wvrons

My opinion the marble is Alley. For more reasons than one. The swirl pattern is one give away. Heaton,Cairo and Ravenswood very seldom has the swirl or color ends stop with a straight across sharp ends,like they were cut off with a knife. Alley,CAC plus a few Champion do this but not many other WV swirl makers do this. It is no way any Alley Calligraphy,not a shooter,not true oxblood. I agree a lot that the listing title is wrong. It may be a honest mistake,just a guess,a opinion or intentional misleading. I am not making excuses or taking up for the seller. We all know that all the above happens on ebay every week probably every day with marbles, I do not see it ever stopping. Marble buyers need to know what they are buying. Bringing it up on any board can be positive and benefit marble people. If it is done correctly. Making a joke of the seller and or of the marble,i am not sure is the correct approach. Maybe the attention should go direct to the seller. If they are flooded with messages that the listing is wrong,maybe some will change,some may not. You currently have a blue swirl on ebay listed as a Ravenswood which i believe is a Champion. That marble has never been found at the Ravenswood river bank,in no Ravenswood original package. It has been seen in Champion packages. According to Dave he produced it at Champion during or just after the New Old Fashioned run time frame at Champion. I had a couple emails from serious Ravenswood collectors that it was not Ravenswood. I agree we need to adapt and be open to change. I also agree that we need to think about what we post for anyone in the world to see. There are people who watch all these boards and never ever post. Some people on these boards are looked upon as long time experienced marble people. People look to them for their answers to marble questions on the boards as well as books and any other web site. I think that if we are willing to put it in print for anyone to see. That we should be as accurate as possible at the time. If we are not sure or positive,maybe we should keep our fingers off the keyboard, There is enough misrepresentation already without adding more and more confusion. Sarcastic criticism post many times draws more attention than serious post. I think the same amount of effort needs directed at positive marble info. Like it or not people here and other boards are representatives of marble collecting. I still would like to get to the Seattle show someday. I have no doubt at all that you would treat me VERY well. But what has kept me away is many of the same reasons yourself and others have not made it to the WVMCC show. I probably attend as many or more shows than most anyone here. I usually make it to 10-14 shows per year. I cannot for many reasons make every show. So i have to pick and choose ones that are more dueable with time and expense. I also cannot teach people what i have learned over 15+ years,to identify some WV swirls in one day at a show or even a week. I had resources close by,the marbles in hand,digging in the dirt then cleaning them,on and on for a lot of years. I cannot pass all that along in one day or one show. I have done several WV swirl displays and some talks on WV swirls at different shows in past years. I have one or two coming up this year. I am terriable at it. But i feel that i should share the info as i can. That is what the people who gave it to me wanted. A lot of the information is out there,but it will not come looking for you. Ron S.

The first one posted is not like any original named Alley Bacon strip. Clyde posted the correct marble for a Alley Bacon strip. I kind of agree with the name thing. Maybe we should drop all the names especially when so many have the same exact name. How many Supermans are there ? Peltier,Akro,Alley,how many Jabo Superman,three,six or eight ? Most are confused over Blue Surfer or Blue Lagoon. Now we have a Dark Universe and Dark night or sky or something. Both i think almost the same marble. How about CAC Snottie,that one did fit. If it were only possible to drop every name ? Or do we only keep a select few names for a few select people. Maybe we should destroy all the common marbles that no one wants to see any more of. That would benefit children,new collectors,history,etc. But maybe it could benefit a select few with the BETTER marbles that people want to see. I do not know of any Heaton,Cairo,or Ravenswood with oxblood,none. I have had a few 100,000 of those through my hands. I see you did not include Akro in frustrating white-based marbles with transparent aqua or green glass accompained by oxblood. Is it white base marbles that frustate you or just those worthless junk WV swirls ? Many of those are colored base and some are clear base. I am living and i can tell some marbles apart. I cannot seperate all marbles,including WV swirls,Akro,Peltier,CAC,Jabo,Vacor,so called German machine made,etc.. I have never seen anyone yet who could identify every marble. But there are some people who are very good at certian ones or groups. I do not rely on Ebay to learn marbles by companies or names. I also do not believe everything that i am told or read about marbles. I found that a good amount was totally incorrect. Maybe correct when published or then current thoughts. But things change with more info,like it or not. The truth won't knock on your door,you have to work for it. Have an open mind,which is the most difficult to get past. The truth takes time,money and effort. Ask the experts,sure,there is enough here. Have a open mind ROFL !

Nice Vitro accidents.

Ebay listing for the rarest ever Alley. But it looks like a bad condition Jabo Frankie run ? The seller has been contacted by several collectors with concerns. If you check the bid history,it does not look good ? Another crazy ebay listing,he is correct and we are all the fools. ROFLMAO ! It has been good for passing the time of a snow filled and cold Jan. day.

