Alan

Does anyone know if there was employee migration between Ravenswood and Heaton?

Handmades wholesaled at box of 100 at 20 cents. Simple designs would be 2- or 3 for 1 cent. Better designs would be 1 cent each. Paying more than 1 cent would be considered absurd.

Marbles were easily disposable kid's toys. Machine mades sold for 1 cent - or less. They were produced in staggeringly huge quantities. Identification, grading and value are best and most easily learned at shows where you can handle marbles, look at them from multiple angles, study color, transparency, opacity and variations between same types. Value is driven sharply by type, grading, current popularity, availability and the motivation of the seller. Learning grading from photos is like running a footrace carrying 80 lbs ballast: you could (sort of) - but why try to do it with such a pronounced handicap? Handle enough polished marbles and you can do it as well by feel as you can by vision. You can pick up a HUGE amount of experience and insight in two days (and nights!) at a good show.

Thats interesting in two ways: 1. I never saw anything on the plant slab that would have suggested this. Also - nothing in the office building, the back hill (used lightly as a dump) or the dump area uphill on the road that showed any casting waste. 2. That road to the site is narrow and doesn't seem to be suitable for moving 50 tones of casting each day by large truck. I guess they went out by rail off the spur.

http://buckeyemarble.com/august.htm

Sorry - the initials don't ring a bell for me. Nor does the raking to the pontil.

Over a decade ago, I supplied a large amount of marbles to a builder whose client wanted them in a custom kitchen countertop. It has been done - no problem with supply. Owning a swimming pool - you don't want anything but a smooth, continuous pool surface. It would make cleaning a giant pain. Especially in Spring and the height of summer temps.

Place it in a shallow glass of water just covering the piece.

I have never seen the heart before. Its a contemp.

I wish I could be of more help. My thought first went to Jim Cooprider - not due to style...just memory kicking in. Thing is - my recollection is that Jim was a torch worker. This is a tank, cane construction piece. Now that should allow us to sort most "JC" artists out - because most makers are torch workers. The other challenge is that the construction is fairly unremarkable. A lot of artists made pieces that look like this. The construction is fairly straightforward and the glass is standard. No artist-specific styles or techniques shown. Wish I could be of more help. Alan

Maybe if you put an arrow on the photo showing the Onionskin construction, it will help point it out. I assume when you wrote "Mifoi" - you mean 'Millefiori'. I've never heard of a vintage cane handmade marble in which millefiori was included.