glangley

Ballot mibs! now that would be sweet! lol Especially in these troubling times, too funny. One of the black one's has a metallic appearing band, but the one on the right is a crease from? Did they use opaque's for the ballot mibs? Could they have also used the white milky ones? Where were they made and by whom? Timeframe? Or could you point me to some interesting reading on the subject. Very cool.

White mossy/milky and one of the white opaques. Pontils on these were hard to get a good pic of, but they are there. Some only have one, others look like they have been ground.

Black opaque double pontils.

I know that I should post some pictures, then ask, but what the hell. I just got home after being bounced around in a car for 9 hours so I'll ask now and post pic's later. Some of you will know what I'm talking about. I found an mug with some plain looking marbles in it this weekend. I bought the entire mug with the marbles for 3 bucks. What was inside looked plain until I poured out a few into my hand. There are white Benningtons, some have spots of brown and blue, but most of them are entirely white. There is also a entirely black Bennington, which is nearly 3/4trs in size. I haven't pulled out the hole gauge template thingy yet, but just by eyeballing them, they're all between 5/8ths and 3/4trs in size with the majority of them being 5/8ths-ish. There are also opaque white, and opaque black double pontil 5/8ths-ish mibs, and some that look like moss agates without the patch with pontils. Some of the mossy looking ones have single pontils on one end, and what appears to be melted or faceted or both on the other. Some of these also come screaming alive when backlit, and emit a fiery opalish glow. One of the milky white mossy looking ones is entirely different. This one mib is nearly the same size as the rest, between 5/8ths and 3/4trs an inch, but when backlit or with close inspection of the eye you can see bands in the white. the bands are simply white and translucent milky mossy glass and are near the outside surface. The bands bend from pontil to pontil in a swirl like fashion. This one marble looks very much like a small pickling onion, and it looks good enough to eat. So, if any of you have read through this rambling and have an idea on what I may have here, please let me know. I'll post some pictures later today after I get some sleep and get the kids off to their first day back to school. Thank you very much in advance and God Bless. Gary

No marbles up here in Michigan, nope, not a one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Marbles-Mint-Peltier-NLR-GOLDEN-REBEL-25-32-/150468554158?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Marbles&hash=item23089fedae

Wishing you a very happy Birthday Lou!

That is so very sweet! Nice mib Santa!

I know they're in abundance, but there so cool! lol

It didn't come out too well in the pic's Steph, but that baby blue one has pink on the edges of the veins. Definitely a cool mib.

Oops, forgot one pic. Here ya go.

Just wanted to share, the red one is just crazy pretty. There are white threads hiding behind one petal of the red. Just fantastic!

Very nice! They all look great!!

Hello everyone and sorry I have been so busy! But it's really a good thing to be able to get up and around. The mib started out nearly two and a half inches in diameter, if I remember correctly. You can see the poles opened up on the ends because I had to remove so much glass, but for a first time polish job I think it turned out great. I believe it's just a tad under two inches now, so I removed a lot of damaged fractured glass. There was only one spot on this mib where you could see the ribbons. The rest was clouded with damage. This was actually found in the basement of my brother-in-laws old farm house, by my nephew. He thought it was an old rubber ball that had gotten old and hard, so he was bouncing it off the cement floor in the basement.... geeze! This spring I returned the marble to it's family and they have it on a shelf at the old farm along with a bunch of toys and trinkets they found in the walls while remodeling! They think all the stuff they found in the walls came from a pack rat, and there was a lot of stuff! Old pins, single earings, a watch and even half of a really old cap gun! All of the things were in piles of old news print and paper shreds, which is why they believe it was from a mouse. Neat story, and they just loved the work I did on this beauty. After I ground it down to a fracture free surface, I polished it and polished it some more. After I got it down as good as I could get it with what I was using, I tried the mop and glow and was amazed at the results. Neat stuff, as long as it isn't going to be handled very much. Hope that clears things up. Any questions please feel free to pm me as I don't get on here as much as I would like. God bless you all. Gary

) Very cool, still! lol

what a great post!!!

