Purple Brick or Slag?

[StevenJustSteven]

Okay so, without allowing my frustrations to spill over onto this forum from a Facebook group Im wanting to get an understanding of what I think to be a rather simple and straight forward identification. So pictured here is what I find to be a purple brick. I mean it looks just like a brick with all the striations and and layers like a traditional brick. Im being argued with on Facebook claiming that it's a slag. Mind you zero light will pass through this marble. It has both transparent slivers of purple, opaque swirls that are both purple and white in color. From my understanding coming from reading several books on the subject of marbles that a  slag is easily identifiable as being transparent base glass with opaque white swirls. What do you all think ? Im guessing here but this marble is roughly 21/32 to 41/64

  

[Chad G.]

Appears to be a purple slag, heavy striations of opaque white in a trans purple base IMO.

[StevenJustSteven]

14 minutes ago, Chad G. said:

Appears to be a purple slag, heavy striations of opaque white in a trans purple base IMO.

Chad, thank you for your comment. You find it to be transparent purple base even though when back lit there is zero light that passes through it? I do see that some of the purple is transparent but more than that I see opaque purple more than transparent purple. Thanks again for your involvement. 

[Chad G.]

1 hour ago, StevenJustSteven said:

Chad, thank you for your comment. You find it to be transparent purple base even though when back lit there is zero light that passes through it? I do see that some of the purple is transparent but more than that I see opaque purple more than transparent purple. Thanks again for your involvement. 

I found an old picture I saved in one of my folders that may be of some interest ?? It took some digging and I'm not sure where it came from originally but I knew I had it saved somewhere.  Just posting this as another point of discussion, maybe someone will remember where it came from & how accurate it is ??

                                

[Ric]

I agree with, Chad. It looks like a purple slag with way more than it's fair share of white - so much, in fact, that it's apparently opaque.

[B-rett66]

   One thing is for sure, it’s a beautiful marble. Chad, thanks for the brick picture line-up. I think I have a mulberry brick. 
   

[Tommy]

 Agree with slag with lots of white..👍Ok what is a purple brick ...I have heard of green bricks ...

Anyone have more pics of a purple brick?

[boris64]

slag....nice one

[Jeff54]

12 hours ago, Chad G. said:

I found an old picture I saved in one of my folders that may be of some interest ?? It took some digging and I'm not sure where it came from originally but I knew I had it saved somewhere.  Just posting this as another point of discussion, maybe someone will remember where it came from & how accurate it is ??

                                

    These names: Red Brick, Orange, Common, Purple, Mulberry, peach and others never existed in collector and marble player's history until a little over 20 years ago, whenever a whole new digging spot was uncovered with Hand Gathered opaque, simi, translucent, single and multi-colored marbles were found, accordingly, in a drain pipe at the old Akro Agate plant.  Some had previously thought were exclusive to Christensen Agate or MF Christensen. To this effect, the marble in question is not of the same type or relative to that dug-up group. I believe them to be pre 1928 Akro while others think they were MFC rejects. And at the same time, an exclusive Akro color;  Cornelien is in that dug-up group and this "Mulberry" looks like one (Cornelian) too.

So, this "Brick" stuff is a newer fad. Bricks are made of Oxblood and when beat up actually do look like real red brick.

However, since that discovery, I have seen others of those that were used years ago, in the wild. I E. What's 'New' is being able to sort them. 

Here are some of those dug-up at that time. Only 1 with Oxblood, a turquoise slag. Otherwise, some of these were called "Bricks" by the dealers and diggers who sold em on ebay. .: BTW, there are 3 purple "Bricks" otherwise known as solids. Gray and different colors of solid blue and stuff.

[Chad G.]

10 hours ago, Jeff54 said:

    These names: Red Brick, Orange, Common, Purple, Mulberry, peach and others never existed in collector and marble player's history until a little over 20 years ago, whenever a whole new digging spot was uncovered with Hand Gathered opaque, simi, translucent, single and multi-colored marbles were found, accordingly, in a drain pipe at the old Akro Agate plant.  Some had previously thought were exclusive to Christensen Agate or MF Christensen. To this effect, the marble in question is not of the same type or relative to that dug-up group. I believe them to be pre 1928 Akro while others think they were MFC rejects. And at the same time, an exclusive Akro color;  Cornelien is in that dug-up group and this "Mulberry" looks like one (Cornelian) too.

So, this "Brick" stuff is a newer fad. Bricks are made of Oxblood and when beat up actually do look like real red brick.

However, since that discovery, I have seen others of those that were used years ago, in the wild. I E. What's 'New' is being able to sort them. 

