The Master Marble/glass Show And Info Thread

[orbboy]

Ok I'll admit I don't collect Master Marbles or Master Glass either. I am guilty of hording the ones I think are nicer. Poor suckers get put in a bag and go right into a box. Some have been there for years. Well I finally got around to sorting them. Questions are. What makes a Master marble rare? What colour combos are the hardest to find? I know the first thing you think of is appearance. A pretty marble is a pretty marble no matter how you look at it, so lets not include that in the topic. It's a gimmie.

I attached a pic of what I think is my best one. The pics can't show the true amount of clear glass this one has. It would be considered a Transparent Based type, just that it is as full of colour as any one I have ever seen. Shows a couple of green shades (blends), yellow, orange, brown all with their own blends and shades, and to top it off there are streaks of transparent blue that show inhand way better than the pics show. All crammed within a clear base. I think it's just groovy. Also attached a pic of some of the other ones I pulled out for some air. Lets see your best one, and tell us why you think it's better than most. Maybe we can get some new info on these totally underrated marbles.

[mordiskul]

Here i was thinking i had some nice ones set asiad most of mine are bums commpared to yours man .....if you could take a pic of the orange/red one in the lower righthand corner of the assortment pic ...i would love to see that one alone .....GREAT EXAMPLES

Dustin.

[jlmoriarty]

First, as you all probably know, but it bears repeating, four guys left Akro and started their own company Master Made Marbles. They must have left on good terms because the two companies swapped manufacturing and marketing under the other company's label for a short while. This helps add to the the necessary amount of confusion in the who made what game. I don't know this but somewhere I think I read that these guys also left with some of Akro's machines. They made marbles through the 30's and 40's and in the early fifty's the import trade slowed the market enough that three of the four left Ira whats-his-name with the company. Ira made Master Glass marbles but sold them initally in MM boxes. Ira's marbles were mostly pretty dull patches, ie, brushed white on translucent blue sorta thing. Things continued going down hill and Ira died mid-fifties with MG going out of business at about the same time.

Earlier MM are notable for their effort to duplicate the German onionskin and are the most attractive, some being difficult to distinguish from Akro's Sparklers. Generally the more colors the more value. Lacking white also raises the value. There are some unusal color combinations but you would have to see each one in had to see if the hue was "different" from the norm. MG for the most part are IMHO barely collectible.

A question I have - has anyone seen them in any other than 5/8-11/14" size.

Bo should follow me shortly here and correct everything I've said LOL

As for my mibs and particularly MMs they are all in a big plastic tub still in storage, after the move, after the divorce, after the doctors - you get the picture.

I'll try to get them out and shot a few pics before this thread goes away.

John

[Sword44]

Some Master Marble observations:

MM are two-seam marbles. Seam characteristics: generally one seam will have a "V" or convex projection while the other seam will have a concave "U" indentation.

Sunbursts are generally the most collectible. These are the "onionskin lookalikes" that can resemble Akro Sparklers but usually (not always!) have fewer colors. Some sources say that Sunbursts always have transparent base glass (not always true, there are opaque Sunbursts); to my knowledge everyone agrees that the base is filled with filaments of varying colors that run, roughly, pole-to-pole. Sometimes there is a larger "filament" that may look more like a patch. The transparent base glass may be clear, red, green, yellow, or blue (these are the colors I've seen.) Filament colors include brown and grey along with yellow, green, red, blue, white, and orange. True (unblended) pink is rare. My experience indicates that red-based Sunbursts (the deep MM red) are probably the most rare.

Master Marble Sunbursts can often be distinguished from the later Master Glass Sunbursts by their more brillant and distinct filament coloring. I don't know for sure but I'm guessing that the light blue-, green-, and yellow-based Sunbursts may be MG. As John mentioned above, Master Glass was a step down in quality. Some of the MG brushed patches are attractive but you might have to look through a ton of them to find the really nice ones.

Master (MM) also made very striking two-color patch marbles, Comets and Meteors, which are very similar to some Akro patches. MM colors are a bit more subdued that the Akro colors which can seem almost garish. These MM patches may also be differentiated from their Akro cousins by the considerable (and highly attractive) color blending whewre the patches meet. These marbles come in at least seven different color combinations.

Regarding marble size: I have three diameters under 5/8" and three over 11/16" in my collection. The largest I have is 1 inch, the smallest 17/32". But I have very few in these sizes.

Please feel free to send any unwanted or neglected bags, drawers, or tubs of Master Marbles on over to me. Just let me know and I'll give you the address. I promise to cherish them.

Sword44

[jlmoriarty]

Sword44~~

Let me know when you want to sit down and play with our MMs.

I would add one thing and that is collecting good examples off the bay requires a hugh amount of patience and determination.

