Once, they were Pumpkins (#CA1)

[Ric]

These were the premier marbles in the marble jobber, Charlie Stutsman's, Champion Agate set. They were made in the mid 1980s by Dave McCullough, while he was still working at Champion. In his marketing materials, which I believe are from the early 90s, Charlie says:

#CA1-5/8" PUMPKINS - Very bright yellow streaks in contrasting bright reddish orange. This is a very special marble. Only a few were made. Only available at Stutsman's. 35 cents each. 100 only $25.00 while they last.

Now, we call them Hot Wheels, which is probably even better marketing than Charlie's. I wonder who came up with the new name and when?

[Gladys]

27 minutes ago, Ric said:

These were the premier marbles in the marble jobber, Charlie Stutsman's, Champion Agate set. They were made in the mid 1980s by Dave McCullough, while he was still working at Champion. In his marketing materials, which I believe are from the early 90s, Charlie says:

#CA1-5/8" PUMPKINS - Very bright yellow streaks in contrasting bright reddish orange. This is a very special marble. Only a few were made. Only available at Stutsman's. 35 cents each. 100 only $25.00 while they last.

Now, we call them Hot Wheels, which is probably even better marketing than Charlie's. I wonder who came up with the new name and when?

Great info!! I like the name Hot wheels better to!! makes them sound cooler! lol lov these kind I think I have just 1 

[Gladys]

1 hour ago, Gladys said:

Great info!! I like the name Hot wheels better to!! makes them sound cooler! lol lov these kind I think I have just 1 

Took me so long to find it!! Is this one? Thank you

[Ric]

4 hours ago, Gladys said:

Took me so long to find it!! Is this one? Thank you

Well Gladys, I think Mr. Stutsman might say:

#CA3-5/8" FLAME - Similar to Pumpkins but lighter orange. These will stand out in a collection. The yellow flame like slag is mottled in bright orange. 30 cents each. 100 for $25.00.

He really was quite the marketer, and I think his language is a little antiquated.

So the question is, does your marble look closer to a PUMPKIN or a FLAME?

Either way, it's a Champion Agate from the mid 1980s and every good collection should have a few.

🙂

[Gladys]

45 minutes ago, Ric said:

Well Gladys, I think Mr. Stutsman might say:

#CA3-5/8" FLAME - Similar to Pumpkins but lighter orange. These will stand out in a collection. The yellow flame like slag is mottled in bright orange. 30 cents each. 100 for $25.00.

He really was quite the marketer, and I think his language is a little antiquated.

So the question is, does your marble look closer to a PUMPKIN or a FLAME?

Either way, it's a Champion Agate from the mid 1980s and every good collection should have a few.

🙂

Thank you! Ric , well I will just be old fashioned to then, and say "to be or not to be! that is still the question!! lol Champion it is though!

[Ric]

11 hours ago, Gladys said:

 . . . to be or not to be! that is still the question!!

Honestly Gladys, I am sort of just goofing around with you. We are talking about such archane distinctions here, that I am not sure anyone would even question whether your marble is a Champion "Hot Wheels" - as the kids like to call them. I think almost everybody would say that it is.

😄

[Ric]

Sometimes I just don't think my fellow Hoosier, Charlie Stutsman, gets enough credit for his promotion of marbles and collecting. He really put together a great "set" of about 30 Champion marbles that he marketed mostly to kids at a flea market and other venues around southern Indiana. I am sure a lot of children had fun trying to "catch 'em all" - well before anyone ever dreamed of Pokemon.

[Ric]

Deleted erroneous message.

[Chris Parson]

18 hours ago, Ric said:

These were the premier marbles in the marble jobber, Charlie Stutsman's, Champion Agate set. They were made in the mid 1980s by Dave McCullough, while he was still working at Champion. In his marketing materials, which I believe are from the early 90s, Charlie says:

#CA1-5/8" PUMPKINS - Very bright yellow streaks in contrasting bright reddish orange. This is a very special marble. Only a few were made. Only available at Stutsman's. 35 cents each. 100 only $25.00 while they last.

Now, we call them Hot Wheels, which is probably even better marketing than Charlie's. I wonder who came up with the new name and when?

Fiery ones! And the same colours as the fine flag of my Skåne county. 

[Ric]

22 minutes ago, Chris Parson said:

Fiery ones! And the same colours as the fine flag of my Skåne county. 

That is a fine flag, indeed!

[Al Oregon]

I think this was Ric Anthony's post back in 2016 about Stutsman.

 

[Ric]

Thanks, Al. I really should redo that post and photo.

[cheese]

Funny, I just took a pic of this box a few nights ago before putting them away. 

Two types in the box I think. I've been calling the bright red/yellow ones hot wheels and leaving the darker ones like the one in the bottom right corner with the pumpkin designation. 

[Ric]

25 minutes ago, cheese said:

Two types in the box I think. I've been calling the bright red/yellow ones hot wheels and leaving the darker ones like the one in the bottom right corner with the pumpkin designation.