Congrats!! What beautiful blessings!!!

Ah, Jabos! I am just grateful that I was able to enter in to marble collecting at a time that allowed me to actually go to a factory, see and participate in a run of marbles that are and will be treasured by me and my kids for many years to come. And, all this was in America! God bless Jabo! The three books I have on Jabo marbles are a wealth of information. However, while runs continue to drop from the rollers there is a need for continued versions, or possibly more books. If done right, or in form with the last three books, this will be the best documented marble history, in... well.. history! lol

Well, I guess it's a go!! Sweeet!!!! Attention, marble lovers and collectors everywhere: Here’s a scoop on today’s hottest machine-made marbles, JABOs. Remember, you read it here first! Around midnight last night, a shadowy figure who, in keeping with our blog’s Colonial tone, prefers to be known only as Paul Revere,* rode up to Hawk’s Haven, our friend Ben’s and Silence Dogood’s cottage home, swinging his lantern and shouting “The JABOs are coming! The JABOs are coming!!!” Lurching groggily to the door, our friend Ben opened it to be hit with a faceful of dust from the rapidly advancing hooves of the noted silversmith’s horse as he reined to a halt and swung off his steed. Once sight was restored, OFB, still coughing slightly, invited Paul inside. “Silence! It’s Paul Revere! Would you bring us some ale, please? I’ll be starting up the fire in the living room.” No slouch, Silence was at the living room door with two brimming mugs of ale before you could say “Lexington and Concord.” “Paul, what’s going on? Don’t tell me the British are at it again!” Turns out, it was even more momentous news, at least as far as marble-lovers are concerned. Here’s what Paul told us: “While I was resting over a tankard in Marietta, I overheard Joe, the postal worker from Wells Fargo, tell a wonderfully exciting story of a JABO marble run that is about to take place. The story was told to him by a generally unreliable old cur of a hound, but for once he had some of the facts. “I edged closer to hear the full scoop. It appears that the JABO Tributes were given the chance to do a 1″ run at JABO.** He said that this will be the first and maybe the only 1″ run in 3 years. Everyone at his table shouted ‘No!’ and ‘Impossible!’, so I didn’t hear what he said next, but as the table quieted down, I heard him say something about how huge the costs would be. The base glass will be custom-batched, with some extra glass added for another group to run smaller marbles. “The whole table was in an uproar by this time, so I left the inn with the idea that even though Joe had some of the specifics, there was more to this story… “ “Speaking of leaving the inn, Paul, I see that your mug is empty. Care for a refill?” “Thank’ee, Silence, don’t mind if I do. Riding these dusty backroads every midnight shouting the news is mighty thirsty work. Now, where was I? Oh, yes… “I walked around the town and talked to the usual supporters in the area. Still, the information was sketchy at best, so I decided to go straight to the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Did you say something, Ben?” “Me? Not a word, Paul. Please go on!” “Hmpf. Well, I raced to the blacksmith shop where my horse was tethered for the night and I galloped the 7 miles to Reno, Ohio. My steed was tired and I, excited. I spoke with David McCullough himself,*** and he completed the story. “According to David, the amount of base glass per marble will be 2 1/2 times that used to make a 3/4″ marble, because the surface area of a 1″ marble is 2 1/4 times that of a 3/4″ marble.” “Then why won’t the amount of base glass be 2 1/4 times as much instead of 2 1/2 times?” “Ben, I’m a silversmith, not a marble-maker! You’ll have to ask David that question yourself. But if he said it, I’m sure it’s true.” “I agree with you there, Paul! David is as great a marble-maker as you were, ah, are a silversmith, for sure. Maybe there’s some evaporation involved or something.” “Slept through chemistry class, eh, Ben?” “Shut up, Silence. Paul, you were saying?” “According to David, the gold aventurine will cost about $15,000—” “WHAT?!!!” “Ben, did you think making premium marbles was cheap? Think about it: Between the cost of materials, the cost of buying, maintaining, and