wvrons

Bogard banana cats.

Size #4

I believe they are Alley.

#1 = Alley #2 = Alley #3 = Marble King #4 = Alley #5 = Champion

Thanks for posting this Griff !

The Alley pistachio is a distinct marble. To be a true Alley pistachio it should glow under black light. There is no other Alley that I know of with this certain green base and the black swirls or flames that glows under black light. There is no other Alley that fits the correct colors and glows. This is a family of one not 10 or 20 variants that might be some other green and black dark purple or purple. Ron's pictures above are true Alley Pistachio. Now almost every green and black or dark purple swirl on ebay is a Alley pistachio. Alley also made a almost or exact match to the pieces in Craig's pictures from Christensen.

I am not so sure about that.

So sorry to hear this. I had hopes of seeing him again at this past Decatur show. But he was not able. Wow what a loss. Rest in Peace Gino. Collectors are going to miss his knowledge of Peltier.

Everyone have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving !!!!!!

Ok Thanks Galen. Maybe Akro oxblood reacts totally marbles different than others. I think other companies oxblood does work with contemporary marbles. I have some Vitrolite oxblood tiles that has been used and worked in contemporary marbles. It was probably made from scratch or as batch glass in the 1920-1930's. It visually looks the same as Akro to me. I think Andy Davis has remelted Marble King oxblood into contemporary marbles and items. I had a dug piece about 5-6lbs.of MK which looked oxblood. If i had five pounds or even one pound of Akro oxblood i would find someone to reheat it. But who would want to sacrifice their Akro oxblood cullet ? Maybe someone who has worked with Akro oxblood will post. Boyce Lundstrum made Sam Hogue some batch oxbood . Sammy used it or reheated it to make solid oxblood marbles. It just seemed odd that other batch made oxblood glass has been reheated with success. But not or very little Akro oxblood as it turns brownish. If i find someone around Clarksburg with Akro oxblood ? I will put Sammy Andy or Eddie to work with it. I will add the Vitrolite solid oxblood to a big furnace for machine made marbles someday hopefully by spring.

It is 5/8. I think if you touch oxblood with a three head grinder polisher. The oxblood will disappear or have holes show up quick. The oxblood is usually on the surface and thin. It will not survive much grinding or polishing.

I was sure and would have bet money that four or five years ago when i posted this marble here. That Galen told me this Oxblood popeye was not made by Akro. That it was a remake or the Oxblood was added later. I was sure Scott took credit for making it and in that post or told me later that he used Akro oxblood in making the marble. I do not know but it would be nice to know if Akro oxblood can be heated or remelted and look like oxblood ?

I do not know how Akro made oxblood glass or got it into their glass items. But this speculating has me asking questions as usual. So they made batches of oxblood glass that were used in making marbles. Is this the same oxblood that was also used in the Akroware pieces vases pots dishes etc. ? Akro oxblood cullet turns brownish when reheated at it lowest temp with a torch. I thought Scott and a few others added Akro oxblood to contemporary made marbles ? I have a popeye with oxblood which he said that he made ? A trip to the furnace makes it unidentifiabe as oxblood glass. I assume that it is a trip into the main furnace or base glass. Would not the small furnaces feeding the main furnace or tank be the same or near the same temp as the main furnace ? Maybe you are saying that a return trip later to a furnace after it was solid that makes it unidentifiable as oxblood ? think what you what are saying is that once the Akro oxblood glass was cooked or made in a seperate furnace and then feed to a main furnance stream and made into solid glass.That it cannot be reheated later and look like oxblood ? But people have been accused of doing this and stated that they have done it ? Akro cullet turns a brownish when reheated even at its lowest melting temp with a torch. So you cannot reheat Akro Oxblood with a torch and have it look like Oxblood ? A trip to the furnace makes it unidentifiable as Oxblood glass. So you cannot reheat Akro Oxblood in a furnace and have it look like Oxblood ? So Akro Oxblood glass cannot be reheated and look like Oxblood ? Good to know.

