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This was a great year for finding marbles!

A few Alleys found through the years

"Superboy" 0,70

I finally won my first and only lot thus far with Blocks auctions last night and I am glad to add any Marble Kings to my stash. I see a good number of Bumble Bees and Cub Scouts in here which always widen my eyes. Looks like there might be some Cubs that are Kato type. Someday I will get a few of the harder to find Blended ones and the likes of Spidermans, Green Hornets, Dragonflys, Watermelons, and Hercules. For now, all the kids at recess will be so jealous of me, trying to win my Marble King Rainbows. Image is from Mr. Blocks auction 01/25/2026.

Mine has more white

This cold weather has me feeling blue☺️

x2, Not polished. That's original surface IMO.

Some MKs for this Monday

X2, MFC, I don't think it's polished, all the dimples have smooth edges, just someone took good care of it and it never got played. Surface looks natural to me, you can even see a few wrinkles.

My favorite, some call him a 'clown'

5/8” CAC striped opaque

Akros for the win

Caged solid core, what's the size ?? I see one bubble pop and 2 fleas, otherwise a pretty clean marble. Unfinished pontils and on both ends helps me date it to between 1870 or so and 1910. The size is probably around 11/16ths, just guessing though, most of these were made by the Germans for the English gameboard market, the brighter colors also help date it. Dollars to doughnuts it was part of a gameboard set at one time.

Looks Vacor to me

perils of the hobby

Japanese

A cool blue & green corckscrew 5/8”

Way too much. Those were going for 35 each not long ago. I've seen them hit 80+ lately and I wouldn't pay that but 225 seems way too high. Prices are nuts these days though.

This is an Alley Opal Lady. A sought after marble by collectors.

Alley bacon

Flicker has a good memory. There were Hurricanes that were packaged for Europe with the name Africa on the header. Here are two pics of the Don Juan bag (Netherlands) and a very rare Mega bag with the Africa name that "slipped through" the Guadalajara "checkpoint" that Pete was able to get prior to the 2003 time frame when I bought it from him.

G'day folks! Here is a nice example of a Akro agate corkscrew lifesaver, it measures 20mm. Cheers

Had this, just in case...

He finally got me

Your RAR reminded me of a great time years ago. We had a group, Ron Shepherd (RIP), Bill McCaleb(RIP), Nola Morgan, Dave Becker and I called "RARS". It stood for "Rare Alley Recovery Squad. It was so much fun competing at shows to see who could find the rarest Alley. The rule we followed was, If you set it down and your fingers are not touching the marble it was up for grabs. So many times, one of us would look at a marble but were not quite sure and put it back. Ron eagle eye Shepherd would have it in his hand, and it was sold. It was so much fun when we all were in a room at the same time, like chickens picking feed. Sure do miss them days and those guys. Anyhow, many of those marbles came from back in that time period.

Looks like the consensus says CAC swirl, that's my take anywho...never heard of a CAC Cubscout...

....Snakeskin alley

Lazy Cork. 5/8 size. Lavender and Teal Green combo. Are these HTF? Not a huge Akro collector. Thanks.

Hello! I'm so so excited to find this post and see your research and others talking about it. Naoyuki Seike is actually my Great Grandfather! If you'd like would be very happy to put you in contact with my father and he can maybe share more information with you. Naoyuki's Daughter (and my grandmother), Junko followed in his inventor path and also worked for Zojirushi and had many patents related to cooking and food science.

This one got some character

19/32 equals Monster? Nice CAC but....?

Some Yellows from peltier 😎

I have Heaton vibes here but I am flying by the seat of my pants-literally. I saw the Urologist today. Marble--On!!

Blue lace

This was a fun show! It was very nice to finally meet Stephen in person.

Hard to follow that group but here are some 1in masters

Aventurine can come in many apparent colors, blue, red, green etc. The key is the glitter like glassy sparkle to identifying it. Some marbles contain more than one color of Aventurine. Av can be added to a marble during manufacturing or be a result of a chemical reaction in the glass during manufacturing.

Hello! That is a clearie marble. They were made by all the companies and by the billions. Pretty much impossible to tell the age and maker. Fun to find though!

Yes to Vitro. I believe this it's a Superior because it has 2 red ribbons.🔥 RAR

Based on pics 1 and 2, I see a wonky Akro Corkscrew. Don’t really see a CAC, but I do see why some do. Either way, it’s unique! Thanks for sharing!

These Japanese fishing net floats were all over the beach when I was a kid, now !! Nothin, the glass on these is extremely thick. When I was a kid we found these triple this size, allot of fish musta got away or been tangled in the net ??