Here are some of those dug-up at that time. Only 1 with Oxblood, a turquoise slag. Otherwise, some of these were called "Bricks" by the dealers and diggers who sold em on ebay. .: BTW, there are 3 purple "Bricks" otherwise known as solids. Gray and different colors of solid blue and stuff.

Thanks for the pix Jeff    One I don't see in any pix but have seen many sold & named as such is the black brick, do you have an opinion on these ?? This one has been slightly polished but still exhibits what I was looking for, I have seen some w/ trace amounts of white but very hard to detect. I remember when the mulberry brick was all the rage when they started digging them up in quantities. I believe it was Danni Kirk (Zaboo) who started selling them on Ebay ??

                                                                           "Black Brick"

                                     Here's an unpolished example that sold as a "Black Brick"

       

 

 

[StevenJustSteven]

Thank you everyone for your insight. I guess if everyone is saying that it’s a slag then it’s a slag. (Which mind you slag is actually my very favorite type of marble). I think they allow for a collector the most insight into the inner workings of a marble. I have hundreds of slags. With several really great examples of purple ones. It’s just none of my slags compare to this one. In fact no other marble I have a or have seen compare to this one other than the really great examples of bricks. I truly think that If I had changed the color of this one to have a red color everyone would agree it to be a brick. It has those layers that create so much depth like a brick. My thoughts are not construed from my desire at a more valuable marble I can assure everyone. I just don’t understand why im the only one that is seeing it. Like someone said, I guess it just has so much white that it stops light from passing through the transparent base. Can a marble have a base that is less volume than the swirls that fill it? Is the base determined by what makes up the marble the most in volume or does something else determine what the base is? 

[cheese]

I'm with slag. I can see the purple is transparent in between the heavy white.

[Alan]

Purple slag.

 

"Purple brick" is someone's invented term of uncertain motivation.

[Tommy]

2 hours ago, Alan said:

 

 

"Purple brick" is someone's invented term of uncertain motivation.

Ahhhh ha...✅️🤨

[akroorka]

20 hours ago, StevenJustSteven said:

I guess if everyone is saying that it’s a slag then it’s a slag.

This is not" just a slag" StevenJustSteven.

This is a top notch never too be seen again slag, very nice--very very nice.

Thanks for sharing the images.

Marble--On!!

 

[Tommy]

Agree with Akroorka, I only have a couple with that much white, here is a pic of my place holder till its minty cousin shows up....

[Jeff54]

On 11/24/2023 at 5:17 PM, Chad G. said:

Thanks for the pix Jeff    One I don't see in any pix but have seen many sold & named as such is the black brick, do you have an opinion on these ?? This one has been slightly polished but still exhibits what I was looking for, I have seen some w/ trace amounts of white but very hard to detect. I remember when the mulberry brick was all the rage when they started digging them up in quantities. I believe it was Danni Kirk (Zaboo) who started selling them on Ebay ??

                                                                           "Black Brick"

                                     Here's an unpolished example that sold as a "Black Brick"

       

 

 

Funny you mentioned the "Black Brick" I thought about too but those appeared a few years prior. However, they, hardly came in red rather a very dark brown oxblood with white almost hiding inside that, once you light them up in bright light are pretty cool. 

There were bunches of these Black Bricks about 3 or four years before the hand-gathered multi-colored marbles in my photo were discovered.

I have, IDK, 3 or 4plus one big one at 7/8" 'black bricks'. The 7/8" is a little out of round (a little larger, a little smaller) so, it averages at 7/8". Unfortunately lost the photos I'd taken.

 Luckily I found a photo  of one at grandpa marbles dot com to link in an example, take away the lights it they'll look nearly all black.:

    I'd guess the Black brick type you acquired from Danni was a choice pick that came later than the dark brown verity, whenever those in my examples were found and finally made its way to ebay through Her. She dealt or still does, in a lot of choice marbles. 

[Ric]

It's beat to a pulp, but I always thought this was a Black Brick - am I wrong?

On 11/24/2023 at 4:09 PM, Jeff54 said:

So, this "Brick" stuff is a newer fad. Bricks are made of Oxblood and when beat up actually do look like real red brick.

I completely agree, no oxblood = no Brick, at least IMO. As far as I know, only one of the six named "bricks" that Chad showed has any. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[akroorka]

7 minutes ago, Ric said:

I completely agree, no oxblood = no Brick,

Yes--but back in the day Cornelians were called bricks by collectors, especially the dark red ones.

This is my stance with "Bricks"--if oxblood is not the dominate color--it is just a very nice swirl😁.

Marble--On!!