The Alox machine pictured earlier is the only Alox machine that has survived to date. It sat in the woods uncovered for around 15-20 years maybe longer ? Nancy Frier purchased the machine and brought it to Jabo in Reno OH. Her father and grandfather owned and ran Alox. It was impossible to try and run it in the condition which it arrived. So most all of it was disassemebled cleaned derusted and reassemeled. Nancy wanted to have the machine make marbles one more time before her father passed,which he did later. She invited families with marble ties connected to Alox or the machine to be present when the machine made marbles. Those were Frank and Ruby Sellers(L.E. Alley) Chuck Cox his sister Rae Weekley and husband(Ravenswood),Nancy Frier(Alox). Plus Dave McCullogh Richard&Ronnie machine operators and myself. The rolls were rusted and pitted very bad. They also had holes patched years ago with copper and brass. The rolls were removed and i hauled them in my truck to get cleaned or blasted. They were blasted with plastic beads and walnut hulls. The machine was put back together and it made marbles on two dates. The first attempt resulted in round as expected marbles. The surface of the marbles had heavy or deep orange peel which was no surprise. There were at times some marbles that had much less or almost no orange peel. But the largest majority had heavy orange peel. This run was done with mostly one type or kind of base glass which was from Fenton Glass cullet. A second run was done and it was much more worse than the first attempt. Very few round marbles were made and the orange peel was even worse. Most all the marbles were football egg shaped double ingots or just dropped between the rollers. Every adjustment possible was made and nothing made good steady marbles. Some of the reasons were that i had tried my luck at cleaning or polishing the rolls more after the first run. I am sure that i probably affected the rolls tracking. But there was nothing to loose. I had the rolls smooth and looking like chrome. A second reason for problems on the second run was the base glass. I do not know what it was. But a fact is that it was extremely hard and required much more heat to melt. Andy Davis made some tops from these second attempt marbles. Andy told me face to face "that was the hardest glass i have every tried to remelt" . The two runs at Jabo on the original Alox machine are not good comparisions to most marble production. I am no expert with glass or making marbles. But i think it might be possible that more than one lone item can cause orange peel on a glass marble. There are so many many different variables when making large numbers of machine made marbles that many times it is difficut to pin a problem down to one specific thing or spot. Maybe the glass itself can help cause orange peel ? Maybe the glass temp can cause orange peel ? Maybe the rolls condition can cause orange peel ? Maybe the rolls temp can cause orange peel ? Maybe the cooling can affect orange peel ? Maybe it is difficult to know which single item or combination caused the orange peel on any certian machine made marble ? If the marble companies knew exactly what caused it on what marble and it was cost effective they would have not allowed it. Most times it is not possible to keep every machine running 365 days a year or cost effective to store the machine in a manner to prevent any mositure from reaching the rolls. The group of machines pictured earlier were at Jabo. The Peltier pee wee machine pictured above was at Jabo. The Peltier pee wee machine never made a single round decent marble while at Jabo. It was tried several times over a few months with many adjustments and changes. The rolls are wore out completely. The rolls just would not round or hold a marble to the end of the even very short rolls. I think that as long as big production numbers thousands and millions of machine made marbles were or are being produced. There will always be orange peel on some marbles. It was good to see again the Jabo Alox run marbles and Alox machine posted by Galen and John. I hauled the Alox machine from OH back to St.Louis where it was or is in a museum there today.

I don't know how anyone could identify a clearie pee wee or colored clearie pee wee or any other size clearie ? I think Champion had their own pee wee size machine. I have seen and had that type Champion bag also filled with solids and a mix or solids clearies and swirls. That same type bag also contained 5/8 marbles. Les Jones saved three or four of those type Champion bags for me.

The two on the far right are Ravenswood. But like Ann i did not consider those a coral. Most of what i consider corals are green base and coral striping. Those two are also different brown(more orange)from the Blue Raven-Green Raven-Red Raven.

