Please go back to the old avatar; this one is freaking me out.

I didn't think orange was going to be a good color, but these have all been outstanding. I usually tend toward really vibrant simple graphics, like Alan's Akros here. Maybe that's why I'm so surprised to have had a similar reaction to Barb. Swirljunky's marble is so incredibly delicate and beautiful. And the pattern on Lou's is actually moving! Cheers, Bob

It's neat how three straight sides make the marbles look even 'rounder' than they already are. (I don't get it either, but it's true.) Super-nice! Bob

He'd be great at shows for a 'try to shoot a marble into his mouth' game. Much better than baseballs and milk bottles!

Oof! Like that Champ!