Steph

Also, this might be the stuff we're _calling_ aventurine because it's green (at least one variation is) and sparkly. But it might be something else ... mica, perhaps?

I agree with Vitro. And I understand the quandary. Scrolling past, a couple of views made me wonder if I would indeed settle on Vitro by the end. Indeed I did, but it was touch and go, and I woudn't be too surprised if someone else went a different way. If Vitro, then I'm still not sure if we have a 1930's Tri-Lite, or a wacky 1960's All-Red. I'm leaning toward the earlier option right now, but it's 1:15 a.m. and I know better than to make decisions after 1 in the morning.

x 3 for all of that. Very appealing contemporary marble. But I couldn't justify spending $250 on it.

Assuming you were able to identify and communicate all of the potentially relevant visual and tactile information and come up with a reliable model, reliability in this circumstance would still give results in the general neighborhood of "there is a 75% chance that the marble was made by one of these two or three companies." It has been a long time since my stats classes but I do remember how inexact the most practical results were. In my youth, from the security of the generally well-definable notions I dealt with as a mathematician, I glibly insulted some social scientists once because they had to make the best of some very vague answers, because, duh, it was social science, piffle. I got schooled and eventually came to appreciate the work they did with the vague results they got. But still ... vague. Being able to come up with as practical a model as you could given the physics and chemistry of glass, and the wide range of materials used, with standard batch formulas in early years and with common sources for glass cullet in later years, and given the intertwined histories of the companies and their machinery ... this would be impressive ... but would not mean you would have a high percentage of definitive IDs.

*my observation about the texture of the base glass carries no weight as to whether your marble is Heaton, Cairo Novelty, Ravenswood, or soemthing else. Basically I'm just pointing out a different feature which comes into play in IDs and could point to another marble company, or could stop one from being able narrow the ID down to a single company.

The base glass on your marble is the spongy kind that makes me think of Heaton or Cairo Novelty. A great contrast between the smooth and bright white of the Ravenswood photographs.

Oh brother.

The spongy white base glass is another possible Cairo Novelty tell. However, when I was learning the little bit I know about swirls, it also put Heaton into consideration. Also, I think of Cairo as tending more often toward simpler swirls so if the ribbon starts picking up a little busy-ness, that also makes me consider an alternative. So looking at this view my guess would be "Cairo Novelty or Heaton".

This intrigues me. Makes me think a marble I had down as "Imperial" could perhaps be moved from my Asian marbles to my Mexican.

Yeah ...

I was ready to nod along to Vitro. Ric's position intrigues me.

Not quite the topic, but it reminds me ..... I may be making this up, but I have a pretty strong memory of someone trying to get a marble ID for some of these.

I love clearies! The noble clearie which saved Vitro from going under when Japanese cat's eyes were storming the market!

^^ What Tommy said!

The bottom left was most interesting to me. It's why I hit "follow" yesterday. I was all the way from Akro slag to Jabo in my wondering.

Yeah, that finish stopped me from feeling really great about my Master lean. But if it's foreign it comes from a beautiful family and I want to see some of its close kin.

Yup! I missed that part. Yeah, my eyes went straight to the pic, not the words. And the pic did bear a superficial resemblance to the contours of your marble. So ... yeah.

Also, since you mention hues, which had not factored into my identification, the picture from the book appears to be a white marble with an opaque black patch. Such as this marble: https://www.ebay.com/itm/134538789806 ^^ that seller's title and asking price are highly questionable! LOL. But I liked the photo in my google results and I was in a hurry, and now I have to leave!

I see how you might consider these two views to match: However, the view of your marble is more detailed than the view from the book, and the view of your marble shows what to me appears to be an Akro patch's pattern and cutline.

Welcome!

based on this view, I'm leaning Akro.

Leaning Master

Master to me

Vitro Conqueror to me. I've gotten used to the idea that they might not always be colorless inside.

Here's an article from yesterday not on Facebook. https://wvexplorer.com/2023/04/26/marble-king-wv-only-marble-manufacturer-in-us/