Scoop

Whoa, Whoa, WHOA!!!!!! For goodness sake people, look at what your saying!!!! For years, marble companies have been working their butts off to create great looking marbles. That's their JOB... Marketing is all about creating what people want and like... These are NOT repros... They are a current production of marbles, by people who are trying to make something that looks great!! Why do we call WV swirls, WV swirls??? Because no one can tell the difference from one to another, right??? SOOOOOOOO, WTF???? These are simply more of the same!! Just because they are made today, not 10, 25, 50 or 75 years ago, doesn't make them bastard marbles!! At one point, I got reamed BIG TIME for saying how unimportant I thought it was to be able to ID every single stinkin' marble a collector owns... Well guys... Here's the perfect example of what I was talking about... You people have gotten yourselves into such a freakin' TIZZY over being able to tell what's what, that you can't even appreciate a well made, beautiful marble when you see it, just because it was made TODAY, by people who really give a damn about what they look like!!! OK, they weren't made today 11/12/09... They were made a few weeks ago... My GOD, they are getting older by the very second!!! Don't you GET IT???? Time moves on!!! Just because these are made today and not 50 years ago doesn't make them crap!!! In 50 years, they'll be appreciated for exactly what they are!! So you better appreciate that you have the jump on the future and your in the very best time frame to be able to do just that, now... LEARN!! Soooooo, you can't tell the difference between a 50 year old flame and a new Jabo flame??? First off.... As many have said, I bet it's not that hard.... I hate to say how long it to me to learn the difference between an Akro and a Pelt... But, hey, I learned it!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again... 25 years ago, no one gave a damn about who made what marble. In fact, few people gave a damn about machine made marbles AT ALL!!! From the view of marble collecting (Not the glass collectors who have studied this stuff much longer) most everything that has been learned about these companies has happened in the past 20-30 years... We considered the whole machine made market to be a stupid forced collectible... There were stories that Larry Castle had a barn full of BARRELS of marbles, just waiting to be dumped on the market after his book inflated their value... What CRAP!!! In reality, it was just jealousy towards someone who took the initiative to look at a new thing and capitalize on it. Now, look at what we know and what you people will pay for it!! BUT, that was the mindset then, and look at you!!! It's the mindset NOW... No one is forcing you to know what and where every single marble is, or was made... Time is not going to stop, so you can catch up. If that's what is important to your collection, you better learn it... That never was the purpose of the "Old School" collectors. We just like marbles... They were pretty!! They were cool... We liked what we SAW... We didn't need to know the bloodline of the guy who made it.... Just look at a marble... If you like it and you can afford it, BUY IT. If not, walk away!!! THAT'S what this is supposed to be about... These marbles are BEAUTIFUL!! But, you people have your pedigree CRAP wrapped up so tight, you can't even see that!!! We just don't need haters to put down every creative idea that rolls into our hobby. You just can't put a new idea into a closed mind!!! Wake up and LOOK at the glass!!! They are NOT reproductions!! They are marbles that are being created during a timeframe that will unlikely last forever... They are simply what they are. Time marching on and the new kid on the block.... Love 'em, or leave 'em. It's really quite simple...

Sorry... But, I think that whole philosophy reflects on itself!! Let's face it, this entire hobby is a forced collectible. Marbles are not a necessary commodity. We can't eat them. They don't keep us warm or healthy.... In the event of a nuclear holocost, they would be one of the last things we would need to survive (I speak for most humans... Maybe not US....) Their value is based on how much anyone is willing to pay for them... Pretty much the same as any other luxury item. Jabos are no different... Yes, an antique is limited to how many exist. Well... So are Jabos. Is Steve's title for real??? Noooooo.... But, let's face it. People will pay what they want to own what they want... No one is FORCING anything... Am I crazy to buy Jabos?? I guess that depends on why I'm buying them.... Am I crazy to buy ANY marble for more than 5¢?? I guess that's my decision, right?? If I like a marble and I can afford it, I'm gonna buy it... Who's business is it to tell me that it's crap if it's a Jabo, a Vacor, a machine made, a handmade, or a rare perfectly round gemstone puked up by the sea?? I think anyone who is getting involved with these marbles realizes the gamble is just that... There should be no fear of people investing their life's savings in these because they will be worth millions in our life-time.... If there are any here who believe that, I have this bridge for sale............. (PS... Spoken by one who once firmly believed anyone who collected ANY machine made marble was a complete lunatic!! Time changes EVERYTHING!!! )

Since we covered most of the "Fall" colors in October, let's hit the "cool" colors for November... Saturday morning I had to scrape frost off my windshield for the first time this season!!! Icy Blues, Cool Purples and the chillier (less yellowy) side of green / teal....

Ann that looks to me, like a very rare antique handmade that has been played with past the point of recognition... To find that degree of original "Patina" (Note the touches of rust!!!!) is a true find... Perfectly original, exactly as it was dug out from under the "Half-moon shed" in the back yard.... AMAZING!!!! Joe must be a tough negotiator....

Wake Up!!!! LOL

WOW, the buyer may have been happy, but I bet the seller PITP!!! The way that auction reads, it seems like they didn't have a CLUE!!! Hey Ray, any hope of making it home for any of the holidays??? .... I hope so!!!

