Alan

How much do you want for just the toxins? Maybe some uranium oxide? :ph34r:

I'm hoping so. I received my invitation from Bert today. Quite a hike for me - but I always enjoy that show. Its also handmade territory

I recall someone doing that on Ebay. Postage on dirt seems more style than substance to me.

No - to the Mark Matthews speculation. I understand why you mention this, but it isn't Mark's work. I agree with Sue's observation that it bears some similarities to Richard Clark's work - but the odd amount and placement of clear and the egg shape doesn't seem to me something Richard would circulate. Examples of Richard's work: Based upon appearance alone - I'll speculate that it is someone's early attempt at marble-making.

I would refer to that contemporary torch-made type as "wound" - not "horizontal" (which refers to a different type of marble).

I fried a LOT of marbles when I was a kid. Far more than my share.

Thanks Steph. Possibly these: Although this free one has always had a special place in my heart.

As that post was 2.5 years ago - I'm not sure where that thread is.

Ann: Are you referring to this piece? If so - it is Doug Sweet/Karuna Glass. It is a variant of his packed murrini - with an etched stars outer surface that form windows through which you can view the murrini. Sort of like a kaleidoscope. He may still make them.

A few of mine:

I have been through three piles of roughly 2,500 marbles and all of them were mint. I consider that sample and those amounts to be a miniscule representation of the overall production amount. I know that there are problem marbles that come out of every production - but given that production numbers for a run are said to be >250,000 - 300,000 - there would seem to be room to sort and dispose of problem marbles. And since there are contemporary glass workers that use problem marbles from these runs for their work - there is a good channel for less than mint/round mistakes.

Joker run marbles can be had at most shows for $2-3 each if you buy several. They were made in very large quantities and judging from what I have seen - there are people with many, many thousands put away.

Based on those photos - I would say "torched cullet". You can see the spirals where the punty was twisted off.

Are you using a web host for your photo - such as Photobucket? If not - sign up for a Photobucket.com account. Then upload the photos from our pc to Photobucket (the user interface is easy and self-explanatory. Then copy and paste the resulting <img> code you'll see on the 3rd link line into your post here. The photo will appear in your post. Give that a shot and post again if you have difficulty.

The only thing I have close to it (the lavender and goldstone on a transparent base) is an unsigned torch piece that I believe to be (but cannot confirm) a John Hamon Miller. The use of lavender/goldstone is not a common combination among artists.

They are Gerry Coleman pieces.

I plan to be there!

Matthews: This is as close to Sunset as I can manage:

In uranium glass:

I grow giant pumpkins. Those fine people behave like mature gentlemen and ladies.

Not sure why that is. I've never had a problem before. I'll look into it. My email PM'ed to you