ManofKent

Faversham (my adopted town) has an annual vintage vehicle weekend. Now I'm far from a car fan (I don't even drive), but some of the older ones do have lovely lines. One of the local breweries old delivery vans (Austin I think) yesterday outside part of the brewery:

Thanks Steph.

Thanks

Were they sold as Cats eyes or unnamed?

Great to have confirmation.

Thanks both - it's a beautiful thing.

Came in with a bag of Champions (unsealed). Very delicate cobweb like strands - pretty much the same size as a Vitro Cat Eye, but the vanes are nowhere near as clearly defined - very mist like:

I'm starting to photograph my modest collection and thought these might be useful to someone. Currently sorting through a bulk bag of Champions I bought from Bob Block. These are the orange ones: A lot of variation in the amount of base colour showing and how well defined the pattern is, but you couldn't call the swirls very strongly defined on any of my sample.

I've been trying to read up on the WV swirlies, and I'm not sure I have much more of an idea of who made what than when I started! It looks a lot like a photo of a couple of Heaton's I was looking at a couple of days back, but I've seen photos of Ravenswood that aren't dissimilar in colour combination.

Nice sets of whiskers on both

The coat is Belgian - but the hat is from your side of the pond. I had it custom made for me by a wonderful hatter in Eugene, Oregon. I think I've got about 30 hats (a sensible number compared to the amount of marbles I've been picking up ).

Those are looking good.

If hats are cool I'd better post a picture with a hat Richard. Newcomer to the world of marbles and no strong preference for machine made or hand made so far and just buying what interests me / has aesthetic appeal. No interest in rarity at the moment - I'd rather have a set of nice looking sunbursts than a sulphide (each to their own ).

Sorry to hear Steph. Thoughts are with you.

Lovely photo. Not something we ever see over here, although these summer visitors are often mistaken for them: https://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/funfactsandarticles/watchingbirds/identify/hummingbirdhawkmoth/

Thanks Winnie - so orange peel might at least be a pointer towards French.

I would say that's a perfect match I must count how many I've got (they came in a generic non-marble drawstring bag rather than a nice box).

You could have found a buckle with an easier brand name to search for The buckle looks 50's to me but I'm no expert and I think the company was in existence from 30's to 70's. A belt buckle collectors site might help (yes there are odd people who collect strange things such as belt buckles rather than sensible things like marbles...).

Hi Steph - no calipers (must get a pair) but I'd estimate fairly standard 5/8ths. I no it's a long shot

You've all been so good at identifying mysteries... I've no idea whether these solids that came as part of a lot can be identified (I'm only guessing that they're all the same maker): Is the colour range in anyway indicative? I was hazarding a guess at Vitro.

Lovely shot

Yes they're not the finest finished marbles in the world, but they have a naive charm. I don't know whether they're distinctive enough to separate from say Dutch marbles (Any thoughts Winnie?).

Thanks Winnie. I don't know whether any of the numerous small glassworks in the South of France produced marbles as a sideline. Large scale production in Europe definitely died after the war.

These patience testing ball games seem very popular in France - mainly ball bearings or white beads but some use what we'd consider 'marbles': http://www.jeuxanciensdecollection.com/pages/Les_petits_jeux_dadresse_a_billes_jeux_de_poche_-8652315.html