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Maybe an Imperial. Not a Pelt🔥 RAR

Some day, I will try to take individual photos of the marbles in that CODEG box, AIko. Your last comparison of the marble I got from Winnie with the one in the box is part of the reason I still think the boxed marbles are Veiligglas. 🙂

@Ric, thanks in advance for your help. It's good news to me—I've always wanted to study marbles that are still in their original boxes. The general definition of Veiligglas wirepulls was shaped at a time when Seike marbles weren’t yet recognized in the marble community. Now that we’re seeing three possible makers of wirepulls, I think it’s time we study original boxed sets with fresh eyes.

It does look like a Heaton to me but leaning more toward Dragon's Blood than Black Cherry, IMO.

Yeah, it's that sorta bubble gum color that can vary from a more washed out to richer pink.

This one is a real weirdo. I don't think it's CAC, Pelt or Vitro. The best I can come up with is a Master error, which would be hard to find, for sure. It's a strange one, IMO.

I can’t stop looking at this marble. Brown base glass might lean towards Master🔥 RAR

Whatever it is I’m saying HTF 🔥 RAR

I’m waiting for the Elders to chime in.🔥 RAR

It is a hand-gathered transitional and I would think there is a melted "pontil" hiding in there somewhere, and that long line looking business is just a distraction.

Whaaaat ? Dang it. It’s the Jabo pink base glass I missed. Right ????🔥 RAR

I agree with Master too.

Yes, they are from one or more JABO Contract runs.

This is a JABO.

X2, Master

Make it a good one.

Sounds like I have about $600 worth of marbles and I wasn't even looking for them. What I found was even more rare. These rare oxbloods I'll show you. They all came from the same estate purchase by a antique hunter who sells mostly antique and new clothes and toys. I'll have to get back at you tomorrow. I have to be at a party. 🥳

Master. Backlight for fun🔥 RAR

Wow. Great score. That first one looks textured!

Thats actually a handmade German marble buddy. Its an as made defect. Given the rarity based of the condition of the rest of the marble i dont think that small imperfection will have that large of an impact on the overall desireablility of the marble.

However ive never seen any Akro like that. I think that would have to be up to your preference.

×2

NNOOOOOOO! Keep the roller crud. That’s what makes it special. But that just me🔥 RAR

The seams don’t look like Pelt’s. Maybe Akro or Master. Tricky one for me🔥 RAR

Single ribbon Vitro. We’ll see what others think🔥 RAR

Maybe a nice cruddy Tiger Eye. Keeper on my shelf🔥 RAR

Glass,color combo and surface activity has me going with Jabo🔥 RAR

Prety cool Steph--the holder just adds to it. Love it! Marble--On!!

Not an Akro and not a wirepull. This is one of those that is just very hard to ID. Marble--On!!

Happy 4th for sure all. Marble--On!!

Happy Birthday Bro--from all us here-(yep, thats me the happy little kid in the middle). Marble--On!!

Happy Birthday, Chad - I hope you have a great day!

My marble mentor ...happy birthday brother hope all is well with ya . Thanks for all your guidance over the years with my marble madness 😀

When we talk about wirepull makers, I think Seike should also be part of the discussion. I know this thread is about Hopf vs. Veiligglas, but to my eyes, some of the marbles shown look like Seike’s work. In the first picture, the box you see is the “16 Bolitas Japonesas” box from Argentina. The second and third pictures show a Codeg box marked "Foreign"—and in both of these cases, I believe Japan would be the most reasonable answer.

@Ric I'm glad you found the little box interesting! These ohajiki and ishikeri were primarily made for the domestic market, which is why there’s very little documentation about them. This is in contrast to marbles, which were exported around the world—so while the records are still limited, at least some survive. In comparison, the ohajiki industry was much smaller than that of marble making. I’ve only found one patent document so far, likely because the production methods were quite simple. That said, before the war, Japan aimed to build an empire across Asia, including in places like Manchuria and other regions where Japanese communities lived. These kinds of toys, along with marbles, were shipped to children in those overseas communities. As for rock-paper-scissors—we call it “janken” in Japanese. It’s still very common for both children and adults, though I honestly don’t know its exact origin. There's historical document from around 1907 that molded glass ohajiki were popular among small children in areas like Nagoya and Gifu. Some of these pieces even feature Chinese characters: 石 (rock), 紙 (paper), and 鋏 (scissors)—but they are quite rare. Here is a reel made by ichijinnokaze2020 regarding rock paper scissors ohajiki. You also mentioned the Arabic numeral. We sometimes see numbers or even alphabet letters on these glass pieces. I've personally seen many with A, B, C, D, and E, but not the full alphabet. Letters like R and others are much less common, so I suspect there were production imbalances. Also, regarding the giya-bako box: all the examples I know of were made for the domestic market. These boxes began appearing in the Meiji era, when glass started to be mass-produced. I suspect glass boxes are not suitable for export. They're vulnerable to long journeys and the weight of other boxes if packed together. I have an Instagram friend I sometimes talk to via PM. Below are some of the ohajiki collection of umelandinsta, including giya-bako boxes.