Nice group, Chuck. I think Charlie's "Pumpkin" (your "Hot Wheels") have a redder base and more yellow, and Charlie's "Flames" (your "Pumpkins") have a less red base and less yellow. Regardless, I think they are probably just different parts of the same run. Charlie was, no doubt, quite the salesman, and he probably had plenty of "Pumpkin Flames" too. 😄

[Gladys]

2 hours ago, cheese said:

Funny, I just took a pic of this box a few nights ago before putting them away. 

Two types in the box I think. I've been calling the bright red/yellow ones hot wheels and leaving the darker ones like the one in the bottom right corner with the pumpkin designation. 

WOW! Just WOW!! Beautiful!

[cheese]

Yeah Ric, my camera fails miserably when yellow is involved. I don't know why. It throws the color balance way off, these aren't true to color. I can get a little better results doing one marble at a time but still have problems. Here is a better representation of the colors. 

 

51 minutes ago, Gladys said:

WOW! Just WOW!! Beautiful!

Thanks Gladys!

 

[Ric]

If you put the pics I took together, it's pretty easy to see the difference, I think.

Charlie's Flame (left) and two Pumpkins, aka Hot Wheels (right). But yeah, the color of the Flame base looks way more like a 🎃 to me.

 

[PittsburghMarbles]

I think its crazy that these are going for ten bucks or more each on eBay auctions now. Theres one on eBay right now thats at 8 bucks with 8 bids and one day left. I literally got 50 of them for 15 bucks a few months ago at a garage sale in WV. They're fairly common but people obviously love them if they are going for that much now. Guess I should put some up for auction...

[wvrons]

What about the Champion Hot Tamale ? 

[Ric]

hare

4 hours ago, wvrons said:

What about the Champion Hot Tamale ? 

The only Hot Tamale I recall is a JABO Classic - bright yellow on a transparent red base?

I couldn't put my hands on any to show, but here is a pic from Santa's Bling - I'm sure you remember these.

Did I miss a Champion version?

[Ric]

6 hours ago, wvrons said:

What about the Champion Hot Tamale ? 

Okay, I think I see what you're doing - have they changed Charlie's name for these too?

#CA4 - 5/8" RED CLOUDS WITH YELLOW. Bright red with cloudy parts inside. Small streaks of yellow are outside. Red is translucent. A very pretty marble. 35 cents each, 100 only $25.00.

Sheesh, you'd think people could pick a name and stick with it for a few decades. lol

[bumblebee]

On 9/2/2021 at 7:03 AM, Ric said:

Another error post, brought to you by Ric. It really is a shame that there is not a 30 second grace period for entirely deleting one of your own posts!

@bumblebee

Moderators can restore deleted posts, if that helps?

[wvrons]

I heard the names Hot Wheels and Hot Tamale before I had any info about Charlie Stutsman.  Local around Pennsboro and most shows. The Hot Wheels were what Stutsman called Pumpkins.  The Hot Tamale were what Charlie Stutsman called Red Clouds.  I never heard of Charlie Stutsman much except by David Chamberlain. I also bought one of the sets of Champion marbles by Charlie Stutsman. Unless you bought marbles from Charlie, most collectors probably never heard his names for Champions. But probably many also never heard the Hot Wheels or Hot Tamale names.  Yes when more than one company has a different marble with the same name it makes things more difficult.  How many different marbles are named or called Superman ? Now any marble with blue, red and yellow is a Superman. This week I saw a marble pictured for id and they ask if it was a Superman ? It was just a yellow base with red. Not even any blue.  

[Ric]

2 minutes ago, bumblebee said:

Moderators can restore deleted posts, if that helps?

I may not have been clear, I want to be able to delete one of my own posts within 30 seconds of posting it, and it seems a little odd that I can't. What's the point of not allowing a person to delete their own post?

[Ric]

3 minutes ago, wvrons said:

I heard the names Hot Wheels and Hot Tamale before I had any info about Charlie Stutsman.  Local around Pennsboro and most shows. The Hot Wheels were what Stutsman called Pumpkins.  The Hot Tamale were what Charlie Stutsman called Red Clouds.  I never heard of Charlie Stutsman much except by David Chamberlain. I also bought one of the sets of Champion marbles by Charlie Stutsman. Unless you bought marbles from Charlie, most collectors probably never heard his names for Champions. But probably many also never heard the Hot Wheels or Hot Tamale names.  Yes when more than one company has a different marble with the same name it makes things more difficult.  How many different marbles are named or called Superman ? Now any marble with blue, red and yellow is a Superman. This week I saw a marble pictured for id and they ask if it was a Superman ? It was just a yellow base with red. Not even any blue.  

Maybe it's just an Indiana thing, but Charlie Stutsman sold a lot of marbles, far and wide, in the 1990s. I thought he would have been better known.