bumblebee

Found one on ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/JABO-TRIBUTE-MARBLE-BLACK-YELLOW-Super-Cool-Pattern-Colors-Old-Marbles-Item-67/142963640917?hash=item21494c0a55:g:U84AAOSwKfFbmBnu

Here are some of my better Rainbos. Peltier was gracious to the poor collectors among us (me).

1 hour ago, wvrons said:

The yellow and black is Jabo Tribute special investor run.  I was there when it was made.  You also find these with more orange and green aventurine. 

Thanks, that confirms it for me. It's a neat marble with nice colors! Steph + Ron = Certified ID.

Thanks, all. I wouldn't describe the black swirled one as having an orange peel texture because you cannot see it with the naked eye like you can on the Euro sparklers, for example, but under a loupe it has a lot of dimples compared to any other known CAC in my collection.

Sounds like it could be a JABO because of so much variety in those runs.

Also is 21/32" common for CAC anyway?

They're 21/32". The black striped one I got at a show recently. The seller said it was Jabo. It feels a little CACish to me but not as sharp colors as I'm used to. Under a loupe it has a lot of small dimples.

Thanks, everyone. I'm keeping these in my "???" box and bringing them to the next show I attend. It's tough not being able to photograph them well enough to paint a clearer picture.

The white in the glass is not like most Vitro but it does have a more chalky quality that some of my Type 2 Tiger Eyes and Easter Eggs have. The collector I got them from had them in his Vitros and I thought his guess was as good as mine.

Same source also had this one which is the same size and has the same milky/chalky glass quality.

Yeah I'd say they're definitely related. I think I see two seams but they're fairly close together with all that swirlin'.

I think these are Vitro but they are definitely not like my other Vitros. Thoughts?

15 hours ago, Mr Meteorite said:

Pink base, hard to photograph the color

 

Funny, I tried photographing my twin of this last night. Tough to capture that light pink. This is truly a neat Rainbo in hand.

Here's a recent auction that sold a couple of these in a Vacor group.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Marbles-Vacor-Michelangelo-Swirls-Lot-W-/192621542984?nordt=true&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m43663.l10137

51 minutes ago, Steph said:

My first, second and third guess would be Vitro.

 

Thanks! I've seen a few thin purples on my Vitro but never this much. Purple Haze!

Found this deep purple today among a lot of 1960s marbles. Is it MK? Almost looked like a Vitro helmet but I rarely find MK so?

If you are familiar with those 9/16" vivid Vacor Dragon-like marbles that seem to show up wet mint among other Vacors but are considred by many to be torch made, then you will find this listing of a 10/16" Leighton to be uncannily similar in color: https://www.ebay.com/itm/10-16-OUTSTANDING-AQUA-BASE-LOOP-LEIGHTON-EY-OXBLOOD-PONTIL-MARBLES-GP-MINT/223112216398

I've attached images of the mystery 9/16" mib below. What a fun hobby this can be!

(For future proofing, here's a partial archive link to the eBay listing since eBay now seems to remove many of its completed listings: http://archive.is/yKI2t )

It's tough to say because there is definitely a reflection effect that happens on the scanner bed.

I expected this to be a foolproof way to find facets but other marbles I knew were faceted didn't show up this dramatically so I there are lighting and focus variables that just are too out of control.

Not shown here is another marble from the same lot. Under a loupe it does not have any long facet "channels" but I definitely see the occasional flat spot. Makes me wonder whether that means it was left in the polisher longer than normal? Maybe on rougher jobs they had to polish them longer.

We need that time machine to go back and ask!

Facets are tricky to spot sometimes, especially on this darker one, but when I threw this one on my flatbed scanner, there was no mistaking!

I attended the OC show this year and it was about 25% vintage marbles. Combined with in-room trading a couple days before the show, it was still worth it to me but you cannot be shy anymore and have to dive in with so few sellers.

59 minutes ago, Steph said:

I found the article with the offensive language.  Be warned, it's bad.  

It is the April 15, 1907 issue of The Mixer and Server.   The relevant quote from near the end of the article is, "Japanese glass marbles of much beauty sell for a cent apiece, . . . "

https://books.google.com/books?id=25GfAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA3




 

Wow, surprising racial bigotry against Japanese pre-WWII...I wonder what the marbles were? Couldn't be our familiar Japanese pinch pontils, no?

Probably many original workers are still alive since Japanese longevity is so high.

56 minutes ago, Steph said:

Here's the title page of the volume.  The ad is on p. 51.

https://aa.arcade-museum.com/Automatic-Age-1929-09/

In that case I am probably just assuming the inflation was happening during those decades at a level it was not.

Unfortunately the chances of finding one of those Lucky Boys unused are probably not good, but maybe a better (color?) photo will emerge to help solve the mystery.

Are we sure that's from 1929? The prices seem very high.

This page from Billboard 1943 shows a listing for a  "Lucky Boy" marble vendor (right side of page).

This one from 1957 shows prices on complete machines hardly higher than the 1929 one.

I tried it with a small pink pencil eraser on one of my few but didn't get results.

What sort of large pencil eraser is this? Pink one?

5 minutes ago, westcoast_dave said:

I like these, thinking about buying a few.  They look great for sorting marbles.  A large one that would hold a couple hundred marbles would be awesome.  

Like I said, they're solid and cheap but the blue is a bit off-putting, although if you put a layer of gray foam under it, that might neutralize things enough. Still, I cannot think of anything better that's nearly as a ffordable.

Those are mostly Vitro Blackies

You're right, though, they are cool marbles that are common and easy to find but with lots of interesting variety. I still find interesting new variety among those even after 10 years.

I ordered one of these 208V2 racks for displaying marbles and think it might be one of my favorite affordable display methods so far. You can find them on eBay and Amazon.com for under $6 including shipping, or $1.99 each from the manufacturer (not including shipping).

What I like:

- each contains three plastic trays that hold 50 5/8" marbles each. Note, two of these have the larger hole size; the third one (shown on right of my picture) has smaller holes but still holds 5/8" marbles albeit not as securely.

- trays are hard and sturdy. They don't bend if you lift a full one up by one end.

What I don't like:

-the aqua blue color is not neutral. I understand they did make clear at one point, so I will look out for those.

I am now trying to think of what sort of tray I can put multiples of these in. I understand they also have ones with 15/17mm holes which might work even better if combined with a foam layer underneath?