wvrons

Cairo Novelty does have some marbles that glow but I don't think it is from the dirty white Vitrolite cullet. I am not sure that I ever found any of the dirty white Vitrolite cullet at the Heaton or Cairo sites. But that is from memory and it is getting old. I did bring home 3 or 4 different shades of white Vitrolite this last two years from the Heaton site. None of it glowed. But I don't have examples of everything there. There could be small amounts of the dirty Vitrolite at Heaton or Cairo ? But I have no doubts the majority went to Jackson, Playrite and Davis. These three were also not located in Cairo. All three were located just outside Pennsboro. In the mid 1940's US RT50 was a crooked, two lane, very steep hilly road from Vienna(Parkersburg)to Ritchie county WV. It was a long, about 50+ miles each way trip with a load of cullet in a single axle dump truck along with all the other tractor trailers on this route. Jackson, Playrite and Davis were much smaller operations than the others. They were close together and making very similar marbles, some the exact same. So I think they likely shared one dump truck load of this certain Vitrolite cullet. Vitrolite may have had a batch they did not like or turn out as expected. So they sold it, maybe all of it, to Jackson, Playrite and Davis. I doubt that the dump truck would have made the trip from Rt50 into the town of Cairo for delivery of a few hundred pounds of this dirty white cullet. The road into Cairo is lots worse than Rt50.

I think that marble is a Jackson. We did find some Jackson marbles there. This was the main or most often Jackson found there. There are different shades of this blue Jackson. Sometimes depends on how thick or thin the blue was or how much the white is in with the blue. We also found a few Davis at the Cairo site. Most of the Davis were the clear base and twisted yellow almost cat eye. A few of the coke bottle green and brown Davis were found there. These people from Heaton, Cairo, Davis, Playrite and Jackson were neighbors. All were related except Carrol Jackson. All during the same time frame. I am sure they helped each other. We know for sure that the Heaton site had marbles from at least six other companies. The Jackson and Davis sites were not contaminated with any other companies marbles. These are the clear base Jacksons with the dirty white Vitrolite cullet and blue swirl. The dirty white Vitrolite glass will glow. Many Jacksons have this dirty white Vitrolite cullet used in them. These can be found in all the original Jacksons mesh bags. The blue will vary but the dirty white Vitrolite is near the same and always glows bright. I think Jackson, Playrite and Davis all shared probably one dump truck load of this dirty white Vitrolite cullet. I have never seen it at any other marble site or used in any other marbles other than these three companies. This is a plus in identifying 40% of those three companies marbles. Not all the marbles they produced glow. But 40% of all the Jackson, Playrite and Davis, glow bright because of this odd or rare Vitrolite cullet used. This dirty white is a give away for me spotting these companies marbles. Jacksons

Ric, check and see if that top left white base and blue swirl glows ?

Will Ebay ban him ?

CAC for me.

Looks Imperial.

Unless you have proven known examples to compare with in hand. About 98% of the two color transparent swirls are almost impossible to identify accurate. People can put a id to them but how accurate is it ? So many millions or billions were made so similar by so many companies. Because they were the cheapest and easier to produce. All the above is why 98% of them have very little value.

Any Superman is Superman colors blue base with red and yellow. There are several companies now with named Superman marbles. Some companies have more than one marble named Superman. I am not sure how many different Jabos are now named Superman ? It was so much simpler when only one or two marbles had the same name. It is even better when only one certain marble has one name not used for other companies marbles. But everyone wanted their marble to have a name. Now no one has a master list of all the named USA made marbles. I couldn't even keep up with all the named Vacor marbles. Years ago most named marbles meat something special, not so today. Say " I found a nice Superman today" and it could be a $300.00 marble or a $0.50 cents marble. If it is blue red and yellow call it a Superman. That is all the Superman name means today.

