Inspired...

[Marbleneophyte]

All of great swirl posts lately and Stephen B's Ravenswood videos have inspired me to continue my swirl education!  Here are a few of the more interesting ones I found this weekend.  Most measure 5/8" but the last 2 are 9/16".  Do any of these have special names?

[chocobogreens]

the second row middle looks like it could be a christensen layered sand... but i have been wrong almost every time i make a marble assumption so...

[Steph]

Points for trying, chocobogreens!   I don't see any Christensens though.   The top right might be an Alley Pistachio.   I think these days folks are insisting that the base light up under blacklight for it to be a Pistachio ... does yours light up?  

[Marbleneophyte]

Yep,  it sure does!  None of the others do though.  Thanks Steph!

 

Thanks to you too chocobogreesn.  I googled Christensen layered sand and now I have an idea what they look like.  Thanks again!

 

[Chad G.]

x2 no Christensen, congrats on the nice Alley pistachio    excellent swirling pattern !! Christensen's in any form are getting very hard to come by, once you see and hold a layered sand in your hand you will never forget what they look like, a very rare marble and VVVHTF (very very very hard to find ) "kudos" for the guess, just throw it out there, the worse you can be is wrong and when you learn what it is it will not easily be forgotten. All the marbles I guessed wrong on in the past are now well remembered.

[Berryb]

Steph: Is there a difference between "a pistachio" and pistachio colored glass?  The reason I ask is, I have mibs I always considered pistachio -both Akro and Pelt, that do not light up.

Cool mib by the way, Marbleneophyte. It's always a treat when they light up that way. Thanks

Bruce

[Steph]

Bruce, back around 2008, it was mostly about the color, and it was considered acceptable for them not to glow, and I remember one conversation where Ron said that it was about 50-50 whether they would glow.   I don't know what the "rules" were before then ... maybe the 50-50 was a temporary loosening of the rules, or maybe it was a step along the way to the current standard.  but as far as I know the current standard is that it needs glow.

I don't know if the keepers of the name require that the marble be an Alley.   My memory is a little more fuzzy on this aspect, but I seem to recall a time when it was considered possible that a Pistachio could have been made by Ravenswood too.  



So, yes, there's a difference between "Pistachio" and pistachio-colored glass.  Even Alleys get segregated that way.   I'd describe the Akros and Pelts as "pistachio-colored glass" even if they did glow.  

One more note:  it's not just the base which needs to be right to earn the name Pistachio from purists.   I have some UV-reactive pistachio-colored-glass Alleys with medium-shade brown swirls instead dark brown/black.  I call those "nice Alleys" because I think they have to have the dark ribbons to qualify as Pistachios.  
 

[Chad G.]

Agreed on the dark colors Steph, some of mine look identical color wise, Alleys to boot but not all glow, I have mine in with the others anyway you can't tell until you throw uv light on them.

[Marbleneophyte]

Thanks for everyone's help so far.  Any thoughts about the remaining ones?  I've been doing some more studying and I think the first one is Champion.  I found both Champion and Ravenswood examples that are very similar but the quality of the glass has me leaning Champion.  The second one I'm leaning Alley but I can't tell you why.  The forth one I'm thinking Alley or Heaton.  The pattern is busy on one side and sparse on the other.  The last 2 I'm leaning Ravenswood but I wonder if I'm being unduly influenced by the size?