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@Fire1981 mentioned this to me a while back. I have now assembled what I have...21 in all colours and sizes. These are definitely one of my favorites

Fun Friday Facts. Akro’s are cool!

The weirdest thing yet that I have pulled from an assorted net bag. This is a totally veneered pattern with a bit of an amber glow in the transparent base when held to light. It is 21/32. I have heard older Vacors are sometimes found in net bags? Well anyway, I have never seen anything that remotely resembles this marble that came from Mexico. I thought "What's a Vitro Tri-Lite doing in here?" but this is so odd. And I do think it is actually very pretty.

Recent Alley Addition. 1”!!!

My 10 sec of fame 🤹‍♂️🎉 Nice video among the "Stars" serving Vintage Machinemade Marbles Ow Yeah 😃😃😃 Thanks @stephenb

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.

Happy Friday!

Onionskin with plenty of mica

I agree Here is a reproduction by Kelly Schmidt, He makes them very well

X3, Vacor

Scored a .75" black base opaque lutz for $20

My winning auction bags arrived today that appear in the post just prior to Alta's purty mibs above. They are now surrounded by a bunch of 1 inch and player size brown rainbows that are more modern Marble Kings in this large Riker case. I find the bags hold about 15 Bumblebees and 15 Cub Scouts and a few oddsters. They will be serving their time, imprisoned in the bags as long as I am warden. Guilty of being cool.

It's almost Akro Friday 🤩 A UV Spiral 15/16" ** EDIT - Well, that's it, I've done lost my mind. I posted this exact marble only 20 days ago

Some (mostly) Rainbos

Some Yellows from peltier 😎

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”

but because I found these guys, my marbles are now coming together, they have made it easier to id myself and they put up with my lousy, fuzzy pictures, and I truly have appreciation for these marble collectors for doing what they are doing, it is a great bunch of people with great knowledge I'm glad I came here for help!

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.

Jumbo- 1,220 (31 mm)

I'd want to know the size.

I have seen them called this also and yes I definitely put these in that category 😁

This one may be a Japenese product. Lets call in @shiroaiko and @YasudaCollector for an opinion here. They both know their stuff for sure. Marble--On!!

It is out of place. I bought some jars today but there were no Jabos at all. So this guy doesn't fit in. I think there is a thread if oxblood also Help Jabo Classic or...

Beautiful divided core, I like these colors

This really bothers me...a lot. Rick really embraced me when I was new around here. We chatted a fair bit in dms and he was extremely generous with his time, and specifically with me. I noticed he hadn't been around, and just yesterday sent him a DM to check in. RIP Rick. My thoughts go out to his family. So sad

An Oxblood patch.

Got these guys out for some sunshine today. 15/16" +/-

I spied this one against the inner jar surface in a purchase yesterday and hoped like hakes it would not be chipped or cracked. Turns out it's just fine. Not the most dramatic example but I think it qualifies as a "Bee Scout" Part Marble King Bumblebee and Part Cub Scout at 5/8th inch. Another interesting one was this somewhat larger, about 11/16 inch Bumblebee like marble but it may be missing the ribbon. That is unless that small half stripe is what it is supposed to be. The rest is all yellow. Kinda neat and very nice as well. The I got about 30 other Bumblebees in this jar and a few other Rainbows too.

I took an overnight trip to Osaka earlier this week on 19-20. It started with a phone call from Ryotaro Matsuno, the owner of Matsuno Industry (the only marble maker in the country), inviting me to join a special meeting: he was going to meet a descendant of Tamakichi Tokunaga for the first time. Tamakichi is the man who made Japan's first marble-stopper bottles in 1892, after 5 years of studying an original British Codd bottle. After his death at 34, his family continued the business and the company eventually became one of the major glassworks, introducing advanced bottle making techniques from the US and Germany. Below are photographs of Tokunaga factories from a book "The Tokunaga Brothers: Four Key Figures in Japan’s Glass Industry/硝子工業界の重鎮　徳永氏四兄弟の巻”. The main factory in Yoriki-cho, Osaka (near the city center) East factory and Asahi-bashi Factory (both in Osaka) Amagasaki factory and Moji factory (both outside Osaka) Because every Codd bottle needs a glass marble, Tamakichi's success also meant the starting point of marble manufacture in Osaka. I had been collecting fragmentary references to Tokunaga and marbles for years, so I felt a honor to meet a member from the family. The man holding the bottle is Takashi Tokunaga (from the bloodline of Tamakichi’s third son). The bottle is a rare Tokunaga ramune bottle stamped “1922,” kindly lent by my collector friend Yoshinori Kakizaki. Takashi was so happy to see it, as no such old bottles have been passed down in his family. Takashi also mentioned that his father keeps a company history book that is carefully preserved. He offered to try persuading his father to let me read it. If I learn anything related to marble history, I hope to share an update in this thread. We ended up talking happily until the izakaya's (Japanese-style pub) closing time, and before we parted we exchanged contact information. During my marble research these years I come to realize people who are willing to meet and talk are not many. I’m grateful to the openness of Takashi and Ryotaro who kindly let me join the gathering.

I keep this on the shelf of my fireplace

A slag is defined as any transparent base colored marble (Amber, purple, green, red, etc... ) with opaque white running through it, weather hand gathered or machine made. A transitional is a different animal IMO, some are slag like and some are made of 2 opaque colors, just my opinion.

German unicorn

This is a marble made with silver oxide

I think a lot of newer or casual hobbyists don’t know anywhere to look but eBay, so their perceived rarity is based on what’s available to them on that platform. Which stinks because I’ve seen CAC swirls that would likely only fetch $200 tops as a 9.9 mint on Block sell on eBay for $300-$400. I’ve seen quite a few German’s sell as CAC guineas on there as well. I kind of have two opinions about it. I love going through old marbles, like a jar from the goodwill, and seeing what I can find. I don’t care that they’re scratched or chipped or imperfect, I just love the hobby and seeing the different types, especially if I find one I’ve never seen and can learn something new. I also don’t mind paying top dollar for a really stunning example. But what I refuse to do is pay hundreds of dollars for a marble that’s not truly mint condition or close, and/or really really stunning. Sadly, like all things, I think the crowd of flippers have seen opportunity in marbles and the people who appreciate them, and they are using eBay to sell regular common marbles at premiums.

Nice looking marbles, but I think this thread, since the ID'S ARE KNOWN, should be in the mainstream glass and chat discussion...