Ric

That is pretty wild, does it react to UV light?

It doesn't really look new to me. Can you tell what color the base glass is? Does light shine through it?

It might be Vitro but I am not convinced. Besides not having a polar patch, Whities would usually have only a single color at the equator. The long seams make me think it might be an uncommon two-color MK P&R. There sure were way more 9/16" MKs made than Vitros.

I think you're onto something, and I'm changing my thinking to Vitro.

It almost looks like it could be a weird Akro but I think it's an Alley.

I think it's a Peltier Rainbo.

I think the left one may be foreign. The right one is a Vitro Blackie.

Thanks for telling the story, Joep - it's really interesting! I think most here would recognize those cardboard discs he made as "Pogs". They were pretty big in the early 1990s.

Has anyone ever seen the booklet being offered in this 1969 advertisement?

Interesting, I assume there are other animals? Do you know anything about who made or marketed it?

I agree with vintage, and most likely Akro.

I should add that while the type of marble you show is fairly common, the size of your marble makes it less so.

It's a nice marble. They are fairly common. I think the company might have called it an Onyx. Collectors might call it a Spiral, or an Auger if the striping glass is more like a flat vane that goes toward the center of the marble.

There is no doubt that Vacor made some sunburst/sparkler type marbles - some were called Sunsets, as I recall, and from what I have seen, their structure is not very consistent so it wouldn't surprise me if at least one of the non-Vitros in this thread is a Vacor.

I never heard Ron refer to any Vitro as a "Sparkler" - maybe he was trying to start something, I really don't know. To me, it sounds like he might have just been trying to be funny. The sort of structure that marble shows is not exactly rare on Trilites and even some Conquerors, and I'd just consider them variants. Vitro never purposefully tried to make marbles like this, AFAIK, and it sounds like the moniker never really took, which is a good thing in my mind.

That's right, Art. Both JABO and Vitro (at Parkersburg). But this was to give the marbles a bit of metallic, or iridescent, sheen over their otherwise typical color/structure. As far as I know, neither JABO or Vitro made marbles that look anything like those in the OP.

Akro seems right to me.

And, if I remember right, there was a company called Steelee that actually marketed solid ball-bearings as steel marbles called "Cannon Balls", for play.

It looks like a WVS to me - maybe Cairo, maybe not.

I don't think it's an Akro. Fortuitous "corkscrews" are not entirely uncommon just because of the random nature of swirls. Some companies will produce them more often than others. For example, JABO's "Jorkscrews" are not too uncommon. I think your marble is a West Virginia Swirl, perhaps from Cairo.

Almost every company made them so unless they are a unique color there is no real way to tell. And that usually isn't an issue, since it has no effect on their collectible or monetary value, either way.

These are notoriously difficult to ID accurately. It's a transparent WV Swirl of some sort, maybe Ravenswood, but maybe another company. The only time I even try to sort these is if I specifically recognize them from original packaging or dug examples. And even then it can be very hard since different companies made marbles that you could never separate from on another.

You need to be careful with what you read online. I have heard of Vitros and I have heard of Sparklers but I have never heard of a "Vitro Sparkler". 🙂 I agree it is foreign, and tend to think Vacor, like Steph.

I agree.

Nice find, Edward.