running the equipment, and the priceless expertise involved in creating these masterworks, maybe you can see why collectors invest thousands of dollars in their collections. It’s not like we’re talking about, say, scribbling away on a computer.” “GRRRRRR… “ “Ben!!!” “Uh, sorry, Silence, Paul. Just clearing a little road dust out of my throat. Paul, you were saying?” “Right. The gold aventurine will cost about $15,000, and then the gold Lutz rod will be about $500 per kilo, and many kilos will be used. The total cost of this run will be 2 to 3 times more than any 3/4″ run to date. Apparently, the Tributes have gathered most of the money and are planning on a mid- to late-May run. The name they have chosen for this unique run is ‘What a Tribute!’ It sure looks like David McCullough will have all the materials he wants to set still another standard of excellence in marble-making.” “So what does David think about the run, Paul?” “The rumor is that David is very excited about this run and was overheard to say with a huge smile and a wink, ‘We’ll make you some real pretty marbles.’ “Will JABO collectors like us be able to watch the marbles being made, Paul?” “You betcha, Ben. Tributes from the four corners of the continent will assemble at the JABO factory in Reno, Ohio, to watch these beautiful marbles being made. It’s a great opportunity to be a part of marble history, just like I became part of American history. “So, Ben and Silence, I hope you’re as excited about this development as I am. I will keep watch over the proceedings and inform you of any new developments. So au revoir for now! I must take to horse and return to Marietta to keep an eye on things.” Leaping onto his long-suffering—I mean, trusty—steed, the last we saw of Paul Revere was his retreating form, trailed by the echo of “The JABOS are coming!” * The modest personage wishing to be known simply as Paul Revere, and bearing no resemblance whatever to the “generally unreliable old cur of a hound” of his story, might nonetheless be known to the cognoscenti by his alter-ego, JABO’s principle historian, aka Dr. JABO. ** For those new to the wide and wild world of marble collecting, three explanations are due here. First, marbles are made in numerous sizes, but machine-made marbles are typically made in 1/2, 3/4, and 1-inch sizes. Second, marble production typically occurs in “runs,” so-called because the machines are fired up, the glass and other materials are shoveled in, and the marbles are produced in a single stretch of time and at full tilt, with everyone running to complete that batch of marbles. And third, if you’re wondering why these particular collectors are referred to by Paul Revere as “Tributes,” it’s because they collect the Tribute runs that David McCullough has produced for JABO. *** David McCullough is not only the presiding genius responsible for the creation of JABO marbles, arguably the hottest collectibles in the marble field today, but is almost certainly the greatest creator of machine-made marbles who ever lived.

Some of my most prized Jabo's are the double ingots. So much color, so much glass, beautiful and unique. Maybe it's just because I have big hands. lol

So, did anyone else hear this? Or have maybe been by the factory to see? I am sooooooo excited to see Jabo finally doing some 1" mibs again! Fantastic idea!

So very sorry to hear of your loss. You can take heart to know that your father is in a much better and painless place. May God give you and your family the peace, comfort and strength to endure. God bless

Just trying to get a grasp on what they look like, how many different kinds/types they made, sizes. That sort of thing.

Could someone please post some pictures of MK lutz mibs? I am not certain, but I believe they made some at one point in time or another with either rod, mist or both. Show em if you got em! Thanks!

A little birdie made mention of something the other day while quietly flying by my window. Seems the Jabo 1" tank is raring to go. Glass is being batched from an as yet unidentified source. Wow, I could hardly believe my ears!! This will be the most anticipated Jabo run in a long time!!! Start posting some pic's of your Jabo 1" mibs now, lets see if we can guess what they will come up with! Since it's a different machine, and tank, I am sure it will be a surprise to everyone! I for one, cannot wait!!!