wediscount2 Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 Bought these from Brownie (Robert Brown) in 1987 and they were all old marbles.They showed up 1 weekend, all of them at the antique fair. There were different types of glass. I realize glass is glass, but a few of the marbles had a soft feel to them almost like soapstone. If you have ever held a large Clambroth, it has a different feel than say a large Swirl, well a few had that Clambroth feel. There was also 7 or 8 old rock marbles in with the group. I knew they were old when I bought them as they "ALL" had a nice patina on them, and that only comes with age. Not sure who made them but I think they were West Virginia marbles, and hand made probably by someone affiliated with the early West Virginia glass companies. They did not have conventional pontils on them instead they had a little round bump on the pontil end (ends). I no longer own them but I'm sure there out there floating around somewhere. Main point of this little tidbit is: don't give up on the auctions, flea markets and garage sales as you never know what's going to show up. Ronnie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1313 Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 i miss stopping by to see brownie at the milton west virginia flea mkt, the guy was a class act with many stories and an excellent china marble maker. the storie straight frm brownie was as follows : "most of those were works from charles gibson and old man hamon." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wediscount2 Posted March 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 i miss stopping by to see brownie at the milton west virginia flea mkt, the guy was a class act with many stories and an excellent china marble maker. the storie straight frm brownie was as follows : "most of those were works from charles gibson and old man hamon." Yeah, OK Scott, thanks for the info. Brownie was a real go getter. Remember that summer at Springfield you and I were standing there watching the deep pockets pick Guineas from Haney at $400 a pop, well Brownie had found that box of Guineas at a yard sale and sold the whole box to Haney. Never knew who old man Hamon was. Did Brownie say he was a glass craftsman and if so was he making marbles in the 40's and 50's. Sue has a hand painted china marble that Brownie gave her, and it's one of her favorite marbles. Ronnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sissydear Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 Robert Lee Hamon was a second generation glass artist. He was located in Scott Depot, West Virginia. We lost him nearly 10 years ago. He was the greatesty at hand made marbles - furnace marbles. I have a bunch of his work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1313 Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 i couldnt tell any marble, was made by either of those two. not enough detail in the pics for my eyes. i dont know when those guys started making the marbles but brownie remembered washington courthouse, springfield antique show and a few other markets that he sold most of those guys work. brownie taught tom thornburg, the ENTIRE CERAMIC MARBLE ART FORM, i think tom does excellent work. brownie did inspire another ceramic artist, i think it was a woman named penny kelley. i do remember the guinea incident in springfield. old man hamon was a glass artist and did make marbles. two of his nephews john hamon miller and boyd miller went on to make marbles. i worked with boyd often over the years. edna has more knowledge of the hamon glass/bloodline than i do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sissydear Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 Scott, I think of them with a great sadness in my heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sissydear Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 The marble in my avatar is a 3 inch Robert L. Hamon. Ronnie, I think the marbles in your post are early ones. I didn't discover Bob Hamon until 1992. His work was greatly changed by then. He had opened an art glass studio. Before the shop was his, everything had to be functional - bowls, vases, perfumes, etc. His Dad's generation thought art glass was unnecessary. Bob's dad had 2 brothers and they didn't do art glass either. Joe Hamon, a cousin did a little, but had the parents attitude about art glass. Bob Hamon's father was O.B. Hamon (Okie Boyd) His brother O.C. Hamon was the father of Joe Hamon. Joe has a son and a daughter that learned glass. The daughter, Cheryl Hamon Jackson still works glass. I have marbles she made and a couple pairs of earrings. Pretty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBlock Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 Here's two shots of two of the Robert Brown marbles I have in my display case. Poor quality image, but I used the phone camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sissydear Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Pretty marbles, Mr. Block. I don't think any Robert Brown's ever got down this far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBlock Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 I picked up each of those in Amana years ago. I think I have a couple of others packed away. I seem to remember I have a small one that is painted to look like mochaware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubyred72 Posted February 21, 2018 Report Share Posted February 21, 2018 Anyone have any brownie marbles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubyred72 Posted March 5, 2018 Report Share Posted March 5, 2018 If anyone has any they want to sell please email me [email protected] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BENgineer Posted August 31, 2022 Report Share Posted August 31, 2022 I found this old post and would like to share some photos. I have No. 1 of 100 of BIG BLUE III and numerous others including personalized marbles to my grandpa from "Brownie". I have quite a few from Robert Brown. My grandfather was good friends with him and I'm trying to learn more about him. He is mentioned in Greenburg's Guide To Marbles (hardcover 1994) if this helps anyone else that may find this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubyred72 Posted November 18, 2022 Report Share Posted November 18, 2022 were you wanting to sell any of the Christmas looking ones....interested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ContemporarMarbles II Posted February 5, 2023 Report Share Posted February 5, 2023 Yeah I have some Robert brown prototype. And an error piece my dad kept. Hope this helps you guys if you run across any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry N. Garrett Posted September 1, 2023 Report Share Posted September 1, 2023 Can anyone tell me anything about Tom Thornburgh of Huntington? Is he well & still making marbles? Thanks much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akroorka Posted September 1, 2023 Report Share Posted September 1, 2023 1 hour ago, Larry N. Garrett said: Thanks much. Here is a link. https://marbleconnection.com/topic/30259-tom-thornburgh/#comment-264751 Marble--On!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now