wvrons

THANKS to all above.

A friend Mary Hazelbaker passed away last week. She worked for Alley straight out of high school at the Pennsboro location,and lived in sight of the old marble plant all her life,watching it fall down. Just got news that another good friend Mary Jane Wilson former owner of Playrite passed away yesterday. She had been in the hospital in ICU for a few days. Both helped with the recent American Machine Made marble book and was 100% supporters of the WVMCC since its start. Both wanted people to have the information out to any collector anywhere. The list keeps growing of people now gone who was a big part of that book. Not many left. Another sad day in WV marble history. I will miss them both.

One note, L.E. Alley NEVER worked at Akro as a gather boy or any other position,any time. Another mistake in the books from the past.

I have heard about this fine stream and the pile up before from a couple others. If so the makers were sure to notice this and know what caused the flames. Why did they not make many more flames ? Maybe because it would be too slow and not enough marbles per hour ??? I have seen flames come off the rollers at Jabo and never noticed any problem with the stream,and the operator was not having any problems.

Alley did his own design and blueprints for his machines. They were made at local machine shops in Pennsboro and St.Marys WV. He made flames at Ravenswood,Pennsboro and St.Marys. I am not sure about Sistersville. The biggest number of Alley flames were made at Pennsboro. Champion,Ravenswood,and even Jabo makes flames,just not the numbers that Alley did. I have heard some ideas of what makes the fames but nothing 100%. If they could make flames continueous like corkscrews,i am sure there would have been lots more. I know Jabo would make more. Maybe L.E. Alley did know what to do to produce flames steady? Maybe we will get some more ideas,opinions or facts of what makes flames?

A hint,keep a eye out for Vitro marbles in jewelry. Art Fisher made and had made many pieces of jewelry with Vitro marbles,necklaces,ear rings,pins,bracelets,etc. He did not sell these as a production item. He had these for one main purpose (but others) and that was he gave these to waiters and waitress,s as a tip when he visited the local resturants. He ate out very often and the servers would watch for him because they wanted the jewelry. These contain all types of Vitro marbles and many are solids or chinese checker marbles. Also many of the plant employees also received these items of jewelry as rewards. He even gave the very collectiable Vitro lamps as gifts to mostly employees but to a few others. Several pieces of this jewelry has made its way all over the country now. Another little tid bit out,now the price goes up again.

Alley made many large marbles 7/8 and one inch size. Marble King made them up to 1 1/4 inch size. Of course they all had a few larger marbles and odd sizes but i believe we are talking about routine normal production for sale. One possible for the one inch marbles listed in the Ravenswood sales brochure,could have been the Paul Bunyan marbles. Not the normal Ravenswoood swirl type. I have not found any Ravenswood Novelty employee who said they routinely produced 7/8 or one inch swirl marbles,but more than one has said yes to the one inch Paul Bunyans type being made at Ravenswood.

Edwin Safreed of Ravenswood Novelty stated that they used end wrenchs to guage the size of the marbles and the sizes were from 3/8 to 3/4 inch. Edwin was the main man at Ravenswood from the start until the last day.

Recent interview and article in the last West Virginia Marble Collectors newsletter with former employee of Ravenswood Novelty Works and discussion about size of Ravenswood marbles. Also information about the Paul Baunyan marbles,made by Akro,Master or Ravenswood. Once again another employeee states that Edwin Safreed made them at Ravenswood. ???

100% Jabo 2006

Always remember these were toys for children (not collectors). Quality control especially in packaging, was not a big priority. It was a 24hr operation and especially at nights supervision was less. If you had 5000 yellow jacket labels to pack and the yellow jacket marble bin went empty at 4600 marbles. Nearby was a bin of all reds,or tigers,or maybe a leftover mix,you finished the 5000 lot of yellow jackets with what they had at the time. These companies could not pay high top wages and did not have the creme of the crop for most workers. Original packages are a good method,one of the better,to get names or identify marbles. But as always they are not all 100%,GO WITH THE MAJORITY,find more than one example. Why the name all red? Originally they were all to have one single red patch and a patch of another color. When the kids playing marbles would shoot an ALL RED it would flash red as it rolled across the ring. Try it. I am sure as time went on all reds ended up with other colors than red,with some having no red patch,two other colored patches. As long as most were All Reds most children would not complain. Red was the most expensive color to produce and sometimes difficult to get red cullet. It may have been due to cost or avialable red that several did not have a red patch. A all red with a yellow patch,maybe also a yellow jacket,a red,yellow,blue patches maybe a tiger. These names was not and is not a exact science to identify each and every marble. Go with the majority,most Vitro two color patch marbles with a red patch will be considered,All Red. The best info on Vitro Tigers is no doubt the articles by Chuck Brandstetter for the WVMCC. People spend hundreds in marbles but won't spend $20.00 for information about them.

What about the banana cats. Anyone have the Bogard banana cats? Most cannot seperate them from Peltier. Jack made the banana,s in colors of,orange,green,white,blue,orange/blue. I cannot remember if i saw a yellow. SLMTU posted a pic of some either here or marble mental about 1 1/2 or 2 yrs. ago. I had them for sale at Amana a couple years ago and no one would even look at them. I sent some to Leroy to polish and he got them mixed with Peltier and could not seperate them again. One sign of Bogard is the seedy glass. I don't think Jack ever got any of these on the market. I have reburied a couple tons of these while digging for Heatons at the same site.

