Berry Pink Marbles In 1973?

[Steph]

Anyone know what type of marble was for sale here?

75 Berry Pink Marbles for 49 cents.

The date was May 19, 1973.

The No. 5075 in the ad fits what appears to fit the trend of the Marble King catalog sheets in AMMM. The highest item no. showing on the 1954 sheet is No. 1008 for a cool Big Value box -- looks just like the Peltier version except the company name is given as Berry Pink Industries.

And the lowest number showing on the 1979 catalog sheets is 6106 H. (H for the incredible Hulk header)

So, 5075 is a reasonable catalog number for earlier in the 70's.

But if a 1970's "Berry Pink Marble" is listed in AMMM, I missed it. I can't even see that they noted Mr. Pink's passing. He died in 1962. The 1958 St. Mary's fire is discussed on p. 94 and then on p. 95 it says:

Marble King enjoyed fairly good times in Paden City during the 1960s. It was time when the smaller companies that had been competition were out of business and Marble King cat's eye marbles with considerable success. A significant development came in 1963 when Roger Howdyshell, Duncan V. (Don) Peltier, and Cornell Medley bought Marble King, Inc. and Berry Pink Industries.

In 1965, Berry Pink Industries was dissolved and became Berry Pink Industries Division of Marble King, Incorporated. For a time in 1967, marbles produced by Marble King were sold by Peltier Glass Company.

On July 1, 1983, ....

Also, 75 doesn't seem to appear as one of the marble counts found in Marble King packaging.

Maybe it's not Marble King? But who else would be selling marbles with that name in 1973?

[duffy]

isnt watertown near new york city....i think that was pinks stomping grounds....kresge[sp] was a huge drug store then...maybe they had a stock pile of berry pink interprize marbles or somebody else found em or bought like a drum full then...theyre also sellin other toys....i dont find it so unbelievable....ive seen 55 gallon drums of marbles....even recently.....if that store was on pinks list id bet they bought marbles by bulk from him....and got lost in a warehouse then discovered em.....

[Al Oregon]

Might very well have been the Berry Pink drawstring bags - 75 might have been a reasonable count for # of marbles in them (the newer MK drawstring bags have 75). This type:

[Steph]

Watertown is upstate NY. About 300 miles from NYC. Still "in the neighborhood" for a salesman I guess.

mmm hmmm, a drawstring bag sounds good.

The item # is still a puzzle if it is indeed from the MK catalog. The 75 would be for the number of marbles. The 5000 would still likely put it after 1962 though.

Would the drawstring poly bag have said Berry Pink Industries in the late 60's, early 70's? Well, it was at least in the company address in the paperwork. And maybe "Berry Pink marbles" was the traditional name for that bag in that region dating back to the days when Pink was a celebrity. "Berry Pinks" is more fun to say than Tournament Assortment.

My wild guess was that it might have been a commemorative promotional item with his name on it. Maybe only in the NY area since that's where he was most famous. (lol @ me)

(Al, does that bag have a dark stain on the back?)

[Steph]

I have to say you nailed it Al. I already figured you had but this nails that you nailed it.

Ad from Greeley Colorado, 1958:

[Poplarhead]

I have to say you nailed it Al. I already figured you had but this nails that you nailed it.

Ad from Greeley Colorado, 1958:

Pictures from my collection. Why people called them Berry Pinks - see how Marble Kings were advertised and distributed.

Don

[Steph]

That totally explains it.

(very cool pieces)

[Al Oregon]

I forgot about those, Don. My question on the bags with the Alleys or the Peltier Banana cat's-eyes is whether they were actually packaged by Marble King or packaged by someone else for Berry Pink using the 'Marble King' name that Berry was known by...? Peltier had that 'checkerboard' type header pattern that was later used in the top pictured bags, for instance.

[Steph]

If they were sold by Marble King, would that be a yes for "packaged by Marble King"?

(Alley poly bags looking very much like that are pictured in Marble King ads in the 50's)

[psia-antique]

I missed this before. I am from Watertown. It is 326 miles North of the Tappanzee Bridge in Northern NY. The Catskills are "Upstate" are on the way to Watertown and about 100 miles out of NYC.

We all bought our marbles at Woolworth's on Public Square or from a store the was a toy store kitty corner from Woolworth's.

I am really surprised by this ad because in the late 50s and early sixties all I saw in Woolworth's were common Vitros and later Vitro cats were added. I never saw a Pelt or Akro etc until later.

Anyway, that's what I remember about buying marbles in my home town as kid. I am surprised by this ad.

[stacyw]

The laughter you hear in the background is from the New York State members of this board who just read about Watertown being "near" NY City.

It may be only 326 miles but it's really light-years. There is a sort of invisible chink in the time-space continuum at work. The city folk think anything north of Yonkers is "upstate" , those of us around the Catskills think Watertown is "upstate" and in Watertown you have to be able to see Canada to be "upstate"