C.E. Bogard & Sons Cats Eye
Marbles
By
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Bogard made some of the most unusual
cat’s eyes imaginable. Yep! You’ve got to get into those poly bags and really
look at them. Vie done that just for you!
About 15 years ago, I bought from Charlie Stutsman a dozen of those 50 Count
Cats Eye in Glass bags. Yesterday, I opened ten of them and let 500 marbles roll
out. I can’t describe the feeling! I think 500 marble is sufficient from which
to make statistical judgments. By the way, I found one pee wee in the entire
bunch. More about that later.
I don’t know what was happening but in two of the bags a total of 14 ribboned,
2-color, white-based, opaque swirl interlopers snuck their way in. Let’s
dispense with them right off. No photo!
I won’t provide statistical percentages ad nauseum, but I will say that the
Black and the Black with wisps of white all attempting and most failing to
become 4 vanes totaled 139. And the orange with white, actually multi-vaned
white cage with orange patch (actually splotch) similar to English Caged Fat
Cores totaled 126 (see Photo #1).
PHOTO #1:
A variety of colors actually elevated themselves sufficiently to standard 4-vane
cat’s eye status to allow me to line up like soldiers ten of them in Photo #2.
Only the White (65), the Green (47), the Light Orange Hybrid (37), and the Dark
PHOTO #2:
Now for the lonely ones in Photo #2. That Yellow 4-vane was the only one among
500 marbles! Kind of sad. The Dark Blue, only four; the Light Blue, just one;
and the Green with White Blend, only three (see also Photo #3). This last one is
similar to a St. Mary’s of the same coloring only blended.
PHOTO #3:
On to some of the more exotics. My all time favorites are these
PHOTO #4:
Also uncommon are the marbles in Photo #5. The Orange hazy single-vane swiggle
totaled 15 marbles while the
PHOTO #5:
PHOTO #6:
Finally, I’m getting back to that pee wee (Photo #7). That’s a true pee wee and
the other is 1/32 over a half inch. Each has a hazy single curved vane.
Incidentally, almost all of the Bogard marbles are translucent; that’s the
beauty of them.
PHOTO #7:
To conclude, I provide a happy little group of some of the more exotic types
including one I almost forgot to mention which has Dark Blue with a wisp of 
.
PHOTO #8:
Guess I’m going to have to get these 500 marbles back into their bags. Seems a
shame, what with them having been cooped up in there for the past 15 years since
I got them and a couple of decades before that. I’m not going to be in any rush
about it.