Original Boxes And Bags Please

[hdesousa]

Steph did some great research to rediscover the California Agate Company.

In the archives now, but well worth reading again:

http://marbleconnection.com/topic/10332-california-agates-marble-mystery/

http://marbleconnection.com/topic/11384-california-agates-incredible-find/

[mmuehlba]

well here is another one that Hansel also has . I still have the dumping sandy it cam in as it was in the box as a free give away ?? . Mike

[mmuehlba]

well how about some jobber boxes a few 10 cent boxes and a Rosenthal . here are the 10 cents boxes , I should open but then knowing me I would swap in or out different marbles so at this time I will just think what is inside . Mike

[mmuehlba]

now the Rosenthal jobber box it came with a marble king bag , sold a few years ago still have what is left . Mike

and looking still left all the marbles that came with the box .

[mmuehlba]

now how about the very common master box as if I remember correct cases of these were found . and there even were fake boxes made . look at the back as signs of another box on top for many years sitting in a case , That is what made me want one . Mike

the back with the signs of years of storage no fake here . Mike

[hdesousa]

some early Akro sleeves

[hdesousa]

Not seen very often. Akro Hot Shot

[lstmmrbls]

I actually think the so called fakes turned out to just be a later version of the box.

[bigjohn691500]

[hdesousa]

Not sure if I've seen another.

Dane-T-Bits bakers

[lstmmrbls]

Very interesting!

[hdesousa]

A couple more (possibly unique) Akro boxes.

Probably made by the box-car load. Where are the other survivors?

[lstmmrbls]

Can't tell what the first one is but I have seen the visi-pacs before

[hdesousa]

Can't tell what the first one is but I have seen the visi-pacs before

Sorry. See if this is any better.

[lstmmrbls]

Now thats definitely one I have never seen any where else!!!!

[ann]

Wow -- me neither. Do the solid-colored ones (the purples especially) look handgathered? That's the first box I've seen (not that I'm particularly knowledgeable about boxes -- I'm not) that looks like it might have some of those solid-colored hangathered Akros that I've only seen from digs. Nice!

P.S. The baby blue ones wouldn't be fluorescent, would they? (Holding breath)

[lstmmrbls]

The Blue Yellow and Green look like MFCs. And I have always wondered if a lot of those weird colored dug types were not made in the last days of MFC. Akro did start out by using MFC marbles.

[BuckEye]

Thats an interesting last point Galen. Although i thinkthey have dug some hg examples at akro correct? I think zaboo has a nice grouping of them

[ann]

The Blue Yellow and Green look like MFCs.. . .

Yep -- that's why I was curious about the baby blue being fluorescent or not. I have a nice HG one, but have been told it's Akro and not MFC because it's (very) fluorescent. I have a single much-cherished non-fluorescent MFC (from Alan B back in the day) but don't know how much weight to give any minor differences in color between those two, since color could vary somewhat from batch to batch. Especially with MFC, or so I've heard/read/been told.

Never thought of Akro's early use of MFC marbles in connection with these solid-color HG types. Good point, Galen.

I'd assume the purples would be Akro, given that MFC purples are rare? Or heck, maybe not.

All the examples I have are dug (3 or 4 purples, a couple of different greens, a couple of different reds), and have that peculiar very fine surface striation of HG marbles that have come out of the ground at Akro.

Do the blue ones (or any of them) fluoresce, Hansel?

[lstmmrbls]

Yes they dug gobs of weird handgathered marbles at Akro. More than likely their earliest attempts but one must remember Akro got boxcars of marbles from MFC and it has been proven they used MFC marbles before they produced their own.

[hdesousa]

<snip>

Do the blue ones (or any of them) fluoresce, Hansel?

Hey Ann,

I'll let you know as soon as I find my black light (may be awhile).

Meanwhile, here's another Akro box. This one definitely with MFC marbles since it was sold out of Akron.

Hansel

[hdesousa]

And here are a couple ads for that box, courtesy of George Sourlis, when Akro was in Akron as well as when they moved to Clarksburg.

I bought the Akro box from Norm Brown (a great guy, and a true collector, may he RIP) who found it in an antique show in a shopping mall in Calfornia.

Wonder if any of the Clarksburg boxes will show up?

Note, the ad from Clarksburg no longer offers the opaque marbles.

[hdesousa]

a closer look at the marbles

[hdesousa]

And the top of the box.

[ann]

Yes they dug gobs of weird handgathered marbles at Akro. More than likely their earliest attempts but one must remember Akro got boxcars of marbles from MFC and it has been proven they used MFC marbles before they produced their own.

That got me going last night, rooting around for my Cohill book ( . . . and the Perfect Glass Ball Machine), which I finally unearthed. The surviving records seem pretty detailed, with Cohill saying that some of the more unique MFC examples can be pinned down to a particular day, and in some cases to a particular pair of glassworkers. So I don't know that there's enough wiggle room there to account for all of the HG oddities that came out of the ground at Akro. But some -- like you say, maybe, for sure. Why wouldn't they, if some were in the "whatever's left" Akro purchase?

Hansel, in that last box -- is that yellow as bright as it seems in the pic? Wow. Not sure I would have expected that from early Akro, much less MFC. Got to go back and find out when they started using cadmium as a yellow colorant. Unless one of you guys just knows, off the top of your head. I don't.