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I thought the word "Sunset" as collectors generally use it today is just the collectors' naming convention to group together the colorless transparent-based Rainbos with blades (or whatnot) of red, orange, etc. At least that's what I understood . . . Don't think I knew it was a name ever used by Peltier, or not one I ever noticed, anyway. Only have 1 Pelt box, my beloved Cerises. But now it looks to me like this two- or three-color thing may very well be a distinction intended by the company. This is interesting. Sitting over with Galen (imagine that) awaiting more revelations . . .

That's great! And I like the term "rogue" for these oddities!

Hmmmmm . . .

I've also seen some India-ink-blue on white corkscrews called "inkies." At each pole, at the start / end of the corkscrew, the dark blue always had a kind of a "wet-ink-on-white-paper" look. Kind of like on Jess's example above. I'll see if I can find one. Would love to see a pic of both the Alley and the Peltier types. Don't think I've ever seen either.

With the new pics, yep, Japanese. I also see enough green in them now to make the chartreuse call, A color not often seen in slags from anywhere. I have a chartreuse Barberton one I got from Alan B. a few years ago, but I don't remember seeing any others in a while. Haven't ever seen a Japanese one. If it were darker I'd call it olive too. Interesting find --

Hi, Dink! Will be nice to see you on a regular basis!

I understand. I watch Survivor.

Hated cooked spinach as a child. I can choke it down now -- more easily if it has balsamic vinegar sprinkled on it. I don't relish it raw, but I'll eat it in a salad that has a bunch of other stuff in it too. I never liked cooked carrots until an Austrian friend made me "Carrots Esterhaus" one Thanksgiving. You start with equal fairly large piles (in volume) of chopped onions and coin-sliced carrots. Cook them in chicken broth until nearly all of the chicken broth is gone. Throw in some sweet (unsalted) butter and sauté the carrots and what's left of the onions until they look sautéed, which should be about the time you want to eat. Stir in a bunch of SOUR CREAM and serve. I have been a cooked carrot convert ever since.

I'd watch that. And maybe heckle them the whole game.

Oh now. I might just have to come and get this one.

And a recently-corralled cloudy Vitro cat --

Some Vitro hybrid cats that got away from me. I still long for the white-based one. It and my avatar could have such beautiful children together.

Or "Tennessee River" ones?

Boooooorrrringgggg . . .

OK, thanks. But I'm old school. If I'm gonna have a flashback, I think it should at least include the fun part. KERPOWWWW . . .

You, agreeing to call it an Ace with no opalescence! Peacemaker. I'll stay over in my cranky corner and say if it ain't opalescent it ain't an Ace. So there. I still wouldn't mind having that marble . . . And I'm gonna have to make an effort to learn something about moss agates, I can tell . . .

Wow - that red-eyed cat is killer!

Good for you! You might also want to check out American Machine Made Marbles . . . by Johnston, Meltzer, & Six.

I think it's an issue with the photograph more than anything. Basically, if the marble is only one transparent color with white swirled in, whether the white is wispy or not is not significant. It's just white. Wispy white comes into play with Popeyes, but not much else that I can think of. Maybe someone else can add to that?

For collectors, a Popeye must have a readily-apparent transparent (and generally colorless) base, plus wispy white, plus a minimum of two colors -- the "tri" in tri-onyx includes the wispy white. Sorry. Woke up in teacher mode this morning. Must be having a flashback.

By "onyx," most people (and the early companies like MF Christensen, Peltier, & Akro) mean opaque white swirled into a transparent, usually colored base. Or corked into it, in the case of Akro. No other additional color. Onyxs (onyxes?) were intended (in a general sort of way) to resemble, or at least call to mind, the stone called onyx. Same rational as using the term "agate," like a lot of marble companies did. Steph's post #12 shows Akro's onyxs pretty well. The onyx can be pretty much equated with the "slag." Same definition. In some slags, you can get the appearance of wispy white, but it's still really just opaque white . . .

With no opalescence?

When it comes to the old Germans, "new" and "old" are not really good terms to use. They're all old. What I think the author was trying to do was connect style to age, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Anyhoo, it's not very reliable (at least I don't think it is) when talking about the hand-made, cane-cut Germans ("English" colors being a notable exception). Usually the best we can do is say that If an old German marble has a faceted pontil, it was probably made between about 1860 and 1880 or so. If it has a rough (not faceted or heat-smoothed) pontil it was probably made between about 1880 and 1920, when they were hurrying up the process a bit. And being overtaken by American-made marbles. I've seen (and have) some single and double ribbon cores where the edges of the ribbons come almost to the surface, but their faceted pontils date them to the 1860-1880 time period . . . The best book on antique marbles is Paul Baumann's Collecting Antique Marbles. I can't recommend it highly enough. You'll seldom go wrong with his info. (He does venture into American machine-mades a little at the end.) And, save the word "contemporary" for when you mean . . . yesterday! OK, from about 1970 up until yesterday, or so. That's pretty much what most marble collectors mean by contemporary . . . It sounds like we may have him hooked, guys . . . hehehe Contemporary hand-made, cane-cut marbles (by Steve Maslach):

My mistake -- I'm reading the wispy white as light blue, on my screen. But not a Popeye, still. No clue about what Akro would have called it either -- just one more Akro Whacko? Can we use that as a category?

For me, not enough clear and/or wispy white for the Popeye call. What colors do you see when it's backlit? Akro had a bunch of crazy colors and combos. Don't remember seeing exactly this one, though. I have one with a similar thready blue, but its cork is a sort of faded orange.