BobBlock

Are you sure it is not TVG? Teign Valley Glass which is the handmade division of House of Marbles in England.

These have become relatively inexpensive recently, considering how hard they are to find.

Yes, there really are cars and a pickup under there. We just finished cleaning the cars off and getting a lane through to them so that we can get out. That was another 3 hours of work. The pickup won't be seen til Spring, I had to blow snow over on it. Yes, it's the most I've ever seen in one storm.

38" of snow in the backyard, 34" in the driveway. We just spent 3 hours clearing out the access driveway to the parking area by the house. 1 snowplow, 3 shovels, 4 adults. Here's a picture of our cars.

Glad you guys are happy with your purchases. I try to being very conservative in the grading and description. I prefer that bidders feel that they received something that was as good or better than they expected. Sorry for the short delay in shipping. I got buried by three sets of auditors at work the day after the auction. One group of financial auditors, one group of HUD compliance auditors, and a worker's comp auditor. Only the financial auditors were expected.

Yes

There are a number of sources for gray foam padding. Uline.com and foamerica.com are two.

It's hard to describe in words, I'll see if I have an example in my storage to take an image of. The surface rings on a remelt look markedly different than those on an original. Les Jones was the first one to point this out to me.

Steve Maslach did not sign his marbles. Jody Fine on very rare occasions signed his larger marbles.

HeeHee. Sorry, didn't even see it. I read the first post and then just replied, I was in a hurry this morning.

Cathy Runyan-Svacina used to collect headless Sulphide figures. She would actively seek them out.

I have a 150 lot online auction starting at 8PM NYC time tomorrow Sunday January 27. Marbles from 4 different consignors. You can view the PDF catalogue at http://www.blocksite.com/marble-auctions/block-s-marble-cyberauctions You can bid absentee before the auction, or participate in the auction live, on icollector.com at http://www.icollector.com/auction.aspx?as=25836

No offense taken. It's no secret that there was no love lost between us.

People collect things for a variety of reasons. Some for the eye appeal, some for type, some for rarity. A collection can have any number of attributes, or only one attribute. It doesn't make it good or bad. It makes you an individual, just like everyone else :-) Some like vanilla, some like chocolate. They all like ice cream.

I ban anyone who sends me a nasty email. I've also banned several buyers over the years who have returned an item that was different than I shipped to them.

The closely spaced concentric rings on the far left side of the image are indicative of a remelt. I can't tell if they go all the way across the marble, due to the lighting, but if they do, it would a remelt of some kind.

I went back through my archives and could only find May 12, 2002 - LA Marble Show, Holiday Inn, 9901 La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles CA. Like I said, I think Joan was involved, so you might want to reach out to her. The name Tony Frank pops into my head too, but I think he was involved with the San Francisco show back then.

I thought at some point there was an Orange County marble club? Joan Beam maybe?

I recall being told about 15 years ago by one of the German marble makers that someone from Christensen Agate helped a German company build and set up the first marble making machine in Germany. I'll have to go dig out my notes to see who exactly it was that told me that.

Heh Heh.. Heh heh heh.. snort snort

Here's a couple of genuine pennsylvania dutch chinas. The first one was in a Morphy auction, the second was from when I auctioned Lee's Marble Museum. They are called Pennsylvania Dutch because the style of painting is similar to Amish and Mennonite work in Pennsylvania. The ethnic heritage of Pennsylvania Dutch is German and these were in fact produced in Germany. I have had the most luck finding them "in the wild" at the antique fairs in England, not over here. There are some reproductions, some as old as about 30 years. The painting is much cruder and the porcelain base is not nearly as refined as genuine ones. In fact, I have seen some reproductions that were coated with a lacquer or shellac, and when they get hit, the surface layer with the painting peels off, leaving a brownish earthenware ball. That doesn't happen with genuine ones. I think there is a repro in the Rocco collection, I'll see if I can find it and post an image.

Scott Patrick and CallBob are two different people. No DNA test required.

Boy, ya spike a fever and spend the afternoon asleep and see what you miss? First of all, I really wouldn't consider myself an expert on scenic chinas. I've bought and sold a few, and auctioned a few, but I've never researched them. So, holding me out as the expert on them would be a mistake. You really should talk to Hansel, he's the one I would consider an expert. Using Carskadden and Gartley as the bible of scenic chinas is also probably a mistake. The book was written something like 25 years ago, so the info in it is based on what they had seen up to that time. It would not reflect anything that was uncovered since then. So, what can you say about this marble? It is a scenic china. It is different from scenic chinas that had been found as of 25 years ago. The base marble is different from traditional scenic chinas. The style of painting is cruder than traditional scenic chinas. They were not seen by collectors prior to about 5 or 6 years ago. That's about all that you can really say that we know is true. None of us was there when it was found. We've all seen enough catseyes come out of attics that supposedly have been closed since the 1930s, to know that you can't believe any story. None of us really knows when it was made. And the ebay seller has sold other marbles in the past that have been of questionable design, date and provenance.

These have been popping up on Ebay intermittently for a few years now, about as long as those newer sulphides (santa, etc). Maybe they weren't made yesterday, but I would be very surprised if it turned out they were even half the age of traditional scenics. In any event, I would not buy one for my collection, and I've told that to anyone who has asked me. I thought I made my opinion clear earlier in this thread, but maybe not in so many words.

It's a game and trump score keeper, used in bridge, pinochle and whist.