Steph

LOL ... that was a little bit weird. But still fun. Who were all those volunteers? What a great day that must have been. P.s., beautiful scenery. Unexpected location for a sand run.

I do love hats. And the jacket is mighty fine too. I get so effusive over hats, that I once got a marriage proposal out of it. Not kidding.

Thank you all. It helps to share with friends.

With the curvature, I'm leaning Akro cork here.

I just need to say it. He was at home. It wasn't expected, but wasn't unexpected. He was doing well recovering from a blood infection, but then he took a sharp turn for the worse and was on oxygen. He had dementia but he still recognized my stepmother all the way to the end, and he was still fun to talk to on the phone. It was always good to hear his voice. And now ... well ... you know. Thanks for listening.

LOL! Both as a former math teacher and as an American, I appreciate that more than I can say!

Are the different combos from the different Chinese Checkers makers ever distinctive enough that we can ID them? In particular ... I posted a Ravenswood combo for Richard over there ----> http://marbleconnection.com/topic/22102-a-nice-easy-one-for-you Is that combo sufficiently distinctive as Ravenswood ... or would a set of Alley or Champion game swirls be just as likely to have that combo?

So ... actually ... I know we shouldn't on the solid colors ... but I kinda wanna commit and say Ravenswood. Because of that particular combination of shades, and this particular box which I'm pretty sure went with this lid I think/hope the shades are close enough considering the likely differences in lighting.

What size? Hard to say. Champion? Alley? Ravenswood? With so many shades pictured together, maybe someone will be willing to take a shot. Maybe someone will recognize those precise shades from the game marble sets of some particular West Virginia company.

Treasure!

My goodness. It's so shimmery and ghostly. Like it's made of glass.

I don't know what marbles to bring. .... Go ahead and ask about that in the main chat forum. One of the first things that is always on the list of what first timers are reminded to take is a flashlight. But as to the particulars of your sweet collection ... yeah, go ahead and ask over in the main chat area. But oh yes ... take the mystery marbles! Folks should be able to figure most of 'em out quickly in hand.

Here's a pontils thread: http://marbleconnection.com/topic/20970-pontils/ By the way, I think CAC on the top marble.

Hmmmm ... really need to see what the ribbon does when it wraps around

They could both be Akro. With the slight blur, I can't be 100%, but I think Akro cork on the second. Could be slag on the first ... or messed up cork.

mmmm ... noooooo Here's a classic turkey peeking out of the gallery

I can't remember for sure seeing 'em that big.

Nice!

It's got fairly solid colors, which makes Jabo a bit less likely ... but ....... it the structure is one commonly associated with Jabo so have to keep that in the mix. Could be WV swirl which didn't swirl much. Or still considering Vitro.

Alley! That's called "Horsehair Oxblood".

This one looks sort of Jabo to me, which would mean made after 1990. If you're in part of your collection where that doesn't seem likely, then I dunno. Maybe Vitro?

I'll guess Akro, due to size and single patch and long straight-ish seam. But I don't have a strong feeling about that.

Going in a very different direction for me ... starting the Die Hard four-pack of films. Want to learn about why people get so excited whenever Hans Gruber is mentioned. P.s. Survivor finale tonight!

The word "transitional" has ... um ... transitioned in how it is used. Mostly now I just see it for the Japanese marbles. Which may be from the 30's. Could be a little earlier. They haven't been pinned down as far as I know. Mostly the word "transitional" refers to a time between purely handmade marbles and purely machine-made marbles. As our understanding of marble history has grown the word has mostly been replaced by less general terms, but it seems to have stuck with the Japanese marbles. So, like the handgathered slags from the early American companies, these would presumably have been created by a worker dipping a punty into a glass pot and then turning the glob around to pick up that tail of glass ... and then somehow cutting it, and dropping it onto the rollers for machine rounding. But I don't know how the wrinkles got into the pontils. Maybe they did their work at a cooler temperature than American companies tended to use. So basically you have a Japanese slag, but we call it a transitional. P.s., the official name for American slags -- the name used back when -- was "onyx".