Steph

A link for anyone who wants to peek: http://www.ebay.com/sch/Machine-Made-/2573/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&_ssn=bmc992330 Fwiw, your cat's eye makers are pretty far off in the listings. No offense intended. I'll trust none taken. I'm seeing quite a few other errors in the non-cats. We'll try to help you straighten them out if you post them here. If anyone is mean to you for getting them wrong, please forgive. For example: this is a Japanese cat's eye -- called Marble King: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marble-King-Inc-Cats-Eye-Hybrid-/262321634258?hash=item3d13967bd2:g:MIYAAOSwqYBWoAF4 And this is Vitro Tiger Eye -- called an Akro Helmet: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Akro-Agate-Helmet-Marble-/262321776695?hash=item3d1398a837:g:Jh4AAOSwYlJW25Aj (Also, if you actually have a Helmet, turns out they are Vitros. For a time some thought they were from Akro, but that was a mistake.)

Most likely West Virginia Swirls. Most likely from the 1930's to 1950's.

Welcome to the forum. I think that this is an Alley. A type of West Virginia Swirl.

Hi. #1 and #3 are West Virginia Swirls. Hard to say which company. My first two guesses are Ravenswood or Alley. Safest to say West Virginia Swirls. Can't tell on #2 with the view showing. I can think of a couple of things it could be but my two guesses are very different, so definitely need another view.

This 'un had a little metal ball -- smaller than a BB. I think I still have it. I THINK this second one was mine, but maybe someone else will come by and remind me that it was theirs. I don't know if I would have kept it. The big chip/blowout/flake woulda bugged me. Alas, I sold my blue Champ metallics.

Like I said in another thread ... don't worry too much about tangents. If they result in discussions about marbles which might be confused for other makers, that can be educational also. It can lead to insights such as this.

Some surprising (to me) color combos

Maybe if we tried we could get NASA to post it as an Astronomy Picture of the Day

Yeah, browsing through old Cairo threads I can see some of why you're leaning how you're leaning ....

The one-incher is nutz!

Yes, that sounds good. .... including snacking on it over the weekend.

I'll jump aboard the "awesome Cairo" train on the last one. For the others I'll just watch and learn.

The last two look so similar structurally and yet they'd be decades apart. (right?) The one above them is ghostly.

crazy cool

Bright! Beautiful! Happy winter Saturday to me!

Cool to see a Heaton big guy. I must remember this moment. But it'll probably slip my mind again. Big marbles from smaller makers just can't seem to stick in my head.

You're not the only one. Here's the discussion from when I discovered it.

Kewl ... I remember one time about ten years ago that someone was selling marbles on ebay ... and they turned out to be Ford gumball machine gum.

My happy making schmear marble. Not as many colors as I remembered. But the edges seemed oxbloody, so I can try to fit it into the recent runs in two ways.

Tricky. It's Asia or Mexico. That base is fairly clear. Nearly crystal clear. Maybe a tinge of gray but no bottle green. A clear base either suggests "early" Asia or modern Mexico. "Early" Asia increases the likelihood of them being from Japan. Would be good to see the marbles from the top so I could see all the vanes and how crisp they are. I'm so much on the fence, that I probably need to get my cats out and see just how crystal clear the Mexican bases are compared to these (because I remember them as being very clear). And Ann has answered while I was dithering. *loading her answer*. Yes, I like her answer.

Something about those blends How did they get those schmears of color out of two injectors .... or whatever it was that usually got them two individual ribbons per side.