Awesome find! 😃 It's incredible that cat's eyes were produced so early. When I first started collecting, everyone (at least in the US) thought that cat's eyes were invented in 1949. This new information pushes that date back by a whole 10 years. I wonder if these prewar cat's eyes were exported to the US? It would be interested to see if any turn up in antique shops.

Wow. Way to nail down a date. Gorgeous pictures too.

This is a great addition to the archive, Aiko - maybe the earliest photo of Cat's Eye marbles I have seen.

Another type of prewar marble Naoyuki Seike made was the wirepull. On November 13, 1936, he filed a utility model for a marble-making device that produced machine-made swirls. It was officially published on September 14, 1937, under Utility Model No. 13819 (Shōwa 12). The document can be viewed here: (https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/c1801/PU/JP-S12-013819/22/ja). The boxes here are Seike's wirepull boxes. The photograph is given to me by Roberto Borromeo, the current owner. The paper label on the box reads 16 Bolitas Japonesas, the source was Argentina. The Bolitas Japonesas box was prepared for the South American market. Swirls are very busy. I saw another Bolitas Japonesas box, and swirls are less busy. Fairylite is a brand of Graham bros. Ltd. a London based company (1887-1970). I learned this first at AAM, a post by slagqueen on Sep 27, 2019. According to her, the company imported marbles from Hong Kong/Far East. "Foreign" is a labeling used during the time of rising Japanese antipathy around WW2. After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War (known in the West in part through incidents like the Manchurian conflict and the Nanjing Massacre), anti-Japanese sentiment grew in the UK and other countries. This led to boycotts of Japanese goods. During this period, Japanese products were often sold under generic labels such as "Foreign" to obscure their origin. This negative sentiment toward Japanese products continued even after World War II. In 1954, the UK enforced stricter regulations requiring country-of-origin labeling on all imports. Until then, Japanese marbles had benefited from Most-Favored-Nation status by being routed through Hong Kong. Not all of them but some greens got dark green bits. All the photos are from Roberto. 🙏 At a glassmakers’ conference held on November 12, 1937, Seike said that the United Kingdom was his largest customer. This was reported in the December 1937 issue of Kagaku to Kōgyō (Science and Industry) magazine. Based on this, it’s likely that prewar wirepulls found in the UK were most likely made by Seike. These are from my collection. The green got dark green bits. It is interesting the white swirls got one big bubble each.

@davesnothere, I think a lot of people end up mixing lots, especially after sorting out certain types of marbles. I also get the urge to classify everything and put one type in each box, which would make my shelf more organized. I love English wisplers and I couldn't resist doing it for them. Once I remove marbles from lots, I forget everything. So I regret and don't do this for other marbles. Early marbles are nice. 😊 I also like them very much.

That is the challenge, Aiko - I do not think any of the marbles I show are Vitro, or even American, necessarily. I showed them to very experienced Vitro collectors here and they agreed the marbles were not Vitro. When did Seike stop making marbles?

@davesnothere Do you think Seike's early glass is made of crystal glass? What I know is Seike made his own glass in his factory. He also designed nearly all the equipment needed for making marbles. His glass furnace made a big contribution to the glass industry. He allowed manufacturers to produce it without asking for royalties, which helped spread the use of the glass-melting furnace he designed. For today my photos are half and half marbles and its variations. This type of marbles appears to be in a combination of alabaster white and a transparent color. Seike's green sometimes has dark green bits, and half & half's are not the exception. I'm not sure if this is intentional, but I have many examples whose white is split or wispy. These are similar looking marbles but the white part doesn't become thick like filling half of the matrix. They are one type of submerged ribbon marbles. Back to the half & halfs, the color part can be wispy sometimes. If the gob becomes long, it becomes folded in half, making itself a buttcrack. The one on the right might not be the best example, but it came from a lot which includes lots of pre-war types of Seike marbles including half & halfs.

Mainly glass beads. I started lampworking in 1996, and it was kind of connected to my fond memories in Arizona. I was an exchangee at Northern Arizona University for one academic year. We had a small bead shop in downtown a hippie man ran. My marble hobby started in 1998. These are photos I shared with Brian Graham in December 2021, when we introduced ourselves. I made small number of marbles on torch. The glass is Moretti/Effetre for these pieces. Japanese Satake is kind of too soft and I found it harder to work with to make marbles. Again Moretti/Effetre. I loved the bright colors. These beads are worn with Kimono. Glass head pins for sewing❤️ The glass is Satake. The working temperature is low, so it's easier to make these kind of delicate things. I had a fascination with patina of old glass which inspired me to make this series of glass beads. The material is Satake and thick silver foil. Ocean themed. My love of seashells started as a child.

Hi Aidan, thanks for your comment!😃 When Reiko shared the story and marbles with me, sharing them with others became my duty. I hope my report reach to many people here too.

White ribbons, starting with bicolor base glass.

Marbles with green and blue ribbons.

Purple ribbons on bicolor base glass. The purple shines metallic although it is not a luster sheen. A few got bicolor stripes of purple and white.

Seike's cat’s eyes in different colors. . The yellow is like neon yellow. I enjoyed taking pictures of white-purple variants. I was fascinated by the shifts of colors. Some fracture. Bigger vanes always have the risk, when the colors are not compatible enough. I guess no marble makers put them in an oven for annealing.