Thanks Joe!!! Great job!! Mannnnnnnn #30,31 &32....... That thing is CRAZY!!!!

Now THAT box would make a nice "find!!!" LOL

Pictures!!!!! We need pictures!!!!!

Yikes!! I missed this, Sorry!!! Yes, absolutely!! Anytime you need pics posted send 'em on (Don't sweat the soda or chips... My waistline doesn't need either!!! LOL) PM me if you need the email again!!

I hope all is OK with Alan... But, let's try to remember, he IS a human (we think....) and may actually need a moment or two off... I'd like to think he's escaped to Mig's Bar & Grill on a paradise Island, with a "Pair-a-Dees" honey.....

DAMN!!!!

Speaking of cool Vacors..... Thanks Bob!!!!!

Was that sweet little onionskin attached to the side?? LOL

Awesome Kevin!!! I've got my eye on a couple.... Hopefully, not Ann's!!! LOL

Double WOW!!! (Someone's heart sang "Ka-Ching" when they pulled that baby outta the ground!!! LOL)

I'm sure I don't need to tell you to have a blast, Dani!!! But.... Do it anyway!!!!

I'm with Ann... Years ago, I woulda called the yellow one "An onionskin with the colors on the surface" for lack of a better term... But, I think Banded Transparent really works for that style... The pink one is a little wacky!! The second picture looks like a simple shrunken onionskin... But, the top picture looks like there's a white panel floating over it on the other side?? If so, it's really an oddball... I bet it was getting close to the end of the cane. That's interesting, Marie!! I never really noticed that. I wonder if that's what they were trying to imitate with the Sparklers??

WOW!!! I'm glad I got mine in first. If I hadn't, I'd be too embarrassed!!! What a great show!!! Steph and Ann... Yes & Yes... That was one I got from Bev's (Brule) collection. I believe she bought it from Roger Hardy.... Let's seeeeee, I heard, somewhere, that John Hamon Miller was makin' some mean lookin' Popeyes!! (?? I think it was John... Or, was it Sonny?)

Is a little over OK??

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, soooooooooooo is the sign still there??? (No, you don't have to answer that!!! LOL) If it's pinpointed, here..... How long will it still be there???

Did we ever find out where we can pick some of these up??

Better get them fast cause "This is the last run"...... I'm not gonna slam this attitude, cuz at times I feel the weariness of the "Endless Last Run" announcements." However, I would like to pass on a little advice from "One Who Has Eaten Crow..." Many years ago, when marble collecting focused mainly on "Antique Marbles," there was very little interest in machine mades... Sure, we'd pick up an original box or bag if we could get 'em cheap... Items made with marbles were fun, comic strip marbles were an exception, transitionals with a ground pontil were collected buy a few and if a machine made marble really "sang" to us, it may be pulled out and saved as "special." Really... That was the general collecting attitude amoungst the people I knew. I can't speak for other areas of the country, cuz we hardly knew those people... Once we started having these gatherings called "shows," a small-but-growing group started to show up... These wacko people would sit on the floor of someone's room and weed through mounds of machine made marbles.... We would snicker and shake our heads... Obviously, they were NUTS!!! I think you can all guess where this is headed... If you just can't bend your mind around a Jabo, they simply aren't for you and that's fine... BUT, if you see any beauty at all in these runs. Or, have any appreciation for the people who are really working at figuring out how to make one of these machines create "The most amazing marbles ever made." Buy what "Sings to You." Who knows?? Will they ever be worth anything??? All I can say is... I NEVER thought machine made marbles could amount to what they have become... With the weeks, months and years of machines cranking them out, how could they EVER have slim enough numbers to command any amount of serious money??? Compare that to the few weekends of (now) 2 years of the Jabo runs.... Sure, it'll take a while... The collectible "wave" shows that the initial exposure gets attention.... Then, attention and value drops... Then, interest begins to grow, as observant people notice that they can get nice things for deflated costs... This interest grows as others notice the "spoils." The wave grows, prices rise to a peak... Then, because the cost is so high, the wave crashes and interest drops for a while and the whole process begins again... It happens in every market.... Given the historical documentation and real beauty of these runs, don't be fooled into thinking that the runs and vast availability will last forever... Right now, the market is large. But, in the "Big Picture" of manufacture, this quantity is still very limited... There will be many who will say, "I wish I'd known THEN, what I know NOW..." Buy what SINGS to you....

The color in this is sort of odd, as compared to the precision of the controlled bubbles. It's not work that I recognize at all.... Is it possible to clearly enlarge the signature? I can't make it big enought to try and figure out... Any "even close" ideas of what it says?? My technique for finding a maker like this, is to "shoot at fish in a barrel," by googling the closest names I can imagine with a word like paperweight or even just "glass." Since most artists either have a site of their own, or are in a gallery with a site, it's pretty incredible how easy it can be to hit on one...

I have to second Alan's opinion... Unless there was someone who simply recognized it, it's a tough call... The good news is... My first thought was "Chinese." It may be Chinese, or not... But, the clean polish of the base looks better than the usual fare.