wvrons

L. E. Alley while at Pennsboro had cardboard in the bottom of his shoes to cover the holes. There were months that he could not make payroll for the employees. But they all stayed working for him with faith that he would make enough to pay them in the future. Then Jack Pressman came to Alley for Chinese Checker marbles. In no time Alley paid all the employees their back pay and extra. Not long and he had to move to St.Marys WV for a much larger building and many more machines to make game marbles. He could not keep up with the orders. The first marble machine at St.Marys in late 1936 was making 125,000 marbles per day. Ten machines which Alley later had, could produce five million marbles in two days. Local newspaper reported that 750,000 marbles per day were made at St.Marys in 1937 with four machines. In 1938 they were making 2 million marbles per day. In 1940 National Geographic reported that the Alley marble factory in St.Marys WV "can turn out 2,625,000 marbles a day". This factory shipped 14 million Chinese Checker marbles in six days. Yes Alley made Chinese Checker marbles. These are that marbles that put Alley over the top and in the plus column for life. Due to health issues the St.Marys factory and all contents were sold June 1, 1949 to Berry Pink and Sellers Peltier the son of Victor Peltier(founded Peltier Co.) . Which became Marble King corp. June 24,1949. Who also produced Chinese checker marbles. January 1958 a fire destroyed the factory at St.Marys WV.

That is a Vitro Salesman Sample case. That is what I call rare. I have no proof of exactly what a Vitro DuLite marble is or looks like. It may have been a certain type style or group ? Good chance of a lesser Tri-Lite or less colors than a Tri- Lite. I have never found seen or heard of one of these Vitro Salesman Sample cases being for sale. So for now I assume there were not very many made. It is very high on my marble wish list. I better buy some more lottery tickets. Both about the same odds.

Home made wine and Sistersville show = Junior Ice or Sonny Miller. With the marble made from cullet it would be Sonny Miller. He always setup in front of the only hotel in Sistersville. I never missed a single Sistersville show. That is where I bought my first marbles, Ravenswood's. From Faye Safreed, her father was the main person or employee at Ravenswood Novelty since the first day until it closed. I always talked my parents into buying my marbles as a kid. Sistersville was my start with collecting and researching marbles. Then my fist research and questions began and Sammy Hogue appeared, and the next 25 years is history.

I heard the names Hot Wheels and Hot Tamale before I had any info about Charlie Stutsman. Local around Pennsboro and most shows. The Hot Wheels were what Stutsman called Pumpkins. The Hot Tamale were what Charlie Stutsman called Red Clouds. I never heard of Charlie Stutsman much except by David Chamberlain. I also bought one of the sets of Champion marbles by Charlie Stutsman. Unless you bought marbles from Charlie, most collectors probably never heard his names for Champions. But probably many also never heard the Hot Wheels or Hot Tamale names. Yes when more than one company has a different marble with the same name it makes things more difficult. How many different marbles are named or called Superman ? Now any marble with blue, red and yellow is a Superman. This week I saw a marble pictured for id and they ask if it was a Superman ? It was just a yellow base with red. Not even any blue.

I agree all above that the blue one is contemporary torch made. Not MFC. It is just wrong for MFC, wrong twist, white all on the inside, the bubbles, etc.

Vitro Opals. There are different color combinations.

I agree with both of you ! It is not a wirepull. I always agree to Marble On ! If we never disagree, then we all, know it all and I will find another hobby. But no worries about that.

What about the Champion Hot Tamale ?

A true Vitro Buttermilk has the buttermilk yellow along with red and blue. Don't confuse the buttermilk name with other Vitro marbles. For a while any Vitro with any yellow was labeled Buttermilk. It took three years for that to let up. The Buttermilk name came from Vitro employees, according to a past Vienna WV Vitro employee. The majority were made at the original Vienna WV Vitro site. Some may have been carried over early and also made at the Parkersburg site. As with many of the nice Tri- Lites.

Du-Lites are labeled in the Vitro Salesman sample set. I have only seen two of these Vitro Salesman sample sets. If I remember correct, one belongs to Chuck and Diane Brandstetter and the other belongs to Gary Traugh in Parkersburg WV.

