Cairo and some information pertaining to Davis and Jackson

[cheese]

I wish I had made this post while Ron was still alive. I told him I would do it and he was waiting. I just didn't know I had such little time. Some won't believe this, kind of like the Red Rose Heaton post I made a few years back, but here goes: Ron and I studied these side-by-side carefully at his house while I stayed there digging Cairo. I was pulling marbles out of the ground at Cairo and I took them to him and told him I thought they looked like they were probably made by Davis. Ron got out his case of Davis marbles with a big grin and said "you're right, they are". He told me that Hanlon (Cairo) and Wilson Davis were friends and neighbors with their farms across from one another. Also Carol Jackson of Jackson marbles. Hanlon of Cairo was making marbles and the others wanted to as well. They started up and failed in a short time. The marbles they didn't sell (Davis mostly) were bought by Cairo and I think even the cullet went to Cairo. 

Ron Shepherd and a select group of people he put together dug Davis with special permission. Wilson had cows there and grass and didn't want the ground disturbed. Ron and the crew mapped out the area, made a grid on the grass, and lifted each square of sod and got all the glass in that square. Then they put that sod back down and did the next row and so on until the whole area was cleaned out. There wasn't much to recover, not many marbles and almost no cullet. We studied that cullet and I put the Cairo marbles that were similar right next to them. They were the exact same. Same pattern, same colors, same bubbles, same UV response, same size, everything. 

Now to bolster that claim, look at the pattern of Cairo marbles. Simple single fold like a JABO classic. Look at the hurricanes and every known Cairo... the C or G shapes. Now look at what they call the yellow lightning. Nothing like all those other Cairo marbles. Exactly like the Davis marbles. Some of Davis's other transparent marbles had the same exact pattern. Next, look at the transparent dark green base marbles with the pink to purple ribbons found at Cairo and Davis. Those are Davis. The Ivory reds... those get confusing because it appears as though all 3 (Davis, Cairo, and Jackson) made those but they can still be separated many times. Some Jacksons were dug at Cairo as well. Some cullet from Davis was also found at Cairo, promoting the thought that all glass was moved from Davis to Cairo. The Davis marbles were found in the flood layer just below the tree bark where the company after Cairo laid down that layer over all the glass. This suggests that the Davis marbles were in boxes that burst and spread during the flood. 

The other diggers at Cairo didn't believe what I was telling them, that the marbles were Davis. Ron told me the next day that he would never let anyone take those marbles. Grist wanted him to send the marbles to him to photograph for his book and he wouldn't let them leave his house. Then he said I trust you with them though, take them to Cairo. You keep them in your possession, you can open the case and roll them around but let no-one touch any of them. Go teach them about who made them. Made me feel pretty good, and I went and did what he said and here I am again doing it now. Ron had me spread them out on his washer and dryer because he had bright LED shop lights over them for good photos. I only had my point and shoot and no tripod but I tried to take pics. I didn't know until I got back home to GA that the photos were blurry. But here are some of them.

On this group of yellows, the smaller group on the left is clean and Davis. The larger group on the right is dirty and dug at Cairo. Most of the Cairos are also fractured, which makes the base look whiter than it is. They are clear base. They also all respond the same under UV light, not that that means anything definite.

[cheese]

Then you have these cream colored ones. The group of 4 are dug at Davis, the single one to the left I dug at Cairo.

[cheese]

Then you have these varied shades of transparent green to blue base with the pink to purple swirls. Same pattern. Left is dug at Davis, right is dug at Cairo.

[cheese]

And this one nestled int he foam case was dug at Davis, the ones with dirt on them and sitting next to it (out of the foam divots) were dug at Cairo.

[cheese]

There are others I haven't photographed yet.

[Ric]

This is all interesting, Chuck. And I completely agree about how cautious Ron was with his Davis marbles. He was always worried that he or someone else would get them mixed up with or contaminated with other company's marbles, and with good reason too, Davis marbles with iron clad provenance are very few and far between.

I too talked with Ron about the relationship between Cairo and Davis on several occasions. I think there is little doubt that some Davis marbles wound up at Cairo. I also have little doubt that they shared cullet from the same source(s), if not the same truck loads, and that each may have produced marbles that are very similar to one another.

As for the relationship between Jackson and Cairo, I don't think it was nearly as strong. Jackson started up before Cairo and quit the business shortly after Cairo started. And while it wouldn't surprise me if a few of Jackson's marbles were found at Cairo, I think Jackson was able to sell most of his own inventory, although, I do think it likely that any significant amounts of cullet remaining after he closed up probably did wind up at Cairo, which might explain how the marbles got there too.

Just some thoughts . . .

 

[cheese]

I agree, Jackson was kind of a side point with the main focus on Davis and Cairo. I know about 6 drums of Jackson marbles got dumped instead of moved to Cairo (later about half or 2/3 recovered by diggers). Plus many of their mesh bags were used as fill under the concrete later poured there. And there is not nearly as much found at Cairo as there is of the Davis stuff. Mostly what we discussed and compared was the connection between Davis and Cairo. Some mention here and there of Jackson in the conversations we had but it was more of a side-bar note type of mention. I got the timeline off with Jackson a bit by including them in with Davis on wanting to make marbles after Cairo. Thanks.

[cheese]

I also agree there is little doubt that Davis glass ended up at Cairo. In my mind and yours. But there is among others. It's why Ron wouldn't post about it. He said he didn't feel like the arguments it would bring up, that too many were set in their mind that they were Cairos and he'd already been through it verbally with others. That's why I started this off with "Some won't believe this". I think even if some few people don't want to entertain it, the info should be out there.

[Al Oregon]

Great info.  Thanks for putting it together.

[Carowill]

This needs to go in Steph’s Study Hall or the Archives.  Good information!