Steph

Masataka Joei (more views if this link works: http://marbleconnection.com/gallery/image/5874-masataka-joei-001‎/)

So now I wonder long they used the seamed bag. They don't still, do they?

Not aware of a European possibility for these. Would go with Asian.

Thanks, Al.

Not giggling! Promise! I don't know exactly what causes that mark. I used to think maybe it was a nozzle mark, but it might be from where two marbles got stuck together. If they touch and then start to separate but their glass gets stretched out a little as they're pulling apart, then it might cause a mark like that as it gets flattened back down on the rollers. Also, the twisting might come from it getting hung up on the machinery. Wirepulls ARE one continuous ribbon. Wirepulls are swirls made from a fine stream of glass which folds back and forth on itself -- to the best of my knowledge. A cat's eye gets its multiple ribbons by a different method. All the ribbons are squirted in at once -- to the best of my knowledge.

Here's a thread for example of marks on machine-made marbles which are frequently asked about by new collectors ... Thanks for any help!

Not a transitional. That would be a cold roll of some sort. Is it even a swirl with one continuous ribbon of yellow? The color and softness of the ribbon (and the size) make me wonder if it might turn out to be a Vitro cat eye.

This one screams "Irish" to me ... well, not screams ... something more festive than "screaming". But now I want to go to a St. Patrick's Day party. ... wondering if it gets the same reaction from someone who actually lives in the United Kingdom.

I traced back through some of Winnie's other threads and found this gem: "The manufacturing of marbles took place from about 1949 up to about 1960/62." That's straight from the son of the man who was the managing director of Veiligglas. http://marbleconnection.com/topic/15635-dutch-marbles-roll-over-the-globe/?do=findComment&comment=142208

5/6? I don't know. I just know that when we see swirls which are larger than 3/4", the ID's guessed are almost always Alley, Jabo or Vacor. Larger is surprising to me for a Champion. Every now and then I ask what the latest info is on the size range we know about from the different makers but just knowing the max doesn't tell how often the max is reached. Just now checked in American Machine-Made Marbles and see that I shouldn't be so shocked at larger transparent marbles -- but larger non-transparents might still have the capacity to blow my wee mind.

I've been trying to save the name "shooter" for the 3/4" marbles and say "boulder" for larger marbles. But mainly I wanted to make sure that you were talking about the 3/4" range because if you were talking about an inch then that was going to mess with my head, since I don't associate the name Champion with larger marbles.

girl with dog and basket.

Interesting. What size of shooter?

You KNOW how gorgeous that is. Brilliant effect.

Champion is one possibility for it.

Jasper (auction photo from 2008)

Sounds like a good guess.

Underwater here? Looks like a painting. Love it. What are the itty balls around it?

This would be an earlier Alley. 1931 to 1937 for Pennsboro. 1937 to 1949 for St. Marys.

"Pennsboro Blues" ... I love saying that ... it's like a prison band or a minor league baseball team travelling around in the 1930's. Tried to capture the grain of some of the more translucent white glass ^^ (Dug by Ron Shepherd)

My Pennsboro Blues ... some opaque, some more filamented. I also tried to capture some of the texture. Your pic came through better than mine ... naturally. But to my eye they seem practically like twins.

Oooh, I see some transparent swirls that I didn't remember in that box. Sorry, got distracted for a moment. Yes, I'm totally seeing Pennsboro Alley.