No black. Just opaque white base and yellow cork. OPAQUE white base and yellow cork. Black or another color changes everything.

Yes I am Ron. West Virginia Ron Shepherd. I would like to post pictures of the Davis dig. But as with most of my dig pictures. They were taken on floppy disc which now cannot be opened to view. I have had a few IT computer people try but no luck at all. They are probably lost forever. I do have some prints from the past. Never rely on electronic devices to save pictures or memories for the future. Ask people who have had free service and storage space on the internet for pictures. Or improved and better put them in a cloud and then wait for the storm. I have posted pictures of Davis marbles here and other chat boards probably at least yearly since the dig probably 15 years ago. The marbles are nothing fancy, just rare. They are pictured in Everett Grist 3rd and 4th edition marble books. Here are a few The cream dirty white and orange/red. The cream white glows bright. These are very close Jacksons. The same Vitrolite cream white cullet. But the Davis are more to the orange side and usually more narrow swirls or ribbons than Jacksons. The one below is brown Vitrolite cullet and green Coke bottle glass cullet. The one below is a nice lavender purple and slight transparent blue. Next is transparent blue base and the glowing cream dirty white Vitrolite cullet. Almost the exact same as some Jacksons. Below is the transparent flesh colored base and white. Like many Ravenswood and some Champions or Alox. But the white is the cream dirty white Vitrlolite. Which the white will glow bright. Transparent light green, probably thin Coke bottle glass, with lavender purple. Transparent green with small amount if white more on the inside. An Another blue and lavender purple. Another glowing cream dirty white and orange/red. Many Davis of this color combo have double orange/red swirls or double ribbons. You will find some of these in Ric's earlier box pictures above. The clear base and twisted yellow ones glow bright orange. Separating WV swirls, sometimes requires a black light. Some can have the same exact looking colors. But a marble from one company may glow and a marble from another company which looks the same will not glow.

I was one of the lucky five who got to dig Davis marbles. Plus we dug every last marble and every scrap of cullet. It took over three years to get permission from Wilson to dig the site. Even he did not remember what they looked like. He had none of the marbles. Wilson Davis passed away last year. I visited with him and his wife in their home a few times. When we finished we gave Wilson a oak display box 12 x 18 inches filled with marbles he and his father had made. He had tears in his eyes. Want to hunt a rare marble, find a Davis Marble Works marble. I find four to a dozen a year, most times nine or ten marble shows a year. Most of, but not all of the Davis production did go to Puerto Rico. The marbles were in red mesh bags with a red header that said Davis Marbles in black letters. They were a free give away, a premium if you bought a certain doll. Buy the doll and get a free bag of marbles. Davis only made about ten or twelve different color combinations. Some certain ones glow and some do not. Some were made using Coke bottle cullet. Once they are learned, several Davis marbles can be spotted easy in a group of swirls.

I agree go find three opaque white base and yellow corks in the next year. Sounds easy, try it, I have. You will find opaque white base and yellow corks are small numbers. Probably just a planned experimental short run LOL !!!!!!!!!! It has to be opaque white, no light shines through anywhere.

