Steph

Wow on the Ray Laub! So, not wanting to harp ... just to pin it down ... this Turbine "Apple" is the one which Lloyd says is "old but not a birdcage"? That's surprising.

Hello Lloyd. To which marble are you referring? The one which was at the other end of the ebay auction link in the old thread, right? Not any of the marbles pictured in this thread. (right?) Thank you. Steph

Nice catch! I love running across these different little touches from different times. Chinese apples: 1930's. Settled. (imveryho) Modern oranges: Ray Laubs? (Not able to find any definite pix but I think I'm reading that he made something known as a bird cage)

Well, you showed some old ones in this thread. And, yeah, in the Lloyd-related discussion you were talking about old marbles. I see that now. So, not to discount the general merit of input from Rick and David . . . . . . help! what emoticon should I use ... oh no!!! . . . . . . (ahem) ... anyway, I think you've set me straight on the context here. Thanks Sue!

And so, though there wasn't a photo in the thread which said there were only 5 birdcages made, there was a photo named "ebirdcage1.jpeg", in another thread. And this other thread linked back to the thread which said only 5 birdcages were made. This is the photo named "ebirdcage1.jpeg": It was David's, and as he said it looks contemporary, so that reinforced my guess that folks might have been talking about some really hot but still modern marble type.

Cool ephemera, that! I'm not finding the allusion I thought I most specifically remembered in connection with birdcages, so maybe I'm mistaken about it, but in my memory the statement goes something like, "isn't it funny that supposedly only five were ever made and suddenly two appear for sale on eBay?" Edited: Here's the post I was remembering: Post #8 in the thread "Bird Cage? I don't think so...". If only 5 were ever made, I guessed that maybe the discussion was about some small but famous series of marbles created by a contemporary glass artist.

Quick clarification here. When you said "they are authentic, made as marbles and not ground-down paperweights", it still hadn't crossed my mind that someone might turn a literal paperweight into an orb. So, I thought you were using "ground-down" simply to stress the flat-bottomed property of paperweights. I now see that didn't make sense in your sentence construction. That's how I was using the term though.

Sue, your 1930's date was just for the literal ground-down paperweights?

Thanks Jane. Thought so, but I wondered if maybe Art was right and someone had to squeeze the tabs real tight! John, may I just say Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and, oh yes, Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't tell if you're being serious or not, Art! LOL

Thanks Steve! ( I wondered if you'd recognize it after all these decades. ) (Folks, here's where I got the pic of the steelie: flea mkt goodies.)

Is a steelie like this machine-made?

What is a birdcage, in the context of marbles. There are some really famous/controversial ones, right? Are there old ones and contemporary ones? I've seen many allusions to them but that seems to be all.

Douglas Wiltraut's "Looking At The Moon" the story of the painting ...

from trying out somthing from Birds and Bees 101

FANTABULOUS!

Just for fun, let's put the date on the ad as 1925. Based on average prices of average items bought by average Americans, $1 in 1925 would buy the same as $11.74 now. . . . (See What is a dollar worth?) So, to get a dozen of those Favorite boxes, instead of the 74¢ it would take in 1925, you'd need to fork over $8.69 this year. That's wholesale, right?

That is so fun! Do you know what year that ad is from?

Patry Denton's "Oh no, not my best ....." This is the third marble painting Patry has shown at LOM in recent days! Here are the links: Games of "Keepers" (Post #3) Lucky Marble Oh no, not my best .....

Note of potential interest: the land of marbles thread discusses blacklighting sulfides. Antique ones will have a mild to moderate vaseline glass glow. CA sulphides won't. Also of potential interest: there are a couple of dramatic sets of before-and-after-polishing pix in that thread. That was a look back ... just a couple of notes I wanted to add for my own future reference. Now, I'm really interested in Sue's idea for highjacking the thread. Lloyd, how invasive are the tests ACRN performs? How conclusive? (and what would it take to get an exotic into their hands? )

Thanks, Jane. Without a name, the only category I knew to put it in was "How to take great pictures"!

Jane, hate to bug you ... but you don't really mind this'un making the rounds again, do ya? ... I don't have any idea what it is called ... or how old it could be ... or nuthin like that ... and I "need" to. thanks

Thanks Sue (and Lloyd). Here's the info from the listing, including a clarifying (and fascinating) Q&A exchange: This Item is one of the Infamous CALIFORNIA SULPHIDES. This is Not an Antique German Marble. The Figure is Carved with Fine Detail. There is a Light Amber Tint to the Base Glass. The Marble is in Professionally Polished Condition. The Marble Measures About 1 & 5/16 inches in Diameter. This Well Known Marble is the One Pictured Above in Paul Baumann's Book: "COLLECTING ANTIQUE MARBLES". This is the Specific Marble used by ANTIQUE COLLECTORS REPRODUCTION NEWS ACRN in Conducting Scientific Tests to Challenge the Age of These Contemporary Marbles. ------ Q: How do you know for sure that this is the one in the book? Thanks, Cyndie Dec-15-06 A: Hello Cyndie, This Marble was given to me by a collector of sulphides. He purchased it thinking it was an antique. I supplied the marble to Mark Chervanka at ACRN for testing. I was part of a group of advanced collectors that played an active part in exposing these marbles as contemporary as opposed to antique. Thank you, Lloyd Huffer

Lloyd, could you (or may we) upload the seahorse pix here, and the info about your research into the background? Thanks. Steph

I also was curious about their availability. I didn't ask 'coz it wouldn't be appropriate, 'coz I'm all talk and no buy with marbles right now. But I'm thinking that when I get my first brick, it'd be cool if it were one of Brian's.