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One of the easiest ways to me is to put it under a long fluorescent light like a shop light and roll it around. The reflection of the light will bend and wiggle as it rolls and the surface irregularities change the reflection. Even the nicest wet mint machine mades don't have perfect surfaces that will reflect without distortion. A polished marble will not change reflection as it rolls around.

You can see tons of my Heaton photos in the forum "Steph's study hall" under the Heaton Agate thread.

At first the sweet potato name got applied to a marble with this base and white ribbon, but then some had other colors with the white and then some had no white but had other colors. Since Ron and I and Stephen talked, it sounds like the agreed position of these is that they are all Sweet Potatoes, similar to how the different color tan based Ravenswoods are all Ravens, and then they are further categorized by color (Green Sweet Potato, blue, and so-on). That works for me. Like Stephen pointed out on the phone today, they are a lot like the Ravenswood Ravens line, some being almost mistakable for one. The difference being the base has more of an orange tint than the tan on Ravenswoods. These vary a lot in base and colors. Varying from pinkish to salmon to rich pumpkin and sweet potato colors. I'll post what I think fall into this category:

Not many Heatons were named before the digs, or at least not with names that the community accepted and recognized. Similarly to the Pennsboro Alley digs, several got named along in that time too. Tater bugs, blue skies, the blush line, sweet baby greys, and others from the Pennsboro dig years. We pulled out some Heaton marbles that we felt needed names because they stood out and named them. There are several other great marbles that haven't been named but here's what we looked for... variety (a good array of examples of color and pattern), good color, better glass, general eye appeal, and being common enough that examples will be available. There's not much sense in naming a bunch of one-of-a-kind marbles because nobody else will have one and the name won't be used. We named some that are very common and some that are very rare and most are somewhere in the middle. Then we tried to come up with names that fit the marble. Most or all of the names imply what the marble looks like or they make sense when you see the marble. The Honey Biscuit looks like honey and biscuit colors, the firecracker looks like firecrackers, and so on. We tried several names for several marbles and when we agreed unanimously on a name, we knew it was a good name. Some just got named incidentally, like the rotten robin. I never really thought I was naming it. Lots of times when someone dug a robin egg, they would shout "robin egg!" and so when these brown robin eggs started popping up, I was saying "I found a Robin egg with brown on it", and then I said it was like a rotten robin egg, which evolved into Rotten Robin and it stuck. I think we are pretty much finished naming them, we don't want to name everything out there and make it tedious. It was appropriate for Heaton to get the attention they deserve and be represented in the collecting world with it's share of named types. I haven't posted a picture of the Robin's Egg in that thread and I should (we did not name that one). Also the Sweet Potato and the Blue oatmeal. I need to get on that. In fact I will post the Sweet Potato over there now. I posted one Heaton with ribbons of white and oxblood in a transparent green base and put a picture of the head of Medusa in the photo because it reminded me of her head of snakes. I have been seeing that type marble referred to as a Heaton Medusa now because of that, so maybe that's a named type too, not sure. It does fit IMO. In the end, what sticks is what matters. I've seen Heatons being sold and discussed by the names we gave them so I think they are generally accepted. -Chuck

Those are the two companies I was pondering on as well. I'm with Alley, these are the types often found in the big dime and big nickel boxes.

About as MK looking as a Pelt can get I think, with 4 ribbons, 2 of them trying to mock a patch on the ends and a wavy seam less like MK. It definitely has the look of MK but I agree with Pelt too.

First one is a Vitro Conqueror. Second is foreign and modern.

I'm with I'llhavethat1... no popeyes and no pontils. Here is a picture of a pontil on a German Mica:

Good start! Like Ron said, they're like rabbits.

That one sub CAC is superb Chad!!!

I think I've got some JABOs with that red/grey combo. Looks newer to me. I agree on the other ones.

You got an answer from Ron Shepherd. Yeah, that Ron Shepherd, who all the pictures in all the books are referenced to and who everyone wants an ID from. He answers posts on multiple internet forums, emails, and phone calls about marbles nearly all day every day and has done it for free out of the kindness of his heart and for the promotion of this fine hobby even on days when he doesn't really feel like it, but you complain that it wasn't welcoming? When all you do is answer question after question night after night, you don't always sit there and look to see who is asking, or how new they are, or whether or not they need a welcome. He gave you the best answer you can get from anyone anywhere and for free. In your other thread he even went to his files and dug out photos of marbles to help you. That's time from his life he gave you, so maybe consider that before complaining about his help.

I agree that right one sure looks Champion.

Thanks Ric, I thought I remembered some faint white lines on the one I was remembering but not as strong as that one. I guess coverage can vary. Not sure what the OP is. Does it have any sign of seams?

The only black one I recall seeing was a Peltier... cannonball might have been the name?

Thanks! I agree about the UV glass. This one lights up like crazy too. I lean Master on this one.