Hey !!!!! You should be 3X 🔥 RAR

An article about my research was published in The Nikkei, Japan's leading newspaper specializing in business, economics and industry. While The Nikkei is best known fo financial and corporate news, its final page is devoted to cultural topics. My article appeared in this culture section. Below is the English version for the forum. =================================================================================== The Nikkei, 28 Aug. 2025 Japan as a Leading Marble Producing Nation : An Industrial History Behind Its Modernization Research uncovers the origins - and the creators - of the once-mysterious "nishiki" marbles The sparkle of a ramune marble and the gentle clinking sound it makes inside a glass bottle are familiar to many people in Japan. While ramune originated as a Western carbonated drink, it came to be defined less by its contents than by its distinctive marble-stopper bottle. These marbles also represent the starting point of the country’s glass marble industry. From the late Taisho period (1912–1926) through the postwar years, large quantities of glass marbles were exported. However, this history is not widely recognized today. The origins of this industry can be traced to Meiji 25 (1892), when glass manufacturer Tamakichi Tokunaga succeeded in the domestic production of marble-stopper bottles. This achievement marked the beginning of glass marble production. In the early years, marbles were made entirely by hand. As demand increased, production gradually became mechanized, particularly among manufacturers in Osaka, where glass-related industries were already well established. Before the war, the Japan Glass Marble Industry Association consisted of seventeen member companies. After the war, production expanded rapidly, with annual output exceeding 8,500 tons. These marbles were exported worldwide and contributed to the industrial recovery during the postwar period. I have been collecting glass marbles for nearly thirty years, and I share my research with collectors through international online forums. My interest in glass marbles also has a personal background. I was born in 1973 and was drawn from early childhood to transparent and reflective objects. At that time, children sometimes played with marbles, with flat marbles more common among girls and spherical glass marbles more often associated with boys. I was shy and never brought myself to ask the boys to show me their marbles. Glass marbles, smoother and rounder than flat marbles, left a strong impression on me. Later, I trained as a glass artist and worked for approximately twenty years as a lampworked bead maker in Sendai. Alongside this work, I began collecting glass marbles in the summer of 1998. In the late 1990s, marbles reappeared in toy stores through games such as B-Daman, and brightly colored marbles imported from Mexico became available. As I visited antique markets and curio shops, I encountered older marbles with unfamiliar patterns. Compared to contemporary products, these marbles carried a distinct presence shaped by time. This led me to become increasingly interested in their manufacturing methods and historical contexts. Among the marbles I encountered, those known among overseas collectors as “Stripeys” attracted particular attention. These marbles do not have a specific name in Japan and are generally understood as a type of nishiki or cat’s-eye marbles. Within clear glass, blended colored vanes create distinctive internal patterns. Because many examples had been reported in Canada and Europe, overseas collectors came to believe that these marbles originated there. However, the same type is also frequently found within the country. As a major producing country, domestic demand could be met without relying on imports from countries with stronger currencies, making Western-made marbles rare within the country. This raised questions about the commonly accepted assumptions regarding the origins of these marbles. In the course of my research, I examined archival documents and visited locations where marble factories had once operated, speaking with individuals connected to those areas. This process highlighted the significance of Naoyuki Seike, founder of Nippon Special Glass Ball Mfg. Co., Ltd., which was the largest marble producer in the country before the war. In 1924, Seike obtained Japan’s first patent for a marble-forming machine and operated a factory in Hanaten, Osaka. Through this research, I had the opportunity to speak with Seike’s daughter-in-law, who is still living. According to her account, when Seike passed away in 1963, he left a bucket filled with glass marbles to each of his five children. I was entrusted with a portion of these keepsakes, which included an example of the marble later referred to overseas as Stripeys. For Japanese makers and consumers, transparency was an essential aesthetic quality of glass, and this sensibility is clearly reflected in nishiki marbles. In contrast, marbles favored in Western cultures tended to feature rich, opaque colors rather than transparency. In 1938, Tatsukichi Isogami, chairman of the Marble Association, filed a utility model application related to nishiki marbles. By the following year, Seike had developed a related variant of this design, which later came to be known among overseas collectors as Stripeys. I self-published these research findings as The History of Japanese Glass Marbles (2024). At present, Matsuno Industry Co., Ltd. in Osaka is the only company continuing the manufacture of glass marbles in the country. Few people remain who have direct knowledge of the former industry, but I hope to continue uncovering this history and bringing it to light. By Aiko Suzuki

MFC -"Diaper fold"

2.23" cloud onionskin

Just came in the mail today