Jackson A BIG Key to Jacksons is learning which ones glow. Once you learn those, the ones that glow are easily spotted in any group of WV swirls. The ones which do not glow are a problem separating from other WV swirl companies. All the Jacksons which glow were made with a very limited Vitrolite cullet. It is a dirty white or cream colored white Vitrolite that glows bright. I think that Jackson and Davis probably shared a dump truck load of this limited Vitrolite cullet. Every marble company in WV used Vitrolite cullet, but only Jackson and Davis had or used this certain dirty white glowing Vitrolite cullet. Just a touch of history. A friend of mine, Jack Ash got his first job out of high school about 1964. with George Murphy. That job was dumping Jackson mesh bags of marbles. George Murphy was the owner of the previous Jackson marble site. He owned a Ford car dealership there. George wanted to use the current garage bay for a auto paint booth. Because they wanted to add another garage bay onto the building. Jack was told to get rid of the the carboard boxes full with mesh bags of Jackson marbles. Jack took those full boxes with the mesh bags of marbles outside where they would later add more onto the building. He cut the boxes open and poured out the bags on the ground. Each cardboard box contained about four dozen mesh bags of marbles. He said that he could have filled my pickup truck bed with the full boxes. Within a couple weeks all the mesh bags of marbles had new concrete poured over top of them. His next clean out was to remove five 55 gallon metal drums of Jackson marbles from the same garage bay. He put the drums one at a time on a cart and took them across the road and dumped them in a ditch alongside of US Rt.50. That ditch was later filled in and rerouted. The marbles from about four of those drums has been excavated and in the hands of collectors all over. Jacks next clean out job was to take all the remaining loose and misc. Jackson marbles out and dump them behind the building. About 98% of all those marbles have been excavated and in collectors hands all over. Every site has many different reasons marbles were discarded or dumped into the ground. When they were dumped they had no value, just taking up space. The similar thing happened at Ravenswood. Drums and boxes of ready to ship marbles sat in the factory until about 1983-86. These marbles were ones that could not even be sold or get a bid during two earlier years auctions. So the new owners wanted to rent the building out for storage. So they hired two neighbors with a pickup truck to remove the marbles and haul them down to the riverbank. They dumped all the full drums and boxes of marbles over the river bank. About 99% of those marbles has been excavated and in collectors hands. Yes, each and every marble company site had mint ready to sell marbles dumped onto the ground. In the 1960's-1970's-early 1980's most machine marbles were a problem, not any asset. Collectors today have trouble realizing that the marbles were cheap toys. They were cheap to make, hundreds for a penny and sold cheap. Made at 200-250 per minute, 24hrs. a day, seven days a week, if the orders were there. I could go on for hours or days with different marble sites history. As some know and have heard, and some think I should be quiet. Enough for now, but just a little info that some may have not heard or know today. Jackson and or Davis history and details can be lengthy. I talked with Wilson Davis many times. He passed away a couple years ago. As with the so many, who were good friends, and willing to share their time with me and all my never ending questions. American Machine Made Marbles(blue book)by Mike Johnson and Susie Metzler is the BEST marble book for the history of WV marble companies. Lots of years and many peoples work into this book.

Maybe it is the lighting ? But the white does not look opaque here. It looks more translucent. The poles should match or all same base for Whitie. The original looks like the two poles are different. One Pole looks slightly green, also a pattern on both poles. Whites have no pattern or lines on the poles. The older Whities are nice quality opaque white base. The later newer Whities have a clear base and the stripe colors are thin and weaker. I would also think the op is some the of the last Vitro from Anacortes WA .

#1 Clear base and lavender +Vitro Conque #2 Clear base, yellow orange and green = Vitro #3 Foreign Cat Eye #4 White base blue Akro Cork I didn't see any Tiger Eye.

I am not 100% sure of Jabo. I threw it out there for consideration. Need some more opinions.

Jabo

I get a Jabo feeling for both. Something about the way that brown is thinning out reminds me of many Jabos.

The marble machine rolls just make the marble round. The spinner cup turned fast and it also spun the marble round. Maybe the glass glob already twisted and some rounded was dropped half way down the rolls. Because it was not necessary to have the marble travel the full length the rolls for rounding and cooling. Short rolls were used early one and in recent years. But the longer rolls help round the marble more and also allow more cooling time, which hardens it. When most companies made marble flats or gems, they used very short rolls about 12-18 inches long. The round glob or marble was yet hot. The marbles would fall from the short rolls down to near the center of a large flat thick steel rotating disc. When the hot marbles hit the disc that makes one side or about half of the marble flat. The then flats or gems rotated around on the disc until they worked their way to the outside edge of the disc and then fell off into bucket or catch container. Excavated Akro corkscrew spinner cup.

I agree. I think that I see the normal orange peel.

A really odd base color for Akro or Peltier. I may have to agree with Alley.

The Vitro looks like an attempt to polish. You cannot polish Vitro's. Or any veneered marbles. Just a short attempt at any grinding or polishing and the color is gone. Looks like someone found this out, Stopped the polishing, never did the final stage polish. Because it would be a waste of time with the colors already altered. The other two marbles look a little dull due to age with normal play ware. A rock tumbler is death to glass marbles. I have seen different media used in rock tumblers to polish marbles . I tried rock tumblers many times in my early years. They broke marbles each and every time. Even with walnut hulls for polishing, marbles will break. Sometime during the tumbling the marbles will bang together and break. It is possible for water to etch glass marbles. But not much in normal water. I have pulled many hundreds from WV streams and the Ohio river where marbles had been there for 50-75 years, and many or most will be mint. Plenty other witnesses also to this. Salt water and chemicals, etc in water can etch glass marbles.

Just by the pictures. From what I saw in 2019 at several different shows, about $125.00 sold and asking $150.00-$175.00.

I do not see anything worth $1.00 .

About $1.00-$2.00 is ok. Some go higher but most do not.

I agree

I agree

The size right at the start throws up flags. Best chance is Jabo. Second might be Alley. Third and doubtful would be CAC. I have collected over twenty years and only owned about 12-15, 3/4 inch or above CAC marbles(other than slags). I have seen a few 3/4 CAC flames but I don't remember any over 3/4 inch.

There is a variety of Bloodies. Peltier Bloodies, CAC Bloodies, and collectors have a wide range of what they now label Bloodies. Another name that has been stretched enough that it has lost a lot of its original value and meaning.