I agree with Ric on the hybrids. It usually occurs during color change or switch. The last of one color and the beginning of the next color. There is usually no clean break or stoppage between different colors. It is best to keep all the equipment running steady and as long as possible. If shut down, it cools which can cause all kinds of problems including rust. Many of the first marbles made after a several hours shut down will be trash. Everything needs to get up to operating temperatures. The machine rolls usually get heat from the hot glass marbles rolling across them. What is a run ? When does a run end ? Is it a certain color ? Is it a certain size ? Is it a certain amount of weight ? Or when the equipment is shut down for a extended period ? I agree a single run could be four hours, four days, or four weeks. That can all depend on the need. The term run got popular with the Jabo special investor runs. Most of these were done by weight or time. Investors paid for a certain amount of time or weight. But even then the equipment many times continued to run or make marbles for days ahead, after the investor run was ended. The investors time or run was ended and those colors stopped. Next could have been game marbles or industrial marbles. Unless you were present, how would you know what marbles were the last ? Is end of run the last 100 or the last 1000 marbles ? One minute can produce 250 or more marbles. Some like end of day with handmade marbles. What is end of day ? Is it the last marble off of the last cane of the day ? Most of what I see labeled end of day, look to me like first off of cane. The colors usually do not reach all the way to the end of the marble. Most times the end of cane is so small that it is discarded. There would or could be hundreds of canes made per day. Some say that the workers at the end of the day would add the left over colors all together and make a end of day marble. I have to wonder about that, if it happened very often or daily. Why would they not use that left over colored glass of the day, for the next day, or next week ? I have seen very few if any handmades that I thought were a mix of colors that were used all throughout the day. I have lots of concerns around anyone selling a marble as end of run, end of day and other marble terms. Many times the term is nothing but just a sales pitch to raise the price and make a buyer pay more attention to or want the marble more. Look at the marble, buy the marble, not the sellers sales pitch. It is good to listen but it may not always be 100% true or accurate. The more rare, the more special, the less numbers, the more different, the more attention the marble gets. The more the price goes up. This can be true or maybe not ? Many times rare or less numbers can depend on the area. Peltiers are lots more rare in WV than in IL. Jabo marbles are more rare and less in AZ than they are in OH. If you buy based on what a seller says alone, it is a gamble. Use any name, label or term with a marble you want. But some may throw red flags up to some people. It can be a way to judge how experienced a collector or seller is . Sometimes just how honest the person or seller is. I hate it when someone brags to me that they have collected, bought and sold for twenty years. Then they try to sell me a newer Vacor as vintage. Or try to tell me how this one single machine made marble was made special on purpose and there is only one. Next is well maybe there were six or a dozen made. Then after they get in deep, I explain a few things. Then they always say how do you know that ? Next is who are you ? Then they get quiet and no more sales pitch. I like it better when the seller lets me ask the questions. Maybe I will learn something and maybe they will also ? In over twenty five years, I have never had the need to ask if a marble was the end of a run or end of the day. First off of cane or same cane, yes .

That blue, orange/ yellow is found regular. Some people called it or named it Cornflower years ago.

They are still marbles and marbles are made to make smiles. That can happen in many different ways.

Most have a few more colors than the one above. I I need to photograph a lot more of my Vitros. Maybe a day or two when the snow flies again ? I thought that I had more pictures of Opals.

Yes

Pennsboro WV Glass Factory Hallow. The Pennsboro WV Alley factory building sometime 1915-1935. There were five different major glass companies here all at the same time. The Alley building was by far the smallest. I think that I double posted the green swirl.

All newer modern, All foreign to the US. Some from Mexico. Many are Asian or packaged by Imperial. Anything special no. Most are one cent to a dime each. The clear red/ blue yellow foreign to the US cat eyes may have a little more value ? No collector value. Most collectors give these away free to kids.

Design ? I guess design might be type ? Corkscrew, swirl, patch, ribbon, patch & ribbon, hand made, machine made, etc. No machine made will have any initials. Machine made marbles were made at 250 per minute 24 hrs. a day 7 days a week on each machine, by many companies. There are billions of them. Stone marbles. Clay marbles. Glass marbles. Old vintage antique hand made marbles. Transitional hand made marbles. Machine made marbles. Furnace or tank modern contemporary made marbles. Modern torch made marbles. Wooden marbles. Bakelite marbles. Sewer tile marbles. Plastic marbles. Plastic marbles. All made in different countries.

As most know, I have been digging marbles for twenty five years in WV, OH, and MO. There were pictures posted here of many past years of digging marbles. It can be fun, exciting, time, money, work and lots of effort. Then after they are dug the work begins again cleaning them. None of them are free.

I have seen a lot of the bags with this very near same or similar mix. I have never seen a bag with nothing but Champion swirls. Or nothing but swirls and game marbles or colored transparent clearies. Very good chance that Stutsman bought bags and a variety of companies marbles from Champion.