BobBlock

I'm not so sure I'd call it a reproduction. It has a lot in common with those white-based left-twist Joseph Coats that are around. That would put it later than WW1, but not necessarily modern.

The lavender and green are quite unique and gorgeous. The white is really not anything to write home about.

I can recall the name being applied as far back as the early 70s. I can only remember playing with catseyes before that.

I have these is white, green, red, lavender. You often find them in Century of Progress boxes. Once you see them, you understand that the colors are unique. I bought a bunch in Brimfield in May for next to nothing. I rarely put them up for sale because I feel that the market has not recognized their true value. I have white one up on eBay right now, #180673342560, but the images dont accurately represent the semi-opaqueness of hem

I'm in Maine with the kids for another week. I'll post some images when I get back.

A shameless plug, but in case you weren't on one of my mailing lists, I have a bunch of Sulphides from my Dad's collection up for sale in my store at www.blocksmarbles.com. A bunch of other handmades, machine mades and contemporaries as well. In a couple of weeks, I'll be putting up a collection of machine mades, packaging and miscellaneous items.

FWIW, I bought a marble collection a month or so ago that had been packed away for 19 years. The collector died in 1992 and his wife packed everything away. There were 3 Exotics in the collection, along with about 50 flames, that had to gave been purchased prior to that date, and most likely in the mid-1980s. If these are modern then someone was making them in the mid 80s when they were selling for a couple of bucks each.

You'll find that after a day of looking at marbles, you'll dream about them at night. :-)

Just returned from a 10 day trip to Europe. Here's an image of what has to be the weirdest thing (or creepiest thing) I have ever found in my searches over there. The bottom is porcelain, marked with an N symbol. I'm pretty sure it is French. The mouse and marble are glass and I am pretty sure they are Italian. I found it in an antique market over there. Luckily it only cost me 5 euros.

I realized that the text above references the image numbers in the new 5th edition, so you can't take the post above and go to the Price Guide you might have. The images corresponding to the text in my post above are: Image 19: Image 20: Image 21: Image 22:

LOL, I happened to be eating dinner and cruising the Internet on my iPad at the dinner table. Don't tell my wife, she's in England visiting her sister

From the Price Guide: JOSEPH’S COAT SWIRLS Joseph’s Coat Swirls are swirls that have an outer layer of glass that is composed of variously colored similar-width complete strands, packed very closely together. Better examples have no clear spaces in between the strands. Some examples do have clear spaces, In some cases, theses appear to be part of the design. There are usually some strands in the inner core that can be seen through the spaces. Generally, the more colors in the marble, the more valuable it is. Joseph’s Coat Swirls have either dark, earthy colors or bright English-style colors. The base glass of a Joseph’s Coat can either be clear (#19, #20) or colored. The outer layer can be Swirl type (bands and strands) or End of Day type (stretched flecks of glass) (#21, #22). FWIW, tbe term Joseph's Coat goes back to at least the mid 1980s, maybe earlier, before we wrote any of our books. The term originally applied to the colors that used to be called English or Bristol, though it seems to have expanded to cover other colors over the years. The term Clown is much more recent.

Ruler not included!

I've never really given it a lot of thought. I suppose I should pull the medals I have out and lay them out in chronological order and see what kind of story they might tell. I can't imagine it was cost during the Depression. I know there are bronze and silver examples of the shield type from the mid 1930s. I'm not really an expert on the history of the Wildwood Tournament, maybe Debra can pipe in if she reads this board. But, the 1927-1929 octagonal ones are labeled United States Marble Shooting Championship Tournament, the mid 1930s plaque shield type are labeled National Marble Tournament and the late 1930s round shield type are also labeled National Marble Tournament. So, maybe there may be a difference between the US Marble Championship and the NMT.

These are genuine. The dating ends with the Great Depression, so I'm sure that has something to do with it.

Agreed there are some funky areas on the marble, but I have similar areas like this on some of my large onionskins. The breadth and extent of the damage on the surface led me to believe this one was fine.

As mentioned above, these say Master on the bottom. I recently picked up a collection that had been packed in the basement 20 years ago following the owner's death. He had collected extensively in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The collection included 52 small jewel trays and 1 of these larger ones. That's probably a pretty good indicator of the relative ratio of large ones you find to small ones.

Ya gotta love the iPad autocorrect. Collector becomes Colleen, and ealier becomes walker. LOL.

A collector asked me to look at this earlier when it was sitting at about 1300. I had no problem with the authenticity of the marble. However, I did consider "has a few flea bites" a bit of a stretch. The marble has one area of multiple hits, as well as over tiny chips, pits and scratches. You would expect this one to have a ground pontil, but you can't tell from the two bottom pontil photos whether or not it does. Probably just the camera angle. If, in hand, it graded in the low 8's, I think that would be being kind. My advice at that time was that it was a bit high at 1300. At 1800, I'd be pulling my couple of damaged ones out of my collection and selling them in a heartbeat.

You might try dropping a note to Gary McClanaham. His id on eBay is photo. I've dealt with him for about 20 years as both a buyer and a seller, and found him to be very knowledgable. He's written several books on paperweights, including the definitive text on Perthshire.

The ones on the far right look like CAC American Agates. It's possible, since Gropper also wholesaler from CAC as well as Peltier.

I bought a s**tload of comics and a bunch of experimental NLRs and Rainbos from him one year in Amana. Literally over a thousand marbles. He liked to tell the story about his father (though I thought he referred to him as his stepfather) bringing pocketfuls of comics home every day, and he would go out in the backyard and use them as slingshot ammo.

The Milkies are like semi-opaque moonies, but without the opalescence

Oops, the box top as well.

This is the box I have in my collection: I purchased this box in 1993.