The Nickel Guy

Not to worry. Oh, I think I'm familiar with the handful of links. It would cost a fortune to collect small batches of all the runs that might be available, Fun yes, but awful expensive. My point is that the samplings are just that and really don't always represent the bigger picture.

Marbles in soup

First off, I just think they are cool bean marbles. However, I am totally lost when it comes to identifying them by run. For one thing, they seem to start out as one kind of marble and thousands later they have morphed into something completely different. The first marbles in the making look absolutely nothing like those at the end. ( At least quite often ) So they get a name for the day, not so much for what they look like I suppose. We see a group of perhaps 15, 16, 20 or 25 of a run packaged together from a particular run and are identified but another box from the same run could look like a completely different assortment. Here's my issue, I wish somehow, I could just put them all in a bag, all mixed up, regardless of the runs and years etc and say here's my Jabo collection. And over here, these are my Sammy's, and these are Dave's in this box. But . . . it seems taboo to mix them up. They must reside together forever in their little pigeon holes, identified and boxed up forever as such and such. If I ever did let them loose, and then herd them up together they would be free and actually, I would not know the difference anyhow. To me they all look pretty neat and different than the next. I would actually rather collect these individually, rather than by a small sampling from a run. It was just my thoughts.

Sortitallout You sure have some nice marbles.

I could never sell those personally. Funny, I just bought some marbles and there were some jacks in the mix. I often see dice amidst marble collections. I have a small lot of those too.

Thank you Alan. Excellent pictures and info. You're a rock star!

Probably found in Pennsylvania. I could just see a little kid picking it up with some better rocks that were in the balast along the tracks. ( I did get a few other rocks with it) I do think it might be Ferrosilicon after reading a thread on a rock tumbler thread. In PA we have had steel mills and foundries and that particular alloy is used in the making of diverse steels. Just a guess as pictures are pictures. It is quite light as the silicons are. These were found by others along RR tracks in that forum and we have many RR tracks going to mills with hopper cars. I am Sgt. Shultz, I know nothing. But I bet that it is a silicon now. Wish it were platinum.

Maybe it's graphite or silicon. Just tried that image search thing on google and it is showing similar stuff. I have loose graphite which would make a mess just touching it but this does not make my fingers black. Thanks for your response. Don't work too hard on pictures Alan just for this thread unless you want to.

I have never seen pieces of this mineral and have no idea if it is common but I did get a small rock collection mixed in the marbles. I got a nice pieces of turquoise too and some huge prehistoric jacks and a no longer bouncing ball that probably went with the jacks. But here are 4 substantial size minerals that are shiny and have little facets all over the surface as if they were crystals. It very much resembles aluminum foil that is crinkled up and crushed or pyrite but this is very silvery. My best guess is they are Mica and this might be the stuff makers use that we see in handmade marbles.

.64 inches approx in diameter and a solid opaque black base.

Thanks a lot but did you see the link Akroorka? Uncanny how it almost looks like my marble. That is a CAC. Here's a pic of a Poison Dart Frog I found. NOT MINE (off etsy) Yes, my first image looks a lot like that but the newer pics are much more refined.

A tiny bounce off the table surface (not enough to cause any damage) tells me it is not clay but has a glass or china porcelain feel to it. The smaller blue and clear Germans could have been easily tossed as damaged clearies with the lack of decoration here in these which is not easy to see in hand under room lighting. The image really brought out what is going on with the design. The larger is in quite nice condition.

That is all news to me that I have learned in the last couple days. Previously I had thought that Jabo made unnamed classic 5/8 marbles and later Jabo, D.A.S., and SMM etc. produced named runs. Now I know Jabo had production marbles for sale everywhere with no named runs initially. I also learned a little while back they made all kinds of sized marbles. I suppose that Jabo evolved into making special contract runs. Quite creative and smart marketing. Things are starting to "click" for me. Thank you!

updated images in previous post.

LATE EDIT: and here's some pretty good pictures.

Looks like a sharply defined swirl. Caramel colored or peanut butter on solid black base. First picture shows sharpness and it has design on one side only. My picture isn't all that great. LATE EDIT: I think I identified this with some looking a bit ago. Compare LINK I had titled this A Better Ravenwood swirl? But changed it at edit. Much better images in a few posts below. I Second image shows it is actually a two or even three toned stripe. Wonder who made it? Thanks!

Transparent green base. I have 4 or 5 that look like siblings. Looked around at all Stephen Bahr's videos w/o any luck These really jump out in the crowd. As always, Thank You!

Here's the 3/4 inch one with the red Akroorka You can see the smaller one with the circles here as well. I have a picture of the three German Handmade mibs too.

I am beginning to understand much better. Ah ha! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and respond so clearly. I was not aware that Jabo might have made marbles simply for sale.

Thank you for the responses. I believe that if I look around I can find there is no name for these 1 inchers, just a year if I recall and I can find the date. At least for the green ones. I'll follow up later. I have quite a few of this run already. 3 different sources I think so there must be a lot of them around. I'll be back with more info in the near future. I'm tired.

It's 3 marks that make it a flower I suppose, very much like this one. Eventually that link will disappear since it is an auction lot image. I will show a better image later. I am wiggin out at this point. Sorted em al just about and there were very few damaged bad enough to pull for the junk box.

Isn't it funny that I picked that one right out of the bunch as most interesting? Thank you all. Very excited about getting it.

There were a dozen or so 1 inch marbles in a lot I bought this morning. You can see them in this picture and some shooter cats too but I am mainly guessing the green colored and orange/peach ones are Jabo. One in the bottom is a Vacor, I am sure. The big red and yellow are 1.15 inches. Maybe early Jabo boulders? What say ye? and Thank you kindly!

Was titled (Very Busy swirls. Kind of thin and zig zaggy.) Green and Blue on White. Certainly has an old look to it. My guess is Peltier but hey, that's why I'm here asking. I think it is cool. I have nothing else like it in my collection so far.

Not the greatest "score" but I am quite happy and so is the guy I paid for this lot of marbles. So many clearies and game marbles, a fair amount of cats but there are some neat marbles in here. This is how it looked when I came in the door this morning. Closer looks Those big red and yellow ones are about 1.15 inches. Three German and two porcelain in here but only tw are exceptionally nice. The rest are dyed clays and a few Benningtons. Cats below. Here's after they got a bath and sorted to some degree.