ann

They sure do!

I don't know that there are so many Primas out there -- but perhaps, if you count all that have mistakenly been ID'd as CAC American agates. I've seen some of the early Peltier paperwork (thank you forever, migbar) and Prima Agates (looking like CAC American Agates -- or vice versa) were one of the three types of marbles first produced at Peltier, with the other two being the onyx and the Cerise Agate. Can't resist sticking my beloved Cerise box in here again . . .

Some discussion a while ago, best as I remember. I think the general idea was that they were hard -- if not impossible -- to find. But that according to Pelt records (Migbar, you can jump in here anytime! Or Galen -- ) they made them, so? I think there was ultimately a general (although not universal) agreement that the issue might be one of not enough Peltier characteristics present to make an ID . . . I believe Mike only found one white handgathered on the site, and from the photo he sent me (maybe I still have that somewhere) I don't think you could say it was Peltier as opposed to, say, Akro. I think a very few white machine-made Pelt slags have turned up, but from the couple I've seen (none in person) the characteristic Pelt feathering was very light -- not much white at all. So maybe also hard to ID as Pelt. Wish I had one. Anybody have any?

Wow -- great Pelt boxes! Don't remember seeing those before. Clyde -- looks like three of the four marbles in the rightmost column might actually be Pelt Prima Agates . . . Do you think so? [not mine]

Nice. Those outer bands are the characteristic opaque "English colors" there's been a little talk about here lately. I've found them mostly on solid-core mibs, but that's probably because I was only really looking for variations in the core colors. Has anybody noticed more of one type than another? I remember seeing latticinio ones like Stefan's, but I don't particularly remember seeing divided core or ribbon . . .

Like some others, I think, I started collecting with the old German swirls, and only later developed a fatal interest in other kinds of marbles. The ground-pontil slags followed by MFC (nice nines) followed by OMG Peltier slags followed by . . . When I started buying comtemporaries I knew it was over. Glad there's a little talk about the handmades now -- I still have a soft spot for them.

Filament! That's the word I was serching for . . . What a nice yellow, Dan.

Yellow ones turn up more often than red, in my experience, although it's sometimes hard (on a computer screen) to tell if it's a true yellow or the color marblealan used to call "pilsner," And purple is a little easier to find than yellow, but not by much. Lavender is hard. Never been able to corner a red one. Sometimes there's a fuzzy thread core (especially visible in colorless) that's a pond-scum green . . . yecht. But whether there's a thread core or a ghost core, it doesn't seem to make much difference, value-wise. As far as I can tell. Love mica blizzards. But I also look for ones where larger pieces of mica have slipped in. One of my favorites is a small pale ice-blue one that has a couple of tiny flecks but one big chunk, like 1/4" wide . . . In general though, exactly what I'llhavethat1 said . . .

I can't believe I didn't associate those two things until now. But then I am not as active a birder in Chicago as I have been in other places. Although last year I had a pair of sparrow hawks decide that the rear end of my air conditioner was the perfect place to eat lunch, 15 stories up, for a couple of months. It was a little gruesome, but still fascinating. Did I tell you about the time I fell backwards out of the back of a (parked) pick-up truck because the giant pilated woodpecker I was watching flew off straight over my head? No? Well . . .

I don't think it would have been a playing marble at that size. More along the lines of a "mineral sphere." Or a target. Not that I'd shoot any of MY marbles at it, even if mine were flint too. And there are a few people who still make their own flinties for use in Rolley Hole and other old-school marble games. Whatever it is, I think $3 sounds like a very good deal, whether new or old. But that may just be me.

Seems to me I remember seeing a drawing made from a photograph (actually I think it was an old / early film) of a German glassmaker sitting in a particular kind of chair, with the rounding bucket or bowl, and using the cupped shears . . . in the last edition of Baumann's Collecting Antique Marbles.

Maybe I like it rough. No wait, I mean . . .

NOOOOOO, DON'T DRINK THE KOOL-ADE. NEVER DRINK THE KOOL-ADE NEVER DRINK THE KOOL-ADE NEVER DRINK THE KOOL-ADE NEVER DRINK THE KOOL-ADE NEVER . . .

I know. I had to go and lay down afterwards.

Yes, old -- just in good shape. Every now and then you find one with great glass. But they were still using white to back the transparent blue and lime(?) green, so I'm not sure it would fit in the English colors timeframe. Whatever that is. I'm pretty flexible there. And it's nice and bright -- just not opaque. Can't tell if the red ribbon, which is also backed in white, is actually opaque red over white (maybe?) or transparent. Doesn't look transparent, and the surface lines lines certainly aren't backed in white. What does the bottom pontil look like? Regular? I like it.

I agree. I have an airplane sulfide from him that's only around 1/2 inch in diameter. One of my favorites.

Agree -- reminds me more of the beginning of a "drizzle" that's occasionally seen on Alleys. Some are pretty spectacular.

It's a beauty. And I think I see what you mean about the glass. Champion?

The red surface threads. They're usually white or yellow.

Jeeperman! You have a Carnival?? Bill has the only ones I've ever seen. Does this mean that there's actually hope? Please please please

Sure is. And since you've had it a while, m!b$, you might as well just send it to me . . . you must be tired of it by now. Here's the only one of mine I have pics of (maybe from Zaboo? Don't remember)

Don't know how accurate this is, but I've heard (or read somewhere) that the (later period) German swirls with bright colors were popular in England, especially for use as sets on solitaire boards. If so, I suppose it's at least a possibility that they could have been made specifically for the English market. And this may be because I don't collect anything bigger than 1 1/8" but when I was on a very mild quest to get a variety of the solid-core colors of these "English" types, they wound up all being about the same size, with similar (if different color) pole-to-pole bands. They'd work nicely as a set on a solitaire board. If I had enough. And, since older colors were pretty much transparent and needed to be backed with white to show as opaque, they may also represent a "show-off" period when opaque colors were really coming into their own. Perhaps they weren't appealing to German kids, but were to Brits. Might never know, but they are curious.

Throwing my thanks in there too, Hansel -- I've wanted to see a good pic of that china rose set for a long time! Very beautiful . . .

Well. I'm not sure exactly when this thread went astray. Nothing said in posts #1 - #14 was an attack on Ron. But by the middle of post #15, Ron seems to have misconstrued and then taken offense at something I said. That's OK, as SNYD points out, because these things are really just opinions, anyway, but I do dislike being misconstrued. After that, frankly, it was Ron who was on the attack, both directly and indirectly, and at considerable length. I'm sorry Ron has come to this point, but that's about all I can say. Except that I don't see any need to continue this as a pro- or anti-Ron thread. I think we should be done here. Or not. That's (rightly) up to the rest of you.

Deal! OMG. Me and Galen have struck a deal. Wait, wait . . . ah, what the hell. Deal.