All Alley marbles. I had about a case of the bullseye and big shot mesh bags. Don got most of them. The red/white/blue boxes come as, Big Shot-Bulls Eye- Big Nickle-Big Dime. I like the Big Shot box at the top. This is the first one i have seen,would like to find one. The other marble company which used Big Shot as a common name on their bag labels and boxes was Heaton agate. Pressman distributed Alley marbles,labeled as Big Shot. Many Heaton bags and boxes also have the name Big Shot. These were the two companies that used the Big Shot name the most,but others also used the same name Big Shot.

Another one gone. My condolences to the entire family. Anyone who had the experience of talking to Jim at a show or about marbles could easily see how much he enjoyed it. He did pass the knowledge and talent along to many in his family. He was one of the first to get nice Alley marbles out in front of collectors eyes. Another loss for marble people WVRONS

Vitro also had a mesh bag with header of - buddies. Big Shot was used by Pressman with-Alley,and Heaton marbles. Bulls eye was used by Pressman with- Alley, and Vitro marbles. Boxes- Big Nickle-Big shot and Dime all have Alley marbles. Box- Vitro Blackbeards treasure chest Box-Vitro Tournament marbles Marble King bags with Alley and Peltier marbles Not all the bags or boxes labels fit the marbles names or makers. This list could get very long. Names and packages.

Vitro did make a eight vane cage cat,not many, but i have a few. The Vitro seven vane cage cats are not to difficult to come up with,the five and six are more common. I got about a couple dozen Vitro cage cats in the mail today from Jim King,and i am sure there was one maybe two that were seven vane. Yes,there is some other companies that also has 7-8 vane cats that are similiar to Vitro. Yes,don't get confused with Vitro eight fingers. These are a whole different marble.

Vitro also made the cage and horseshoe cats in Parkersburg.

Thanks to all who posted,i thought we may see more questions or pics. Some good information about cutters and machine operation. I believe most have said that it is difficult to id a marble co. or maker by cut lines. Vitro and others did have different cut lines for the various different reasons we have heard above. Alan said a lot of it,there were several variables,quality and constancy was a goal but meeting orders was number one. I agree production was not rocket science,these were toys for childrens play,not collectors items. Cut lines can sometimes be helpful in identification but they can vary. Hopefully you will be able to find two or more (3-4 is better) distinct things to help id a marble. Cut lines even by the same company can and do vary. From the start i have heard people say,thats a Akro cut line,thats a Vitro cut line,but i had a hard time seeing the same thing. I saw differences in the same companies marbles. I also have never found a positive answer that i have been satisfied with for the single cutline. Yes they all had to have a cut line,but some would be or are difficult for me to find without a loupe. There is a long list of variables that can and do change cut lines. Even in the same company we saw,two cut lines,one cut line and almost no cut lines. Ron S.

Lets hear from you about marble cut lines,seams,marks,folds. Why are they there? Why do some marbles have none? Why does some have only one and some have two? Why are some straight,curved,pointed? On four different manufacturers,single color,opaque marbles with cut lines,seams,marks,folds,can you identify each one? Have questions about cut lines,post them. Opinions,hearsay,experience,facts,post them. I am sure we all can learn something new,old pro or newbie. Ron S.

I am also one of the lucky ones who met Guy early in my start with marbles. He was at the start and always my Peltier man. He also gave me marbles,he gave them to me as a teaching tool, when i would show enough interest or ask enough questions. He didn't want to tackle the WV swirls but he decided to go after the Vitros. He pulled a superboy from his box at the Columbus show and gave it to me for good luck. I carried it in my pocket every day until the red stripes were almost wore off. I returned it to him not long ago and told him Thanks but it was time for the luck to return to him for a while. He will be missed by us and the future marble collectors,who will never have the pleasure of talking marbles with GUY. Rest in PEACE GUY. See You Later. Ron Shepherd

SAD News,once again. Sounds like my kind of marble person.

Jabo and Dave McCullogh does it right,open arms. At what other factory can you get this kind of tour. I have spent several days and hours here by myself and with many friends. I am always ready to go back. The WVMCC has always had a group tour the Jabo factory during WVMCC show week. This spring should be no different. Ron S.

I just received a phone call from Mary Jane Wilson past owner of Playrite Marble and Novelty Co. and she informed me that David Hanlon passed away today after a long illness. David was Mary Janes nephew,and his father was Oris Hanlon who formed Cairo Novelty Company. Oris Hanlon had patent 2,422,413 his design allowed the machine to produce marbles 50% faster than any other machine in operation at that time. The company only had one machine,and my last report was that it was being reassembled,not to far from me. I had hopes to get a picture of David with this machine. Not long ago i showed some marbles in a display case to David and he immediately identified them as Cairo Novelty and talked about working with his father making them at the marble plant. David was former prosecuting attorney for Ritchie County WV,and also helped with some legal attorney work for the West Virginia Marble Collectors Club. Sad news,more marble history gone. Odd that a post came up this week about Cairo Novelty. Ron S.

If Les was at the show,that was one of the first rooms i visited. He always had something for me. It was easy to find his room,listen for that voice and look for the crowd. I have several pictures of him over the last few years,doing what he enjoyed,and he would always smile at the camera,no matter how busy. It is Sad news. My condolences to the entire family.