Here's a pic of the cullet order, dated 1952, if that helps date your marble.

No, it's not named. I like them though, I think that smoky color base glass was bought from Houze glass, I saw an old sale order from Houze to Heaton Agate for "smoke cullet" and so I would assume this would be it since I don't recall any other smoke colored glass from Heaton. The ribbon winding all through the marble... that's what all WV swirls do. You might not see it because of the opaque glass, but they all are one stream all balled up into a marble.

These are a bit difficult to ID but I don't think any are heaton unless maybe the bottom one. I'd say 12:00 is maybe JABO, 3:00 is Pennsboro Alley, 6:00 might be Heaton or Ravenswood, 9:00 is Ravenswood.

Sorry in advance for such a long post. Your green one up top, first pic shows the Heaton ear well. Heaton made swirls a few different ways. They made several like the Red Rose and Firecracker that have the loop and tail and clip on the back side. They made some with busier random patterns but traits can be picked out sometimes, and they made some with wispy ribbons, and some with wider fanning ribbons like the alley superman or similar (the fawns and ones like them). They also did the pattern with an ear and the vortex looking area where the color gets sucked down into the center of the marble in the middle of the ear shape. I did this illustration of the Heaton Ear long before I ever got to dig there. Notice that it is sometimes a near perfect outline of an ear, sometimes just a general shape. Sometimes it has the vortex in the middle where the color goes deep. Then you have the end of the hairpin, the tight loop back on itself and sometimes back on itself again. Like the top left pic in this: Top left pic here: Hairpin: Bottom center pic on this one: Hairpins in these: Then you have the loop and tail and those usually have the clip of color on the plain side. You get an ear, a loop, a C, or a honey bun pattern on one side, a tail that continues on, and a blank side with a clip of color. The Red Roses are often like this, also the Firecrackers, Black Cherries, and several others like the green with purple tracer on white that is usually fractured. Here are some pics of this pattern: And there is the spread out ribbon that reminds me of some St. Mary's Alleys like the superman: And the seemingly random pattern that can be busy. It resembles Ravenswood somewhat but not the same, coming back on itself, not having the uniformity to the curves that Ravenswoods often have, and the ribbon has varying widths all along whereas Ravenswood tends to not vary in width as quickly and drastically along the flow. I hope this helps with identifying Heatons, there are others still that I haven't described in this but I think this covers most of the Heatons you will find. Maybe I was able to convey to you what I see in them in my descriptions.

Rotten Robin. Same base as a Robin Egg, may or may not have the same white/cream, but also has brown. I named these when I was digging the deep hole towards the back of the property. I was finding Robin Eggs left and right and then one popped out with brown on it too. Then another, and another, and I was saying "I found a Robin egg with brown" and then "Another brown robin egg, like it's rotten" and "Another Rotten Robin" and then we would chuckle when someone said "Rotten Robin" and do the little bird song you hear in the song "Rockin' Robin". So the name stuck and that's what we now call them. Here are a couple to compare with. Some have a lot of the Robin Egg cream color, some have none. Some (the best examples) even have oxblood.

Definitely not Taterbugs. Champions IMO.

The Heaton Black Cherry. Ron named this one. They have a rich dark cherry red that goes deep and is transparent. The base is nice and clean white. The quality is superior to most of the red/white marbles Heaton made. These are much less common than the usual red/white ones. Little to no bleeding, no orange or brown. The construction is a common Heaton loop and tail just like the firecrackers and Red Roses and many others, including the clip on the blank side but these tend to be a little busier. Nice one to look at for a simple color combo. Val found a few stuck together and I found this flat one that must've missed the rollers or something.

The Heaton Fawn got it's name innocently enough. They showed up at every dig, there were a lot of them and around the loading dock especially. I believe it was Ron that said that the base glass color was Vitrolite and Vitrolite's name for that color was "fawn". So occasionally someone would say something like "Boy, I sure am finding a lot of those fawn colored ones" and so on until they were just referred to as "Fawns". So that's how they got named, it was just how things worked out over time. Although they are plentiful, finding a mint one has proven to be difficult. The purple fractured a lot, and this purple was also susceptible to glass sickness, so many have abalone or even a heavier striation to it that looks like golden metallic. Like golden hair. I've nicknamed those "Argonauts" because of Jason and the Golden Fleece, although that's not an official name. The purple is Wissmach glass, which probably explains the fractures. I dug a lot of Wissmach glass down from the loading dock, most of it in greens and this purple. Then you can also find these fawns with other colors in them, like bright blue, which would make it a Blue Fawn or grey with it would make it a Grey Fawn, etc... but they all have the purple in them. The Blue Fawns are striking and HTF. A typical Heaton Fawn Here's one with the metallic look from being buried for so long Here are some Blue Fawns Mine and Val's combined here: And in a few rare instances, they can get really fancy