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After the passing of our marble friend Dalyn "Dale" Simmons, his collection became available for purchase. Within the collection was presumably the most comprehensive archive of JABO, Inc. 5/8" Classics ever assembled. The meticulous ongoing task of gathering, assembling and labeling of the JABO Classics was a unique endeavor taken on by Dale, leaving us with this comprehensive guide.

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As Dale's collection was slated for auction, it was clear that intervention for the preservation of this part of his collection was vital for historical purposes. Having been working with David Tamulevich in Classics archival research, our conversations further prompted David to become the caretaker until if/when a permanent gallery or repository is found, as he continues in his contributions to the marble community and our efforts in providing you marble identification and history.

 

The photographing of these display cases came with challenges, so apologies for some imperfections that were difficult to overcome without slighting other aspects. Basically, a choice of the lesser of two ills was chosen, ensuring most darker colors, shades and tones are discernable, leaving some lighter colored marbles a bit overexposed and harder to decipher.

UV images may aid with identifying the difference in some similar color schemes appearing in different runs that may or may not glow.

The UV images were also challenging to photograph for many reasons. It was decided that camera settings that best displayed UV activity over color accuracy was used. Any perceived oranges and reds are the result of the Cadmium Sulfide, that in hand, actually glow more orange than seen here. Greens are the result of Uranium.

 

There will be found some discrepancies where it is apparent that the same marble appears in more than one run. Often, similar marbles were intentionally produced in succession for their beauty, and sometimes by happenstance, as the exact same cullet was sometimes used from one run to the next. In these cases, it helps to have the context of other different color schemes from a run to aid in identifying them all as a group. For this reason, it is vital that old groups and collections remain intact, unmixed with others as to aid in their overall identification.
In a few cases seen here, it is a true categorical error that may have occurred for any number of reasons. It is known that earlier run marbles were often added to a more recent run. It is known that errors in labelling or misplacing due to no labelling was rather common.

Observing color progressions in the run is the best clue as to which is correct. In some instances, we may be left to revert to the more likely case of being from the earlier run.

 

Click on images for expanded view/notable information.

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