ann

I don't know. But it looks to me like they were packaged and labeled for a retailer, who could keep boxes of them handy on his/her shelves, and sell the marbles one by one to customers . . . presumably out of some more attractive container! Or they could have been part of a larger set for some kind of game, I guess. Not really packaged to appeal to kids OR their parents, I don't think. But anything is possible.

Me too.

Wow -- that's an interesting link. Kinda explains a few things. Sounds like there are several 20th century time periods that could be in the running, too . . .

OK, whose beard is really longer -- Rich's or Mike's? richsantaclaus' or migbar's? Inquiring minds want to know.

First time I've heard the circus story.

I agree. And I think it's exactly that kind of leap (plant manager to head of the company to owner of the company) in the telling that, over the years, produced some of the marble myths we're stil ldealing with today. I think plant manager is probably a reasonable assumption, though (although as far as I know it IS just an assumption), since when Henry Hellmers was hired at Akro (essentially replacing Fiedler) he was hired as "plant manager," in his own words.

Jeez that's nice . . .

Those boxes have made my head hurt too. But I like it. Wasn't there a thing about CAC employees destroying all the records when CAC went out of business? Or is that a myth too? Struggling with the row of transparent orange swirls in the same box as a row of blue laces . . . I may start weeping . . .

You're right, Hansel -- I forgot about the recent Chinese things . . .

Yep, welcome. Rummage around in "Steph's Study Hall." It's fun, if it doesn't make you crazy!

I absolutely love THAT kind of blizzard.

Yep. But if you read Paul Baumann's Collecting Antique Marbles he blows this out of the water pretty convincingly. What some marble collectors call lutz, others call aventurine. Collectors of mineral spheres will collect it as "goldstone," even though they know it's glass. (There's a green mineral they call aventurine.) But I think it's all aventurine, no matter what you call it, or when or where it was made. Venice held the monopoly on it until the mid-late 1800s. Most of it made today is still from Venice.

I agree we're usually talking about two different things. There's (1) single-color, pre-tank glass cullet, and (2) multi-color post-tank glass cullet. Like the baby blue and mossy-agaty yellow/gold post-tank cullet dug by Sandy (great pic) . . . No reason patches couldn't have been made there since it's really just a matter of the relationship of the delivery system / shears and the machine (rollers), as I understand it. You could get some patches every time you started up a run, until you shoved it around enough to give you the swirls you were looking for. Not trying to fan any flames. Just sayin' I haven't moved ny baby-blue-and-gold patches out of my Alley box yet.

Al, those first two pictures show the kind & colors of marbles that are in my bag . . .

I have one of these bags too, but the marbles are different. And mine are definitely cat's-eyes. Very defined, kind of bar-like vanes, mainly mixed red, white, light blue, yellow, orange . . . I think I got the bag from . . . Charles? moremarblesforme? If so, maybe he has a pic -- Some of the ones in Stefan's bag look kind of sparklerish. Sparkleroid. Hard to tell through the plastic.

Yes, Maslach did lots of plain white latticinios - - -

Here's a couple more of Maslach's (Cuneo Furnace)

He used a lot of colors and color combinations, from very bright to pastel, and opaque to transparent. His were the first comtemporary marbles that caught my eye, back when. I probably have more of his than anyone else's. Well. I have a bunch of Kevin Nail's too. I'd have more Alloways if he made smaller ones more often than he does. So it's a good thing he doesn't. Or, yes, Jody Fine. His laticinio threads were usually fatter, and his ribbons not quite as razor-thin as Maslach's . . . so a possibility. But not old.

Def an orb. Or sphere. Not a marble, in my world. I had to stop somewhere.

Normally I would have suggested Steven Maslach (he doesn't make marbles anymore but many are still in circulation) since he made many fine latticinios, many with unmatched / not symmetrical ribbons, and did not sign his work. But for some reason this latticinio core doesn't look as fine or as sharply twisted at the poles as his usually are. But it could have been a slightly off day. It wouldn't surprise me much to find one in Europe . . .

I haven't seen the new Bulgarian ones in person, so I can't say anything about their pontils. But if it were an old German ground-pontil marble, the pontil would be smooth, usually with facets visible, if you turned it just right in a raking light. Some of the Bulgarian ones are interesting, and have tempted me, but so far I haven't gotten any. The more I look at this one the more I'm seeing Bulgarian. Maybe I should stop looking. WC Dave? Seems like I remember you having gotten some. Or has my grip on reality loosened even more than I thought? (Don't hesitate to be frank.)

Wow.

What he said ^^^^^^!!!!!

Do you mean a marble made by Harvey Leighton, in which case Galen's melted-pontil comment would apply? (Also sometimes classified as Barberton or Navarre) Or the hand-gathered ground-pontil marbles (some with unusual colors) people used to call Leighton, but we now know are German? Dave may be right about the Bulgarian provenance/