Steph

The base here looks kinda white to me in the pic, but it's gray in hand. It glows. (Dustin's auction pic, my mib) Joe did a good job of catching the gray and the inky blue ribbons in his pic. I'll bet this one glows - hmm, I'll bet a dime.

(click pix to enlarge) <--- look for pelt in this pic

Gonna start uploading Ron's pix now. There are lots of them. So keep on having a good time over there in the WV swirl thread. I'll be awhile. I'm posting pix 40% to 60% of Ron's originals. If you need the bigger views of some, that can be done. Here's Ron's introduction to the photo collection, containing some history about Lawrence Alley, and some things to make you think.

100% of my presumed koko's fluoresce noticeably. Not brightly but noticeably. (please do not ask me how many I have ;-)

I wonder if the patent was in the category of "design". Maybe the simple lines were the innovation. "Design patent" at Wikipedia If so, I don't know where to search for it. I found a design patent today for something else pretty quickly but I got lucky in the clues I was given. I don't know where to hunt for designs by date. [edit: I might have figured out how to hunt for designs by date, but I haven't hit on yours yet.]

Oooph! I'd take 'em for that! Here's that link. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280518074326

Here's what I learned in response to the email S.O.S. I sent out about early marble ads: In the first decade of the 1900's, the gold-colored marbles were referred to by such names as "Klondike Gold Nugget" (1903) and "Genuine Glass Klondike" (1904). In German the spellings included Klondiche and Klondyche. In the early 1910's, U.S. and Canadian advertisements included descriptions such as "Fancy Gold Band Marbles", "Gold Band Alleys" and "Fine Gold-Band Glass Marbles". The name Klondike was still in use by German marble makers at that time and later. In the 1960's [edit: and 1950's] they were being called "Sandwich Glass Marbles". And this may have been the time when the term Lutz came into use [edit: for marbles], because of the supposed Sandwich Glass connection. [Edit: Baumann records the first known use of the word Lutz for marbles as 1968.] edit: "Lutz glass" was in use for collectible items from the Sandwich works by at least 1939. That's not marbles though. [i'm still digging so this post might get more edits.]

That's the basic story I've heard most often. However, there's a competing explanation for the name - that it was a misspelling of Loetz. A little about Loetz: Source: About Antique Loetz Art Glass And here's a link Galen posted before with some sparkly pictures. Loetz: Tiffany twisted, the Mercedes bends

Here's a brief version of what I've typically heard on the subject. http://www.kovels.com/priceguide/kovels_lutz/ Is that accurate? It doesn't mention gold-looking glass there. Did he use it? When was the name "lutz" popularized for glass, and when did it start being used for marbles? Thanks! edit: I vaguely remembered some sort of dispute about the name, and now I remember I've asked about it before. Now trying to digest the material presented when I asked before. But will leave this question here.

"I think we're diverging from the topic a bit" lol, yeah I guess we are. If you give me a minute, I could try to tie it into the original topic. ;-) But the truth is I think it's an interesting question in its own right. The story I've heard is that lutz glass was named after a glassmaker named Nicolas Lutz who made it in the late 1800's. Don't know if that was true. I remember some dispute somewhere. But I can't remember the details. Sue? p.s. started a new topic. I don't mind hijacking my own thread (lol) but don't want to hijack Ron's marble. :-)

I don't remember the name lutz coming up in any marble ads I've seen. My general impression was that it was relatively recent though older than Jabo! lol I know someone who has seen a lot more ads than I have, and translated some from German. I'll send him a note to ask. edit: Klondike is one of the names they used to use for lutz. edit 2: Baumann gives 1968 as the first known time the word lutz was used to describe marbles.

I was vaguely hoping it was the kind of gold which has been used to make red glass. Keyword "vaguely". I've only heard of the gold glass. Don't know how or when it was made or what form the gold looked like going in to the mix. I guess it seems far-fetched for gold to be used during the depression to make kids' toys.

Dug Champions

More of Ron's Sistersville Alleys: (click to enlarge) I have his whole disk full of Sistersville pix which I want to put in their own thread, but I'm trying to wait until this one gets up to 100! .

Most? I cannot say. Ron said it is not copper. He said it looks and reflects as gold.

I put this one in the WV swirl thread but it really deserves a special mention. Machine-made with lutz. Date estimate: 1930-31. Photo compliments of Ron. This marble was found at the Sistersville WV, Lawrence Glass Novelty Company location. (click to enlarge) I think it might only be half a marble but sssshhhh, pretend not to notice. :-)

Here's one for the books. Machine-made with lutz. Date estimate: 1930-31. Photo compliments of Ron. This marble was found at the Sistersville WV, Lawrence Glass Novelty Company location. (click to enlarge)

Gorgeous!

Can you make out the date? I have seen some U.S. patents for casters at google. quick example Have also seen a site for foreign patents, but haven't had much luck searching there so far. Does the marble roll freely?

lol - great effect actually! like a cliffhanger oh yeah, almost forgot, sweet mibs!

big ones!

Bottom right has been presented as a koko combo. All look good to me. (fwiw!)

Kewl. That's the one I thought might be. Add that one to my like list! Corks and uranium glass! plus the opally look is kinda pretty in its own right.

I'm definitely more into the corky ones than the random swirls. any glow in the dark? lol, I mean under blacklight?

lol, er I mean, yeah, let's see 'em!