Steph

I see two distinctions: (1) intentional versus accidental And among the intentional ways to get it: (2) oxblood from batch versus oxblood from aventurine Dave's oxblood has been intentional, albeit not from batch. What other marble makes would have made it intentionally? It's tantalizing to think Alley might have done it knowingly.

No, I haven't been checking any math.

Yes, food for thought for sure

A classic I had to use on someone today.

These are my Dali sparklers ... enhanced by Alan

What? Do I hear sarcasm? I hope! We need a sarcasm emoticon.

!!!!!!! kewlness

That looks like a painting. Swishy brush strokes.

Just to be clear in case I wasn't, the Marble Kings are Alleys. Presumably leftovers bagged by Berry Pink after he bought Alley.

What Galen said. 1940's Alleys from St. Marys like in these bags .... or Vacor Old Fashions.

Galen is right about the marbles needed some sort of numbering system. But better yet, start a new thread for new questions. Just a couple of marbles per thread. It was good to see all your marbles at once to get an overview. Now if we want to get into the nitty gritty, a new thread for new questions will cut down on confusion.

Yes, this is one I thought possibly vintage. It looks a bit like a Peltier Rainbo in this view, but I don't 100% recognize it. So ... it's interesting ..... In other views it looks more like a different style. Like a Master Sunburst. Just ..... different ...... and cool.

The Spaghettis and "flower cat eyes" are pretty. Yes, the blue is Spaghetti. Sometimes you can see big bubbles in Vacors ... I wonder if they put them there on purpose ... don't know if they can do it on purpose. But they get in there somehow.

The marble on the right here has orange peel. That is accidental. We've been discussing the causes recently. I don't see the finish on the marble on the left, but because of what I see inside, I suppose it has an iridescent finish. This marble would be a Vacor Flama. Or Vacor Flame. Some marbles get an iridescent (pearlized) finish. Some marbles get a frosty finish. Those are done on purpose. For fun.

This is an example of a cold roll (as are many of the other creases you show). This one is probably from one spot getting hung up and the rest of the marble twisting away. Then when the stuck spot got loose it was cooled of and couldn't get completely smoothed out.

Here's the thread where I asked -- http://marbleconnection.com/topic/20060-corals-and-questions-and-stuff. The discussion develops -- some of the marble ID's from the first page are wiped away and changed on the second.

Ravenswood, I believe. I was calling them corals up until last week. But I asked about them and was told some of the "coral guys" don't call 'em that -- reserving the name for marbles of a different color. But if you don't call them coral, I don't know if they have any other name.

Yes. .... and fun article.

Don't know what made me think of this ... but .... Statue of Liberty before she turned green: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2037582/The-copper-Statue-Liberty-appeared-New-York-1880s.html... some old artwork.

If you want to highlight more pictures, copy and paste the whole URL. Please. Took a long time to figure out which ones had those numbers on the end of their address.

#3? Do you mean the third from the right? Ooops ... when I described marbles as #2 and #3 above, I was counting from the left. Well, on #3 from the right, I see why you would think of the "9" which is often described as desirable. However, the 9's of the the M. F. Christensen company, for example, come from the marble being hand-gathered and clipped in a way which created a tail which circled around the marble. All the marbles in this photo are machine-made. No hand-gathering stage. So the little swirl is coincidental. These are "cold rolls". Errors. From the glass cooling off to quickly for the marble to be completely rounded on the rollers. The creases are "seams" or "cutlines", not "pontils". The term "pontil" is generally reserved for a marble which is hand-made or at least hand-gathered. Sometimes the seams are more pronounced. Some marbles smooth out more on the rollers than others. These are machine-made. With the solid colors they're considered game marbles, and have been made by many many companies for many many years. If that is a pearlized finish I'm seeing on them, that just means they were made recently. No reproduction. Just something modern marble makers do to catch our eyes. I don't know what the method is for putting that finish on.

I'm not aware of an Australian company which manufactured toy marbles. (I'm pretty sure there were marble machines in Australia, but I think they were used for industrial purposes -- like for the marbles which sometimes were used as bottle stoppers.) Cat's eyes are generally first ID-ed as U.S. or not U.S. Some of the Asian ones with six or more vanes are collectible ... if the vanes have a particular uncommon pattern.