hdesousa

You say, giving me undeserved credit, "You have a lot of knowledge, let it flow... ". I am pretty much unable to distinguish a well made fake glass marble from the original; actually, I developed a reputation for having more dollars than sense. That's why I tend to collect glass marbles in labeled, original boxes with a good provenance. You say "I can't recall one informative post from you that talks about how to identify real or reproduction marbles or medals". There are others much better skilled and qualified to do that on the boards - I tried several other ways to educate collectors - mostly by buying mimics from the source and reselling online, described as such. But that backfires when the marbles get resold as rare and genuine, e.g. a $20 one inch red road and tunnel slag for several hundred dollars, or a $40 green glass eagle sulphide as a German antique, for several thousand dollars, or $40 sets of forty Chinese handmade marbles (with Marble Alan's cooperation) resold as German swirls. Sending Mark Chervenka of Antique & Collectors Reproduction News a group of genuine and repro medals, as well as contributing information on California sulphides, from which he published a couple excellent articles, may be my most effective "educational" contribution. I have a fairly large collection of modern reproductions. This thread was originally from Steph on behalf of Martin Bowling looking for some of Scott Patrick's onion lutzes. I had a few. I also have every shamrock marble bought from you - your $1 marbles were just as useful to me as your regular priced marbles - I obviously was not buying defective (or regular priced) marbles to fool anyone. But am still scratching my head as to why you got so upset when I told you my intention of selling (your better marbles) on eBay, especially after you'd spent the better part of the day expertly demonstrating your machinery and how exotics are made. Finally, you ask "What have you been up to? ". The answer is not much. Been out of touch with the repro world for probably a decade; with some exceptions, one being a box of Kelly Schmidt guineas, at least half of which I cannot tell from a genuine guinea, but continue to examine them, to educate myself as well as to admire them.

No one is trying to rewrite history. Everything Alan, Steph and you say about Scott is true. But since De mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est, I'm trying to illustrate some of his 'superior skills'. Fakes/forgeries/reproductions etc exist in practically every collectable hobby and the key to protecting collectors is to educate them by publicizing the mimics. It's interesting that the only two marble makers who have physically threatened me for wanting to do so are Scott (over his adding oxblood to akro marbles) and you, when I wanted to point out the similarities between shamrock marbles and Christensen exotics.

Scott was a master forger with a conscience, which I discovered when he told me a medal/watch fob I had just bought on eBay was a reproduction. Here's some more of his work. His colored glass sulphides could fool most, as he started out with a genuine German sulphide and covered it with colored glass. The partially covered blue bear in the upper left gives you an idea of the tedious process; it was difficult to keep the marbles from cracking, he said.

Is this what you're looking for?

Ric, Were you able to find anything about George Sourlis' whereabouts?

I'm actually surprised marbles are still made here. This article was written 13 years ago. Probably much worse now: https://www.businessinsider.com/basic-products-america-doesnt-make-2010-10

How do you know he died? Last I heard he was moved into a nursing home; our mutual friend Lutzy died but I'm still trying to get hold of George, unless I know for sure he's no longer around.

Found this on the internet- "Today, there are only two American-based toy marble manufacturers: Jabo Vitro in Reno, Ohio, and Marble King, in Paden City, West Virginia."

There are many online outlets. Can't vouch for any of them, but here are a few: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803517997506.html https://www.temu.com/marbles-s.html https://www.moonmarble.com/c-47-bulk-marbles.aspx

Not exactly a find from the wild, but it was an exciting score:

Ric, Do you have a link to his obituary?

I remember visiting Jabo, soon after they had moved to Reno, Ohio in the late 1980's or very early 1990's and their main product was clear industrial marbles, destined for spray paint cans.

Wow, that looks like my picture, so I must already have that box, with what looks like it's original contents. I'd forgotten about it when I came across that incomplete box when searching for something else. Too much stuff vs. increasing cognitive decline. Thanks for the memories!

Bought this several years ago on eBay. Doubt the bag or the marbles are original to the box. No insert. Anyone know what the original contents looked like?