Newbie Questions

[Ric]

1 hour ago, tankgrrl29 said:

 . . the WV swirls still make my head spin. mine are all dumped together and i have no idea if i have anything 'good'. . .

I know this guy who'd be happy to help you sort those WVS. He's honest and trustworthy, although he does sometimes struggle with obedience. He likes to travel too. I'm pretty sure you've met him at least once at an Illinois show long ago, and he'll work for nothing more than a little fun and some good marble conversation. If you want to get in touch with him just let me know - I've got his number. 😁

[wvrons]

Ric are you giving my number out again ? 

[Ric]

6 minutes ago, wvrons said:

Ric are you giving my number out again ? 

You wish! I was counting on you for a recommendation though. 😁

[tankgrrl29]

15 hours ago, Ric said:

I know this guy who'd be happy to help you sort those WVS. 

 

i actually don't have a ton of them, but i really should get them all in one place and do some serious sorting.

i have one of those butterfly display boxes with a variety of examples that i *think* @wvrons sent me a lifetime ago. i dropped it once..still not sure i got everything back in the right spots 😮 

 

[Melissa]

I have another newbie question. Is aventurine in marbles actually the mineral aventurine, or was it at one time real aventurine?

[wvrons]

Most aventurine in marbles is man made glass. Or a chemical reaction which is usually fine green color.  

[PittsburghMarbles]

On 3/6/2023 at 7:53 PM, Fire1981 said:

Dug marbles were “rejects” that got tossed in a pit. Just a simple hands on quality control. Ron is a Digger. I should note that I don’t know what % came from a pit or what % were on the surface. Hope that helps🔥

RAR

Not all dug marbles are ones the factories saw as rejects. I’ve dug at a lot of factories, and there’s plenty of mint marbles with no defects at the factory sites. Lots of the marbles at factory sites fell off the boxcars/rolled out of the factory/fell off loading docks etc. 

[Nantucketdink]

On 3/6/2023 at 8:42 PM, schmoozer said:

Did you bid on Roger Hardy’s collection? I think it was 7 figures..

Did the Hardy collection sell/change hands?  

[wvrons]

I have no new info on Roger and Claudia's collection. 

[wvrons]

Correct the statement that, dug marbles were rejects that got tossed into a pit. Is a old myth, half false and half truth. Just what someone assumed and spread false information. If it is, all dug marbles were rejects ? That is totally false. One word changes things.  I have been fighting 25 years of the statement that all dug marbles were rejects  The companies did not pay someone to take a shovel or anything else and dig pits to bury marbles. A average for most vintage marble company sites for dug marbles would be about 30% ready to sell or mint marbles and about 70% were errors, rejects, damaged with age from being buried or damaged while being dug.  Some sites were different, like Ravenswood. All the Ravenswood marbles that were dumped over the river bank were ready to sell and ship marbles. Every site has a different story of why, how and when mint marbles were discarded. Error marbles and mint marbles were discarded into depressions, mud holes, swamps, ditches, used as gravel to drive cars on, stream banks and river banks. They were used as fill or same as most individual house dumps then. Anyplace nearby to dispose of something that they could not sell. The marbles were not a penny each. If you had 200 red hot error marbles from the rolls in a catch bucket of 500 good marbles. They did not sort out the error ones from the catch containers, as they were made. They dumped the entire bucket and put it back under the end of the rolls.  At 200 per minute you would not pay someone to sort out the 200 hot bad marbles. A marble machine operator did not have time to sort. Sorting was done by eye and hand at the very end of the process during packaging. Then when errors were found they were also discarded.  Even then the rejects were often picked up by hand along with mint marbles and discarded. Anyone who has ever dug marbles at a factory site for four or eight hours and found marbles. Will tell you they found mint marbles. Mint marbles were discarded that no collector would have ever seen if someone had not dug them and shared the marbles and information. No one today would know what any Davis Marble Works marbles look like. If four people had not dug them. There were more ready to sell marbles there at that site than rejects or errors. The popular Akro Jolly Roger and Claudia marbles were all dug. If you have 5000 or more marbles in your collection ? You have a good chance that it may contain a dug marble.  If a marble is mint, it is mint. No matter if it come from a original package or come from the ground.  All dug marbles were rejects is and always has been totally false. Many of these old marble myths and false statements will never go away. Because people just keep spreading them as the truth, without any evidence or hands on experience.  The people who know the truth need to speak it more often, if things will change for tomorrow.  

[Melissa]

@wvrons, great info.  Thank you!!

[Carowill]

30 minutes ago, wvrons said:

Correct the statement that, dug marbles were rejects that got tossed into a pit. Is an old myth, half false and half truth. Just what someone assumed and spread false information. If it is, all dug marbles were rejects ? That is totally false. One word changes things.  I have been fighting 25 years of the statement that all dug marbles were rejects  The companies did not pay someone to take a shovel or anything else and dig pits to bury marbles. A average for most vintage marble company sites for dug marbles would be about 30% ready to sell or mint marbles and about 70% were errors, rejects, damaged with age from being buried or damaged while being dug.  Some sites were different, like Ravenswood. All the Ravenswood marbles that were dumped over the river bank were ready to sell and ship marbles. Every site has a different story of why, how and when mint marbles were discarded. Error marbles and mint marbles were discarded into depressions, mud holes, swamps, ditches, used as gravel to drive cars on, stream banks and river banks. They were used as fill or same as most individual house dumps then. Anyplace nearby to dispose of something that they could not sell. The marbles were not a penny each. If you had 200 red hot error marbles from the rolls in a catch bucket of 500 good marbles. They did not sort out the error ones from the catch containers, as they were made. They dumped the entire bucket and put it back under the end of the rolls.  At 200 per minute you would not pay someone to sort out the 200 hot bad marbles. A marble machine operator did not have time to sort. Sorting was done by eye and hand at the very end of the process during packaging. Then when errors were found they were also discarded.  Even then the rejects were often picked up by hand along with mint marbles and discarded. Anyone who has ever dug marbles at a factory site for four or eight hours and found marbles. Will tell you they found mint marbles. Mint marbles were discarded that no collector would have ever seen if someone had not dug them and shared the marbles and information. No one today would know what any Davis Marble Works marbles look like. If four people had not dug them. There were more ready to sell marbles there at that site than rejects or errors. The popular Akro Jolly Roger and Claudia marbles were all dug. If you have 5000 or more marbles in your collection ? You have a good chance that it may contain a dug marble.  If a marble is mint, it is mint. No matter if it come from a original package or come from the ground.  All dug marbles were rejects is and always has been totally false. Many of these old marble myths and false statements will never go away. Because people just keep spreading them as the truth, without any evidence or hands on experience.  The people who know the truth need to speak it more often, if things will change for tomorrow.  

  I think I speak for everyone who frequents this site, thank you for your willingness to educate and patience in dealing with questions that have obvious answers to you!  We all benefit when knowledge is shared!!

[wvrons]

Thank You !   But I know some who do not agree.  But I am all about majority. I will never be 100% correct. I will never please everyone. The more correct information, thoughts opinions, open minds, and civil discussions the more we should learn.  The people who helped me never wanted a dime from me. They just ask, pass it along.  

[Melissa]

What causes blow holes?  Do blow holes make marbles less collectible?

[Ric]

Blow holes are formed when bubbles near the surface of the marble burst. If this happens while the glass is still hot you will usually get a pit with "melted" smooth edges. If the bubble is just beneath the surface but remains covered by a thin layer of glass that later breaks you wind up with a blow hole that has rough edges. These can be considered as made imperfections but significantly reduce the grade of the marble and hence its collectible value. At least that's how I understand it.