Steph

Here we go!

Okay. I will do that. Have a safe trip. My condolences to your family.

Nancy, I suspect the uploads aren't working because of the size. I resized the ones you sent me before I posted them here.

I slide in here with a "yes, to the best of my understanding", and then go back to enjoying the real mibs! :-)

Yes, Andrea. Thank you, Terry. 'Cupcakes' you say, Gail?

Awesome! Like a time machine.

Hi John. This is from a post he recently made:

New name for me, but I like that layered effect. With the balloon of color inside.

Neat! big ones! love the red, white and blue!

Great name. Does "Wispler" cover all the German sparkler types, or a special part of them? More Wisplers please.

Anyone have Wedding Cakes? Was looking for a good thread to send Douglas to but wasn't having a lot of luck. Figured others might like to see 'em too anyway. Thanks! edit: There are some at the bottom of this page at Joemarbles.com.

Vacor Sunsets I believe these are an example. It's Joeager's photo, which he posted for ID. It shows a lot of the variation. I think there are still others. For example, I need to confirm but I believe I remember some which were practically all white.

I figure "first run" would be the marbles made while the Alox company was still open. Then I figure "second run" could be the ones made in Branson. AMMM says only "about a half dozen" marbles were made there, to prove that the machine was working. Also says none are known to exist today. Those would be too rare to value! I didn't ask Nancy what "Third Generation" meant though. Maybe she was talking about herself, the 3rd generation of Friers making marbles. :-) Guess I could still ask. :-)

David, did you put your Alox post in the Joker thread and vice versa? We really do need a score sheet! :-)

Always fun when marbles pop up. Might have to watch the show!

The Alox adventure continues! In 2006 the authors of American Machine-Made Marbles reported that Alox's last working machine, which had been salvaged by two machinists at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, had been shipped to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee during the 1980's. They said it "still rests in Tennessee, perhaps dreaming of more productive days". I imagine the authors were being romantic and poetic, but guess what! Nancy Frier, granddaughter of Alox founder John Frier, has retrieved the machine and it is now running again. I don't have all the details - perhaps someone else will help flesh those out - but here are some photos of their run from this past Monday. I'm having trouble deciding which photos to include! (Click on pix to enlarge)

like!

My rule of thumb is that if the green vane is next to the blue, it's new.

Praying for the surgeon's hands to be guided. And for peace and comfort to Sarah.

Bo's mibs in the ID section now have me wondering what rules of thumb there might be for brightness in the white bases of various makers. (His look sorta bright to me.) If Bo put his side by side with other swirls and the white popped out as fairly bright in comparison with the others, would that tell him anything? If you have thought about this, what have you concluded?

Peewees & parrots?

The way the red glows, I'll agree that it doesn't seem like oxblood. Great marble no matter what.

Neato! Thanks Rick!

Might open the conversation up if you asked about blue-green based pelts in general, then draw your own conclusions about the green end of the range. I woulda thought that there were "plenty" of rainbos in that general area. But narrowing it down to a specific shade? I couldn't try it. Not enough rainbos. And not enough comfort with specific shade names.

Do ya have to ask? !! Don't mean you should exhaust yourself. Even small group pix would be cool. Close-ups or semi-close-ups of Ravenswoods with provenance - always welcome! Even the common ones. Those don't get much air time and we don't often realize how many companies made a basic type.