An Empirical Approach to Identifying the Maker of a Blue Swirl Marble

[Plutonianfire]

 

Included below are photos of two very similar blue swirl marbles for which I am going to try to identify the manufacturer using an empirical approach.

 

 

STEP 1 - The first step will be to define blue swirl. With regard to the two marbles of interest, I am going to arbitrarily define blue swirl as the presence of discrete, wavy blue lines on the surface of a marble with an opaque white base. No colors other than blue and white are allowed.

 

STEP 2 - The second step will be to qualitatively compare blue swirl characteristics of our unidentified marbles with characteristics of blue swirl marbles produced by each major toy marble making company using reputable online galleries of marble photos (eg, EBay and similar sites will not be used).

 

1. AKRO -  made blue swirl marbles with Corkscrew and Spiral Onyx/Snake patterns. Not a close match.

 

ALLEY AGATE - made blue swirl marbles with and without "flame" patterns.  The Alley Agate blue swirl marbles without a flame pattern appear to be close matches.

 

 

 

 

 

ALOX did not make blue swirls but made marbles with white swirls on a blue base

 

CAIRO made blue swirls with thin, dark blue wavy lines accompanied by unique small swirl pieces separate from others.  Not a close match. Our unidentified marbles differ in that they are bright blue and not dark blue lines, the blue lines are thicker, and there are no small swirl pieces that stand alone.

 

CHAMPION made blue swirls with numerous blue wavy lines that are interconnected. Not a close match. Our unidentified marbles have blue lines that are not interconnected and the density of coverage is less.

 

HEATON made blue swirls with thin, wispy blue lines.  Not a close match.

 

 

JABO did not make blue swirls

 

 

JACKSON – made blue swirls with very thick dark blue lines. Not a close match.

 

 

KOKOMO didn't make blue swirls

 

MARBLE KING didn't make blue swirls but did make marbles with patches of blue on a white base

 

MASTER MARBLE did not make blue swirls

 

RAVENSWOOD made blue swirls that were similar to Alleys.  However, the Ravenswood blue swirl lines end abruptly at the seams, unlike the Alley blue swirl lines.

 

PELTIER - blue swirl lines end at the seam lines and the seam lines are very conspicuous.  Not a close match.

 

 

 

VITRO - made a blue swirl known as "Eight Fingers".  Lines end at seams and they go around the marble in circles.  Only a partial match 

 

 

 

Conclusion: The unidentified marbles were made by Alley Agate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Plutonianfire]

The unidentified blue swirl marbles are down here:

 

 

 

 

[Plutonianfire]