Steph

Interesting that you should mention the use of the name apart from marbles. It has recently dawned on me that I might learn more about sulphides from paperweight collectors. I'm not sure yet when sulphide marbles were first made. They were around in the 1880's for sure, but how long before? In 1883, A. W. Roberts called it a "Glass Figure Agate". Other references I have between then and the 1940's range from something like that to vague things like "those glass alleys we love with the animals inside". (not an exact quote, but the general idea of what I've read) LOL @ me because I need to stop finding more info and start organizing what I have.

Here's part of the reason I keep toying with Alley on square patches. Pix of dug examples. I think the first pic was taken by David. The 2nd by Sandy. Dunno how square that blue based one David shows is on the other side but it looks square on the side showing. I'm sure not as many can turn out to be Alley as I sometimes seem to suggest. I'm mainly leaving the door open until I learn more.

Thanks Pop! I've tried to used those boards for display. But between my jiggling and my cats' jumping, it hasn't worked out.

Thanks BJ, the more names the better. I did not know about them.

Cool pix all around, Randy. Mesh bag, dated board, instructions. All cool. (even the wahoo - that's a fun memory) I take it the Gotham board is the only one with a date? BJ - don't know what to say! How old was Young?

Bump with a litte update. Nothing definitive yet but I ran across a little more corroboration for the mid-to-late 30's rather than the late 20's as the date of intro of Chinese Checkers. A 1938 Popular Science article calling it a "new game" - September 38 issue

I share your surprise, Greg. Henry Watson was an art collector who also had a marble collection. His was on display in a Florida museum. Don't know if it is anymore. He had marbles articles in the American Collector magazine in 1942 and 1943. ooh. I now see that Watson identified the figure marbles as having a "sulphide center" in both of those articles. Maybe he was responsible for why we call them sulphides. FWIW! LOL. Sorry to fixate on that. I've been wondering about that name 'sulphide' for a looong time. Berry Pink supposedly had a nice marble collection. Need to look up the date on when he was publicizing that. Wonder what happened to his!

I thought this first picture was wonderful! The 2nd is a bonus. They're from a 1941 Hobbies magazine. The November issue has 3 marble collecting articles in it. Joe Street sent me a nice copy of the three articles (and he'd gladly send a copy to you). The text can be found at his site: Marble Articles Home Page p.s. this might be from before figure marbles started being called "sulphides". Still looking for earliest uses of that name! p.p.s. this might be the earliest use I've seen of the name "Bennington".

Ah, thanks. I guessed wrong. Again.

Very pretty. Who made?

I'd like to collect closets. But I don't know where I'd put them.

if you were asking me to join your mafia, I'd be in! LOL um, well, I'm easing off on Mafia Wars for awhile. It'll be cool to have marble posts on my wall for a change. Might give my other friends a clue about what I see in mibs!

kool. thanks for the illus.

Let's clean our eyes out with some good guineas. Greg posted these recently:

Talking about one color on top of the other, check out this zoom. Is that a piece of frit with the blue fused to the white before it even hit the marble?

whoever made the mib in question, I lost my part of the pot. I emailed Mark. He says it is not his.

That's fantastic!

Bump as a reminder. I was sent a list of Tinsley Green winners. I postponed posting it to finish another project. MUST NOT FORGET THIS.

Thanks Al. Heatons in an advertising bag are new to me. It would be almost as cool to find a cross-thru St. Marys cat in a bag as it would be to find a buttermilk. Almost! Hehe Ron. Maybe I dreamed it.

It's hard to separate the seller from the marble, knowing what I do about his past sales. However, I think I would suspect that this particular example was a Mark Christensen even if I didn't know the seller was Pavcraz. Here's my contribution to the discussion. A pic of the marble in question, and one of Mark's for comparison:

In case I was being too subtle, I think this one Pavcraz was selling could very well have been signed, but it could be NM+ from where the tiny signature was buffed off. The marble is the right size for Mark Christensen's and the seller is known from the past to buy Mark Christensen marbles and present them as antique. Of course he has also sold Fisher marbles in "vintage" lots so maybe, but this one looks like Mark C's recent offerings to me. Are Kelly Schmidt marbles still available? Pavcraz does a pretty quick turn around business. Buys dug Akros one week and has them in his forged packaging the next. Not saying he wouldn't use older contemps if he could get his hands on them, but just thinking of availability. Next question: who makes guineas? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130350655669

Um, yeah, my money is on Mark Christensen: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120495552125 Mark's marbles are signed now but Pavcraz's offering was NM+. Coincidence?

My main question is who made it. I know Pavcraz buys contemps. Question is from where. For example, he's salted his lots with Mark Christensens and implied they were vintage Christensens. It might be educational simply to list who makes somewhat vintage-looking "striped opaques" and "guineas" and such these days. And maybe show examples of their craftsmanship. Could even be fun in its own right if we didn't have to think of Pav&@#! while we were doing it. While I was thinking of it I googled it and here's a link to some Mark C's: Mark has a site, but his "Tribute" marbles are out of stock right now. http://www.mcmarbles.com/

Motion carried by acclamation. But I still need a pic of Ron in a fedora. :-)

Green snowflakes!