wvrons Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Here's the link. http://www.ebay.com/itm/271378669234 Who would the seller, hsif, be? Here's his last note so far: For additional information, and to squelch the naysayers, many of whom profess themselves to be marble experts and are full of crap and don't know half of what they profess to know about marbles, and then accuse me of stealing these from the alley site when they in fact have been the biggest thieves of the site. Well. I owned that site for three years. I removed thousands upon thousands of marbles from underneath the concrete floor. I dug it up with a bobcat, and removed these marbles myself. I have since been sorting them and found this one and another very similar but with less colors. The magazine "All about Glass", a publication of the National Marble Museum has taken pictures of it, have no argument that it is a freak alley, and are featuring it in their next publication. So to all the "experts", don't buy it if you don't like it. Nobody is asking you to. And you can all joke about some "idiot" paying a lot for it if it sells. Stop being drama queens. If you don't like it, move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dotcomdz Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 I posted this elsewhere. I have "The RAREST ALLEY EVER" in my personal possesion. It is called the "Egyptian Eye of cleopatra" there are no others even close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lstmmrbls Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Someone has bid that much on a story???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bumblebee Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Let me guess the next Jabo special run will be called "Alley Trash Tribute" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARBLEMISER Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Bobcat's can dig up concrete? What end do you hold when it's digging? Seems like a lot of trouble to me. First you have to catch a Bobcat> Just saying marblemiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 David Chamberlain says he has no doubt it is Alley. He just seems miffed about the seller's presentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Marbles Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 The seller's feedback and attitude is enough to scare my away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaboo Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 First you have to catch a Bobcat> That's good... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Here's an interesting letter the seller posted on facebook: Robb This is Dean Six, besides being co-author of two marble books and founder of the WV Marble Festival (which was the grandfather of both the later Sistersvillle Show and the WV Marble Club) I am also the ex. director of the Museum of American Glass in WV which is the home of the National Marble Museum (previously located in CA). While I do not live and breath marble collecting I know many of the marble gurus and have been collecting WV marbles, grew up in Cairo and was there when much of the current mania began. I do not know your site- my work with glass history is much broader and I regret not having time to follow flasks, tableware, marbles, lighting, fruit jars, etc as closely as I wish- HOWEVER there are some facts about the multi-colored Alley mib currently on e-bay. In the nature of cull disclosure I want to say I am a life long friend of the sellers and previous business partner. His interest in marbles (and glass generally) is largely my influence. I was writing about the Alley site being the same as the Pennsboro Glass location in the early 1980s and followed the decline of Pennsboro Glass closely. When the factory site was sold for property taxes I knew the first out-of-state buyer. That owner sold much of the personal property in the factory then it again was sold for taxes. Mr. Wilson and I talked about the site and HE legally bid it in and gained control. legal ownership and control of the property. At that time and for some years people (not the owners) had been coming in at night and removing marbles. Many good early Alley collections were built this way. It is a common story from Akro to Alley and beyond. Mr. Wilson, the seller, is a quirky character. I would probably not enjoy his company if he were not. But he is a very honest man. During the time he owned the property he (with consultation from me) hired a team to excavate the site and part of the concrete floor was broken up and removed to gain access to what proved to be a significant number of marbles and children's dishes shards and other material. The Museum profited and future collectors will also profit by what he has shared with our collection- both marbles and shards and other glass objects. The property was sold to the current owners through Mr. WIlson. Currently the new owner allows others to remove marbles from the site. DUring Wilson's ownership large numbers of really exciting and absolutely documentable mabrles came from under the concrete slab where they had been for decades. For the past 3 or more years some of those recovered by Wilson were sold at the Cairo Marble Festival. He yet has a significant pile of cullet and shards, marbles and rejects he has yet to sort through. The marble offered for sale is from that body of objects- and is, in my opinion, beyond doubt Alley. Much of the recent availability of Alley mibs is the result of WIlsons and the current owners excavations. I am perplexed by the anger this sphere creates? Why do people get so wound up? This should be met with excitement- and there is no cause to be screaming and name calling. The world of glass research is unfolding. Always unfolding.There is one rule when making attribution: Never Say Never. There is SO much to learn and there are so many opportunities- why not embrace new discoveries and share the passion. One cannot help but understand why sometimes the chat and attitudes of some marble collectors do not advance the hobby. Please feel free to share this post as you deem best dean six author, collector, historian and marble lover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wediscount2 Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 This auction represents another black eye for the marble world. Look at the photos, two of them are clearly indicative of the almost ever present Jabo horseshoe. (and most often a butt crack in that particular area.) But the photos are so sad (intentional probably) you can't see a butt crack if one is there. Remind you I said if. Shamie, shamie. Ronnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmuehlba Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 well as I look at this auction it just screams fake bad pictures and bids by two people with out meeting reserve I do not know any one involved but it is all wrong in my option . Mike $725.00 Reserve price not met [ 23 bids ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacyw Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Can someone who is familiar with marble digs at former factories answer this for me? Often we see a marble that is an uncommon color combination or structure for a maker, reputed to be found at a dig site. Since machine-made marbles are made in quantity, why do the diggers never seem to find more than one of these "oddballs". I would think that if a run, or part of a run was discarded, at least a few similar marbles would be in the same location. It would seem that showing more than one dug marble that is at least somewhat similar, would add credibility to a claim. Note: I do NOT mean to cast any doubt on the op's story. I certainly don't have the knowledge or experience to do that. It is just something I always wonder about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 The seller did also post a picture of another similar one in worse shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacyw Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Thanks Steph! I didn't see that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 It was in a discussion on a facebook page. That's also where the letter from Dean Six was posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Anyone have good pix of the part of the Jabo Frankie run this one looks like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bermar Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 These Jabo Joker Frankie marbles may be close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbobam Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Please let me know if I'm wrong, but even with no knowledge of this type of marble, I'm having a problem with the original auction. I'm looking at twelve pictures, and I don't see how it's physically possible for all of them to be the same marble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutz4lutz Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Where do I begin? The seller states that it has a chunk out of it and it's not round. And people are willing to shell out over $700 (so far) for this broken blob of glass? It looks like something that was recovered while sweeping the floor after a Jabo contract run. Machine-made marbles were never made as one-of-a-kind little works of art. They were made by the 10's of thousands and the marbles of each run looked reasonably similar. If this were mine, my goldfish would be pooping on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I'llhavethat1 Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Where do I begin? The seller states that it has a chunk out of it and it's not round. And people are willing to shell out over $700 (so far) for this broken blob of glass? It looks like something that was recovered while sweeping the floor after a Jabo contract run. Machine-made marbles were never made as one-of-a-kind little works of art. They were made by the 10's of thousands and the marbles of each run looked reasonably similar. If this were mine, my goldfish would be pooping on it. ^^lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lstmmrbls Posted January 27, 2014 Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 The question remains if there really was someone willing to shell out that kind of money for a beat to heck fish poop scoop. I want to hope not but that would then mean shill bidding, and we all know that never happens on ebay (LOL) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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