wvrons

Champions

Alleys will flame much more and more often than Ravenswoods. It is possible and some are out there but very few Ravenswoods make sharp pointed flame tips. Even with small numbers of flame tips.

Bugs bitiing flies jiggers ticks mosquitoes posion ivy posion oak posion sumack spiders and of course the snakes.

Definatley out of the way. A little hike and long carry. Where to dig ? Lots of research gasoline open ears patience persistence questions determination . Give away signs on the ground from past expierence. The marbles here are random. There are no veins here or concentrated areas. This was a common 1940's-50's household or small business dump site. Not a marble factory site. The marbles were just discarded randomly in with the trash. A mother said if you don't pick up those marbles they are going in the trash. They had little or almost no value then. They were cheap kids toys. Some sites may be where a former employee lived. Employees took marbles home routinely,they were cheap,pennies for numbers of them. Mary Hazelbaker told me that she and her brother took handfuls of Alleys home after work. They carried them in their pockets for handwarmers during winter up the hill to their house above the Pennsboro factory. Once they climbed the hill to the house they threw the warm recent made marbles out of their pockets under the front porch. Remember this was the 1930's. At this time Lawerance Alley had cardboard in his shoes to cover the holes in the soles. Mary Hazelbaker was a good friend of mine. She and her brother both worked for Alley during all his time at Pennsboro. They worked without pay for weeks. Mr. Alley did not have funds for payroll at that time. They had faith in him that he would pay them later and he did. Then Chinese Checker marbles were needed and Alley could not produce them fast enough. Mary and her brother are now deceased. She lived in site of the Pennsboro Alley- dish factory all her life. With digging marbles some days the best ever you get lucky and find a bucket full,some days you find a dozen and some days you go home total empty. Research ahead can help keep the empty days lesser. A bonus here was all the old odd shaped glass bottles of all sizes. A bucket full of them left with us. No way could we carry them all. I was told as we were leaving that if they ever mentioned digging again in July to remind them of this and never say yes in July. It was hot and we had very few dry clothes on not total soaked for hours with sweat. It sounds fun and exciting and it is for a while but it wears away quick. It is physical labor dirty work. Then even more work once you return home with the finds.

Condolences to the family during this difficult time. I agree we are losing so many and so frequent now. Who will replace them in the future ?

Ann with your first marble and more details. After looking at it more and more i think it may be headed towards Alley. The colors are fine for Alley. The pattern on the surface fits many Alleys. With many Ravenswoods the color striping will dive inside curving twisting around and around and out the other side. But usually not layered or stacked. Many of the Ravenswoods twist all through the marble more like the nicer Champions. Like the two clear red white and blue you posted. Did those come from a feller in WV ? WV swirls can be a challenge. They are not all the same.

More Sunday dig.

The swirls search contiues after many years. I am headed for 66yrs old i hope. Don't know how long i can keep going ? But new people are now on the hunt and more information will happen. After a few years of listening and asking. This past Sunday myself and two close friends got to visit a location to dig marbles. For the past five years or more the only marbles dug there by two or four others have been 95% known Alleys. A few odd unknown not seen before ones turn up. For now they are consdiered Alley. Not the best day to dig at 92 degrees the highest heat index we have had for years and no air moving at all. On a hot summers day. Up a hallow in WV chasing old marbles for six hours.. I can only do two pictures per post. Click to enlarge.

Yes the three far left are considered Champion with what is known today. I have thoughts that the more blue and dark purple swirl may someday be proved Alley ? How time flies 2008 almost seven years ago. The first chalkies i ever dug were probably 2006. I dug what i thought was Champions in about 2001-2002. My partner and guide back then said they were Champion and we were near the Champion site. So i labeld them Champion the best that i knew at the time. But time has passed and i have learned more every year. More new collectors the last few years asking questions searching. More and new site diggers the last few years. More past employees speaking up the last few years,etc. More past owners and workers family members involved. More information opinions thoughts etc than in 2002 or even 2008. But i am much more hesitate in giving my opinion for identifications. More hesitate in passing along new recent information.

I am sure that i sent you the marbles. What year was that ? Several years ago. I probably did dig them and probably very near the Champion building. So i labeled them Champion as best i knew at the time and what collectors then told me they looked like. At that time i had probably never dug an Alley marble or very few. Some of what you have could be some Alleys which Champion had ? I now know Champion used the old Alley building for storage and packaging. Marbles found near the surface or in the creek at glass factory hallow can be confusing. Because of the old Alley and Champion sites are within 30-50ft of each other there. With time new information more information more marbles and things change. It was the best information i had back then. I post the best that i have today when possible. But some of it may change next week or year or whenever if something more is discovered. Sorry for causing your consfusion but you got the best that i knew at the time. If anyone has information or thoughts that most in the ring are not Alley please share. I am always searching yet after 20yrs and willing to change. With the yellow/orange base red swirls many times flames. The base and swirls shades can vary with these. The largest majority of these were made at the Alley Sistersville site. That is as of today according to what i have seen in 5 or 6 five gallon buckets dug there. Only a very few have been found at the Pennsboro site in three or four hundred gallon dug there which i have seen.

Ann your two above with clear red/orange blue or purple are Champion. Not easy ones to find. Nola has the dates when Dave McCullogh produced these at Champion. The main production at Champion was solid color or game marbles flats or gems and single color transparent swirls up until Dave McCullogh was hired. Many of the plastic Champion bags has been filled by people other than Champion company. Mesh Champion bags are rare to find.

Steph the marbles in the ring above are Alley,except for the two far left second row and the first one far left third row. Ann your two above--the green/white and red is Ravenswood. It is named Ravenswood Christmas Tree. They and piceces of them have been excavated at Ravenswood during the last five years. The second one green and coral is Alley. Are found in Larry Alleys collection,in Frank Sellers collection and excavated at Alley Saint Marys site the last two years.

Could the first one be CAC ? Lots of new information with Champion has come about in the last three or four years. Because of recent excavations at Alley Pennsboro and Saint Marys sites. Marbles found in Larry Alleys collection from the Saint Marys factory. Marbles found in Frank Sellers(another Alley grandson) collection from Lawerence Alley. Many of the green corals are now being proven made by Alley. The green corals have also been excavated the last two years at Alley Saint Marys. Champion had in stock marbles from many past WV companies. They packaged at least five or six different companies marbles in their bicenntinal bags. Champion being located within 30-50ft. of Alley at Pennsboro has always caused confusion. New and more information,more numbers of everything help make identifications more accurate. Research is still going on with many WV swirl marbles. More WV swirl marbles are being more positively identified every year now.

Good hunting,nice find ! Sometimes the effort pays off.

That is my friend Walt Mckee. But i believe he is at the Cairo show a few years ago and not Sistersville. Which he also attends every year. The Sistersville show is held outside on the streets. A unique street fair of marbles.