Sad news,another gone. I have missed his post. Sympathies to the family.

Thanks Charles.

Charles,i will want a table maybe two? What is the cost and the size ?

The bag is real and original. The marbles are Alley Agate made at the St.Marys WV location, around 1950-1955. With the plastic bags,one of the first things to look for is the seam down the center of the back of the bag. This is the first sign that it is original.

My reservation is done. A long drive but we plan to be there Thursday. Looking foward to this show once again.

The Champion furnace marbles would not have the infamous Jabo butt crack pattern. This is one Jabo trait for lots of Jabo Classics not Champion or Dave McCullogh. Dave was at Jabo not at Champion when the furnace marbles were made. The butt crack trait is caused by a short glass stream length from the tank to the shear. You will also find the same pattern with Cairo Novelty and many Alleys from his later years at the St.Marys location.

Thanks Al. The above still holds true as well as i know. Champion gave away most of the marbles to employees or good customers. They had no plans of selling them because of the fratcures. Most were fractured but some were not. The wash out or scrapping of the tank did not work out as well as thought over time. Dale simmons has some of the Champion furnace marble cullet. Sammy Hogue was lucky to receive a few gallons of these from a Champion employee at the time they were made. He was told to hold onto them as they may have some value someday. Many of the later furnace run marbles did not have the numbers of fractures as the earlier runs had.

I have never missed Canton. Thursday for sure maybe Wednesday ? Just got back from Indianapolis show. Kansas City in March.

I may be able to help out. The WVMCC and myself has done some work with the cub scouts this past year. I also may have a few left overs,that we gave out. I can come up with the Jabo's you can use. I need to know how many scouts you will deal with. Give me a call or email. If you need my number or email,Dan N.,Chuck G. and D. Becker have it.

These are most likely tools that were inside the Pennsboro WV, Alley factory building. These tools and this type have nothing at all to do with Alley marbles or making marbles. A local WV marble dealer bought lots of items at the auction at the old Alley factory in Pennsboro a few years back. He has sold several of these and several old rusted wore out plugged glass blow pipes and glass pipe rods listed as from the Alley marble factory. But NONE has anything to do with marbles. There were several glass companies that occupied the Pennsboro WV building after Alley moved to the St.Marys WV location. Pennsboro Glass was there,Cardinal Glass was there and others. These tools and blow pipes rods were used in making stemware type glass items. They made all shapes and sizes of clear vases,globes,wine glass,brandy sniffers,a big variety. The tools were used to hold the hot pieces of glass moving it from place to place. The glass items were all blown into and made in molds then different pieces added,handles,feet,stems,etc. A person called a carry over person would carry the main hot piece of glass to a worker who may attach the foot or bottom. The the carry over would take it to the next person who might attach a handle to the main piece. The the carry over person may take it and place it in the annealing oven or lear to cool slowely. These were tools used to handle hot glass stemware types during the production process. There were hundreds of the different tools at the old Alley marble factory in Pennsboro WV. But NONE had anything to do with L.E. Alley or producing marbles AT ALL. One seller from WV on ebay has sold several of these tools and blow pipes over the last several years to many marble collectors and others. In my opinion the listings can be somewhat misleading. These were probably purchased from this seller and connected wrong to the Pennsboro WV Alley marble factory. The St.Marys WV, Alley marble factory did catch fire and burn. I can understand how most of the title and all this come about except the Akron OH estate words. BUT this is Ebay and it does not have to be true. Someone probaby won these on ebay and are now stuck trying to get rid of them to get their money back. I was there for the auction years ago. I have also found these tools on the surface while digging marbles at the Pennsboro Alley site. I also know or knew a few people who worked in the old Pennsboro Alley building for the later glass companies and used these glass tools. Sammy Hogue,Barney Seece,Dave McCullogh,Jim Davis,many others.

What is the thoughts on Lot 112 the CAC ?

Box has staining. So does their reputation,still going downhill and a steep one.

We,myself,Nola and Larry Alley will be there Wednesday evening through the show. Hope to see you there !

Some of the 1932-1937 original glass that was used in making Marbles at Alley Agate Pennsboro WV. Which includes Vitrolite,Wissmach,Beer Bottles,Wine Bottles,Houze,Auto Tail Light lens,on and on. It does not matter what glass company supplied the glass. The marbles are called Alley. The marbles you make are not Alley or CAC marbles. They are Rich's marbles made from Alley cullet which can be from several different glass sources. Calling your marbles Alley is fraud and deceit. I do remember seeing your marbles on ebay listed as your CAC remelts. The seller lives just up the road from me. Is every marble you have made from Alley or CAC cullet(shards) in your own private collection today? No more word games and deceit. I don't need to hear that you do not sell your Alley or CAC remelts. That is not the question.