Lastly, your post is the definitive word on MM collecting. Thanks

John

[Al Oregon]

What's interesting to me is that you do not see any of he xcolorful sunbursts in any of Master's bag packaging, whether it'd be the 1933 Century of Progress mesh bags, Shooting Star Mesh bags or on up through the polybags. You mainly see meteors, comets and other relatively 'plain jane' type of marbles. I see sunbursts in their boxes, etc. but not bags. I'm assuming that they were the more 'cherished' marbles and cost more to make so they went into the gift boxes, etc. and not into the 'playing' bags.

[orbboy]

After looking again I found I had no Red based Masters. How about that! Do others have any? It will help to know to narrow down how hard they are to find. The closest one I have is the one Dustin pointed out. Here you go Dustin. It's sort of an amber/orange colour. Some what dark Apricotish. The back pic pretty much nails it. It struck me as odd thus ending up in the box.

Al makes a great point about the bags and boxes content. Most I have seen are somewhat dull as well. There was that great box that just went on Ebay. I failed to save a pic. It was full of nice ones and a handful of Tiger Eyes. Can someone add it to the thread? Attached is a pic of a Shooting Star bag I sold a few years back. I included a handful of marbles in the auction, sold the 3 Tiger Eyes one by one and some ended up in my box. Since there was a small tear in the bottom of the bag I did my homework with both the original owner and on Nans board as to what marbles should have been in it. I'm pretty sure it was you Al that confirmed for me it was a Master bag.

[mordiskul]

Thanx you very much Cork for takeing the time and posting the pic ....in the group pic it almost looked like a wild german ....ever notice that MASTER made a Cac peach slag mimic Marble i have 6 of them and ive seen many novice collectors get bit by them ( thats about the most interesting thing i can add ) kewl post guys

Dustin.

[PatryD]

Here is a red based, Master Made marble. I have heard these referred to as, "cherry".

However, the base color on this one is, dark cherry transparent.

It is 5/8".

[hrjane]

No transparent red base here. >Edit = found one very dark transparent red base in my 400 or so Masters.

Here is the latest incarnation of the Master box I put together. I keep adjusting it as I get more nice ones.

It was a 1900+/- nut cracker and picks set that I gutted.

A few favorites and a 31/32" yellow base I'm not sure of. It has the V and U seams. I'm going back and forth

between Master & Akro on it. Came to me in a mixed lot with mostly pre 1950 with a few 1950s-1970s.

[PatryD]

Here is a large, 7/8", clear base with red filaments, ? is it a Master Made, sunburst type marble?

I really like the white painted on patch on this marble.

Here is that same marble with 2 sizes of Sparklers. The color of the first image is closest to the large marble.

[GLSS]

Eight of my favorites!

[tankgrrl29]

i like the ones with pink. i still get heartsick when i think of the package i mailed steve for christmas that never arrived. i'd found a few MMs with pink and had included them in the box. grrr! i hope whoever got them at least appreciated them

[orbboy]

Some kick ass marbles so far. I don't think it is to much of a streach to think you big red one is Master Patry. Only the size is odd on that one. The rest looks and sounds like Master.

Is there a name (given or collector) for the real nice earth tone ones like this??? Never seen these in any box or bag.

[PatryD]

Don't know as whether these fit, the Earthtone as much as "malt" colored to "dark chocolate".

Anyway that is what I refer to them as. I don't think that they have a specific name.

These range in size from 23/32" to 9/16".

I have a handful of 1/2" sized MM. Most of them are very similar colors, in yellows and oranges.

[I'llhavethat1]

Cool, I haven't seen too much info on these types, but seeing them beside each other in everybody's group shot, fills in some blanks. I might have a red one, have to take a closer look around in my "don't know what they are" pile. Which IS getting more organized with some of the info/help I've got on this board.

[I'llhavethat1]

Couldn't find a red one, it's gotta be around some where (or just my imagination). To ID by manufacturer when it comes to this type, the best I can do is sort by ones that look alike. Don't be upset if there are a couple others that snuck in, I wouldn't bet my lunch when it comes to ID'ing machine mades but I like to learn.

[Steph]

Red based masters

[orbboy]

Here is a pic of some "peewee" Masters. All but one are just over the 1/2" mark. the bottom 3 rows are from the same find. All of those except 2 have transparent amber bases. The other two are to full to tell.

[skitige2]

intresting thread,heres one that ive been wondering bout and heres an oppertunity to add to this topic, ive always thought its a mm, thin blue n wht interlaced with some red threads n translucent

wayne

[mordiskul]

MM yes

[orbboy]

Here is a faux Oxblood type that Les Jones really wanted. Transparent red over a non flourescent non moonie base. The red barely reaches under the surface as is only about 1/2 mm thick. It even has some darker streaks in the red to give it more of an Ox appearance.

[hrjane]

I was just flipping through "American Machine Made Marbles" and it shows a few Master company sheets from the 1930s. On them, most marble styles (including sunburst) were made in sizes #00 (9/16") to #2 (3/4") with only comets and meteors up to size #6 (1").