jlmoriarty

Very cool. So what period is your specialty? And yes, I'd be hard pressed to say that was one of his pieces. If it is, it is by far the worst I've ever seen. One Cornell anecdote: when friends came over to his (and his mother's) house in Queens he would entertain by getting jelly donuts from a local bakery - he was fanatical about donuts. Then he would warm water, give everyone a cup, and after he had used the one tea bag he would pass it around to the rest of the visitors while they sat at his kitchen table. Strange dude. John (halfway to Missoula)

Thank you, Ann. I'm flattered. There's a lot to admire in the man's work, while the man himself was about as odd, and in many respects, ordinary, as they come. I'm guessing you're familiar with his work. John

Despite rumors to the contrary, yes I am still alive. As you all know life can be a struggle at times and well, things just got a bit difficult and I've been muddling along like a tortoise in a sea of mud. Big John I'm thrilled that you are still putting that wood to good advantage. I knew you would become famous one day. Glad to hear that I played a small role in your success. Now send money! LOL Joseph Cornell was born to a family of Dutch ancestry that prospered as ship captains and owners back in the day of the tall ships. His father went broke early in Cornell's life and left home/died leaving him to be raised by a stern mother with no money. Cornell was an odd sort never quite fitting in with the rest of the artist community in NYC. But he knew and hung out with all the big names at the Cedar Tavern in NY through the abstract expressionist period of mid-century. He grew up in a dumpy nondescript row house in Queens , NY, living with his mother until she passed. I think he died in 1972. Like the poor example shown, he created 'shadow boxes' that speak to his prior wealthy existence and to his rich fantasy life. His work is only collected by a few people. If memory serves there is one person in Washington, DC that has the definitive collection. His life's story makes for great reading as he develops into this sort of class B artist. He still is not that well known but his work, when seen in person, is breath-taking in its precision and enigmatic simplicity. He did spawn a huge bunch of derivative imitators that seem to pop up every once in a while as though their work has some originality of thought. It is well worth seeking out his better work and reading about his life. Anyhow, probably more than you ever wanted to know about Joseph Cornell. Truly hope you are all well. Now back to the mud. John

Ausgezeichnet!

Happy Birthday, Ernie. You've got some good company... many more years of health and happiness to you both. John

I think Roger has it right. Add to the equation a healthy dose of isolationism, which has a long history in our country, and I think you have the picture.

"Finally, why would you ask for protection when your product is significantly different that what was being imported?" One word, John, competition. While they are different to us they were probably seen as competition to the domestic manufacturers. Or maybe to put your question slightly differently, I wonder how many people collected marbles vs. used them for play 'back in the day'? John

Balderdash!!! Well that should put you in your place, Sir! LOL

Very cool, Mike, and judging from that ebay listing quite the bargain! John

Thank you, Steph. http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

BM ~~ "Speed's mib is 100% peach in color." So is that what you are seeing on your monitor? And what image most closely resembles the correct color? (I assume you have seen it in hand?)

For comparison, Winnie's first image has a decided pinkish cast to it.

fwiw... the image you posted, Patrick, shows as amber w/ a slight orange/red cast on my monitor. I wouldn't describe it as pink. (MacBook Pro, Gamma 2.2 -- Standard). Unfortunately what you can't correct for (because you don't have anything to compare the image to, ie the marble) is the ambient light. I see the grey of possibly a manufactured stone product underneath the marble, a tree in the reflection which means if there is a green bias then that is being reinforced with the reflected light from the leaves as well as the cool blue of the mid-day light. "I only use a custom white balance when taking indoor photos of marbles. I rarely have to make any changes to the white balance in an editing program after taking any marble pictures." Exactly. The only way you can get the color to be completely accurate is under controlled studio conditions particularly where you have such a difficult object and a difficult color.

To answer you question everyone looking would have to see the actually marble against the pic in order to make a determination. Only you can say that, based on your perception of the marble vis-a-vis the image, they are the same (or close) in color. If you can say that they look the same, then it is the same. The next step would be to calibrate everyone's monitor to the same color. There will be some variation but the question should be, Do *you* see the colors as being the same? The best the rest of us can is only take your word for it and guess at the exact color. Or to put it another way, technically the way you set up the shot is less than ideal — shadow, bright mid-day sun with direct reflections. This may be too technical for your purposes if in fact the picture you posted is close to what you have in hand.

After taking lunch resting on lawn chairs and imbibing several beers to wash down their bologna sandwiches with mustard on rye, the lads took at a swipe at a charging bull ox loosed from an adjacent field with the only handy implement of defense (a shovel) and all evidence of their dastardly deeds was summarily pitched into the tank containing the washout run and until now no one was ever the wiser. True story. Told to me by the grandson of a former employee who was found in the walls of an attic clutching a piece of paper on which he wrote (according to family legend) this strange story before dying of dehydration after having been plastered in by workman who had been fired by the plant because there were certain tools missing and some strangely colored marbles produced which they claimed they knew nothing about. Please see my ebay listing.