ann

Looks a lot like a HTF marble I have that was thought to be Ravenswood when I bought it, but Ron tells me that now is considered Alley. I`m not saying it is one - I`ve only seen two - but put up the Bat Signal for Ron so he can take a look. Cheese might know too.

Yes, blue, red,white, gray, in transparent green. Haven`t measured it.

Lotta money for who knows what . . .

I agree Pelt MCS. Yes, what used to be called a Miller type. I have a similar one with gray.

X 3, Imperial

All corkscrews are Akro. Nice multicolored one. Many collectors value Popeyes over regular corks. They are a little harder to find, for one thing. And the requirements for a Popeye are much more complicated. They must have a pair of differently-colored corks, plus a wispy white, in a colorless transparent base glass. There are standard Popeye color pairings : yellow/red, yellow/blue, yellow/green, yellow/purple. green/red, and blue/red. There are occasionally others, but they`re very hard to find - seldom seen.

Not convinced by the one on the right. More pics of that one, please? And the one in the back? I see Y/P and R/G on the left.

I have one of each in my pitiably small Vitro collection. They really appealed to me and it did take a while for me to get both, so I agree with the HTF.

Sometimes any apparently dark color was used for black; true black is a little unusual for marbles. Interesting how blue it is back-lit. I still think that`s the right time period for it, though, seeing that both pontil marks are relatively rough; earlier ones would have had a smoothed-over "pigtail" on one end and a faceted pontil on the other.

To me, a little too much white for Akro. And some MFCs have pretty long cutlines . . .

Or Black-Eyed Pea? Don`t Sweet Peas have pink? (Keep in mind this is coming from someone who doesn`t really collect Vitros)

It`s probably in the later period of German handmades (but still pre-WW I) because that`s when the use of a black stripe appeared on this type. (Colors of the German flag.) One of my favorites, by the way. This IS a very nice example of the type. Congrats!

No, Dave established DAS (Dave`s Appalachian Swirls) independently after he resigned from JABO. JABO subsequently closed, but DAS is still making marbles.

No, not really. I`m familiar with Hellmers and his work because some years ago his personal notebook with glass formulae was published in facsimile and I was able to get a copy - then followed up with a book or 2 on Cambridge Glass to see what some of his other colors were. He also worked for the Aladdin Lamp Co. but I didn`t spend much time on that because it was later than the time period I was interested in -

Welcome - you`re in the right place! Join in . . .

A nice hand-gathered slag. Probably MFC.

Hellmers developed Heatherbloom with neodymium, which appears pink in artificial light but blue in sunlight, but as far as I know no one at the time used it in marbles, since it`s a very expensive rare-earth ingredient. But I do have a contemporary artist-made marble with neodymium, where it`s the base color with a razor-thin white spiral inside. I forget now who made it, but I used to amuse myself at work sometimes by handing it to a co-worker, asking them to look at it, keep it closed in their hand, and then step outside with me while I had a cigarette. They would, and I`d say "take another look at that marble." Priceless expressions when the pink marble I`d handed them was suddenly blue. I`d just say "Magic!" It was fun.

Yes, exactly. BTW, Henry Hellmers, Akro`s first professionally trained glass chemist (1921 - 1930; he replaced Arnold Fiedler) then went to work at Cambridge Glass, making many of their colors heat-resistant so they could be used for dinnerware, and developed some of their more famous colors, like Crown Tuscan and Heatherbloom. He was rehired by Akro in 1932 to create colors for their children`s dishes in addition to marble colors. Connections . . .

That`s a hard one. It`ll take a bit more thinking, but offhand what springs to mind are the machine-made CAC slags. If you have enough to compare them, the colors of the machine-made CAC slags are appreciably brighter than those of Akro (excepting maybe the red) and the Peltier feathered slags, but you really have to be able to sit a group of them side-by-side to really see it, I think. I did this as an experiment some time ago with a non-marble-collecting (but sympathetic) friend, just asking her what - if any - differences she saw. After a little study, she pointed to the CAC slags and said "these are really brighter, aren`t they? I mean once you`ve seen them, they would be hard to forget, I think." Maybe after a little thinking, something else may come to mind, but I think in essence you`re right about companies sharing a certain number of colorways. Some may use color combos more than others, and of course CAC electric colors stand out from all other companies` colors, but . . .

Wise move, William!

Technically, yes = but the number of marbles that glow in the dark (as opposed to glowing under UV) is insignificant. Probably because the phosphor does not contribute to color in normal, visual light. In fact, it can detract from the visible color of a marble, dulling it, and even giving the marble a frosted appearance, which is not normally desirable. In short, a phosphor marble is really only good for things like being imbedded in road signs and the like - they`re not attractive enough for "play" marbles, except as a curiosity, like the Mega marble shooter I mentioned above. They can pretty much be justifiably ignored by marble collectors. IMO.

X 4

Never too late for a marble like that!

Just a note - glowing under UV and glowing in the dark are two separate things, with different chemicals involved. Glowing in the dark without the use of a UV light usually involves phosphorus, and I know that some time ago an experiment was made at JABO (during the time of the special runs but NOT part of one) but was unsuccessful because the guy who wanted to try it (I believe he was a chemical salesman), couldn`t or wouldn`t give them enough to affect the glass in the tank. On the other hand, I have a net bag of Mega Marbles that are a kind of frosted white in which the shooter (and only the shooter) glows in the dark. It eventually fades, but you just toss it in sunlight for a while and that re-activates it - when I was a kid an elderly relative had a little statue of the Virgin Mary that glowed in the dark. I would sit in the closet with it until the glow was gone . . .

I lean towards Alley too = the red/brown swirls are more like Alley Bacon (not saying it is one) than the usual non-blended red CAC ones.