Just me but i do not have a single Ravenswood that i would consider coral type like the majority of the above. I have never found one in any original Ravenswood package. I have never seen or heard of one being dug at the site. I have talked to and seen most of the owners family collections some past employees and seen no corals. So at this time i do not think Ravenswood made any coral marbles. A big portion of the coral marbles are now being attributed to Alley. Most if not all of them from the Saint Marys location and time frame. Many of which in the past were considered Champion. There has been more recent excavating at the Saint Marys location with more attention to what is being dug. This and when Larry Alleys collection became available has attributed more especially transparent coral marbles to Alley. The more opaque ones were also in the collection of Frank Sellers another grandson of Lawrence Alley. These were attributed with Alley several years ago. Frank and Larry are first cousins. There is still a good possibility that Champion produced some of the more transparent base corals. Coral marbles has also been dug at Peltier by more than one person different locations and many years apart. I think CAC also made some corals. But what i have or believe are CAC have definate cut lines. It may take a few more years to positively seperate some of the corals which may be Alley or Champion. But more is known now than even two years ago. A big portion of all the coral marbles probably the largest portion are being attributed more to Alley every year by collectors who collect and study them regulary. There are the Alley Exotic corals,the Alley Mountain Dew and others that have become very collectable in the last couple years. They have been selling for about $150.00 if you can find one. So far only about six to a dozen Alley Mountain Dews have been found. As usual when a more definate identification and information is known and a certian marble is named and known more. More collectors know what to look for and its history so the value goes up. Machine made marble collecting is moving ahead fast with the internet,facebook,new books,more collectors than ever before. Collectors have to try and stay updated or miss out on lots of possibilities. Maybe it is possible that you have a Alley Mountain dew in your marbles now ? More will turn up the more the information is spread.

Maybe Bob will answer ? I did not know it was for Bob only ? Sorry i butted in.

It has been going on for years and years and years. I do not see it not happening in the future. Some of it past and present may be unintentional and some of it may be intentional. The only sure cure i see for the furture is to stop making marbles all together. If enough marbles are produced sooner or later some will resemble old marbles(whatever that is)or marbles made at a earlier time. It happens with machine mades and contemorary. The only remedy that i have found is to stay updated educated and aware of what is what. What can anyone do about marbles already produced that resemble earlier ones,machine made or contemporary ? I have bought Jabos as Alley. I have bought Sammys as a Alley. But it was not the makers fault,it was mine. I should have knew better. I had matches for them later when i got home. Both times the sellers convinced me that it was something i wanted it to be but actually it was not. I bought civil war clays with stars on them until i learned better. I never have and do not buy the theory of using different colors that has not been used. When you produce a million or five million marbles. You are going to use some of the same colors that has been used before. If you never used any color or color combintaion ever used before what is left and who will want them ? Like machine made superman. How many named superman are there. They are all blue/red and yellow. You have to stay up to date to know which superman is which. Contemporary makers some who visit this board have for years refused to mark or sign their marbles for all kinds of reasons or excuses. We have been down this road every year since i started in marbles almost 20 yrs ago. The only cure i have found is my own head and eyes. I could cry about my mistakes but their mine and no one elses. No one would listen anyway or of they did they would get tired of my whining. What is your cure past and present. I think that i have heard them all but i will always listen to anything new. Below are two marbles made at different times by different companies probably different countries. What is what ? One is 5/8 size and one is 7/8 size. Do we blame the makers ?

Some MK Copperheads have no fractures but the majority do. Somewhat like Champion furnace marbles.

I agree.

Jack definatley packaged a lot of left over Heaton marbles. He possibly could have made some opaque swirls. But none that i am aware of or can seperate from Heaton. I doubt that a phone call to Jack would prove anything. It was a long time ago and a lot of marbles past. Jack was never fond of making swirl type marbles. I think the bag is original. I believe that i also see some cat eye style marbles that might be Heaton.

The copperheads are the second picture three in a row. It is difficult to find these without fractures. I believe that i also see a few in these which is common.