[StevenJustSteven]

On 11/25/2023 at 2:33 PM, akroorka said:

This is not" just a slag" StevenJustSteven.

This is a top notch never too be seen again slag, very nice--very very nice.

Thanks for sharing the images.

Marble--On!!

 

Maybe a better way to describe a marble such as this is to consider it a blended slag? I think that may be what is throwing me off. Though I am sure a  marble with an opaque white base and transparent color wouldn't be considered a slag but where is the line drawn. When does a slag start to have enough white that it crosses over the line from being transparent colored base with opaque white swirls to an opaque white base with transparent swirls? 

As far as the comments stating if it doesn't have oxblood as its dominate feature then it isnt a brick. That is actually how I have always thought. My opinion on the matter change recently when actually on this forum I found a post speaking about a purple brick and even a green brick. I honestly thought I saw a photo of a marble similar to mine and the majority of the consensus agreed as to its identity being that of a purple brick. That is what brought about my post on facebook. Now in realty, did I see a photo of a marble same as mine and it was being called a “purple brick” or did I read about a “purple brick” which caused me to consider the marble of mine photoed above and now when thinking back of the instance where I was reading about a purple brick my memory of it puts the two instances together to form one memory? I am unsure. We all think in the form of images. If i say banana. All of you picture a banana in your head. But if someone is great at telling stories to the point that you can really picture whatever they are speaking about, whenever years down the road you are reminded of that story sometimes you can get confused and not realized that it isn't your story but rather a story that someone who is great at setting a scene told you. Reason for this is because weather its your memory or a story someone told you, you still recall it the same way, with images. And if you can think back and “see it” you will almost always say to yourself “it has to be my memory, after all I can picture it all as if it was yesterday”. Hope my late night tangent makes sense. I haven’t actually gone searching for the post I am referring to. It may be there (which I truly think it is) or it may not be there. Ultimately it would be a waste of time searching for it because it wont have any power to bring me to my ultimate goal and that is simply just to know the identity of the marble posted above. I think I will settle within myself to call it.. my cool purple blended marble. As to where it will be displayed, it'll be display as the dividing line between my slags and my bricks. Ha ha. I’m sure not many will have made it this far in this long post. My apologies for making this all about me. It’s not intentional however it was important to me to not feel walked all over as I did on facebook. 

Thank you for your positive affirmations. Those on facebook were less than willing to be so proactive in the way they present their opinons and beliefs. Even though all of you are far more experienced than I am you have not made me feel less than and I very much feel that and I am not left with feeling as though my time would be better served with a different hobby. I think this experience is confirming something that I have already known, that facebook groups (though good for some) is not the place for me. There is no room for healthy questioning and debating in a kind manner for the purpose of coming to a resolve or enlightenment. I am in no way condoning arguing for the sole purpose of being right. The goal has got to be finding the correct answer for what is being discussed. 

 

[StevenJustSteven]

On 11/25/2023 at 3:46 PM, Tommy said:

Agree with Akroorka, I only have a couple with that much white, here is a pic of my place holder till its minty cousin shows up....

Tommy, I seriously thought you were referring to a mint colored slag. I was setting up to take a photo of a mint colored slag that I had that had nearly the same amount of white. Luckily I reread your message before embarrassing myself. Since I have already gotten three photos taken I’ll go ahead and include my “minty cousin” for you. 

[Ric]

6 hours ago, StevenJustSteven said:

Though I am sure a  marble with an opaque white base and transparent color wouldn't be considered a slag but where is the line drawn. When does a slag start to have enough white that it crosses over the line from being transparent colored base with opaque white swirls to an opaque white base with transparent swirls? 

I understand your thinking but it's pretty esoteric for cheap kid's toys. It's probably better to think about base glass and striping glass rather than opaque and transparent glass. Slags and transparent swirls have transparent base glass and opaque striping glass, regardless of their proportions.

And nice (recent) slag too. Does it react to UV?

[Steph]

The original maker's name was not "slag" by the way.  It was Onyx.  And yours is a gorgeous handgathered one.  


What a looker.

[Ric]

To be clear, "Onyx" was Akro's brand name for their slags.

[Steph]

1 hour ago, Ric said:

To be clear, "Onyx" was Akro's brand name for their slags.

The name was also used by MFC  for sure.  MFC called them National Onyx Marbles.

And I'm pretty sure it was used by Christensen and Peltier.  

At least Gropper used the name Onyx when jobbering Christensen and Peltier.   Now I have to  gather up my Onyx ads and probably fix some more old Photobucket links.  ( : 

*heads off to look for one of the Peltier pricelists that Mike Barton posted*