bumblebee

@Steph will know more than me about these, but here's a board link to one with the "mushroom construction". The speculation as I understand it is that Canada may have contracted and imported the colorful transitionals from Japan (that seem to show up in Canada) and then perhaps later made a similar arrangement for these "mushroom" machine made types, that also seem to originate in Canada. Is that accurate, Steph? The colors on mine sure did remind me of some of the earlier "Canadian" transitionals which tempts the thought: maybe they used the same glass formulas to make some of the mushrooms? Maybe it was the same company in Japan that made both....? But now I'm just getting too speculative. But maybe with Japan's longevity there's somebody still alive who can tell the story? Shall we raise money for Steph for a research grant to travel to Japan? 😀

Thanks, Ron. I like your practical approach to this ID.

My instinct was Alley Agate based on the solid milky white base that looks just like the same glass every other Alley Agate I have, and the flame tip construction too. But since I only have three milky Akro oxbloods, I certainly could not say that with authority. Maybe @wvrons can chime in.

Got this from that Canada lot. I posted this on FB as a Vitro, and then a Vitro ninja reminded me of the Canadian mushroom marbles and sure enough, the colors match and even more important, mine is not veneered. I just didn't get a mushroom in the deal. Love this hobby because there's so much to learn and discover. Just wish I had more field opportunities to do so. ☺️

It does feel more like something they'd have made in the 70s but maybe we can find other sources.

Do you have an opinion about age? The deeper red feel more vintage...quite vibrant. He insisted his marbles were all from the 50s (or maybe very early 60s) and I almost believed him though I did see one JABO Classic.

OK, it's not on fire, but these are my first oxblood flame tips. 21/32". Guy's collection was from 1950s Canada.

Got these today from a 1950s collection from Canada. I know I've seen them before. Who made them?

Wow. I hardly find Akro corks much less that.

I was wondering if anyone had tips for making, say, 1.5" glazed crockery marbles (or even non-glazed "Chinas"). I know there are a couple of makers of these who paint them nicely and then fire them with a glaze, but I don't know their names off hand. I wanted to try this myself as well as with one of my children. I imagine we'd need a real kiln. I imagine there isn't much difference to this than doing pottery except how you'd fire the marble to retain its shape?

Neat prizes! I was unable to get any hits on those two names on the Newspapers site.

You guys guessed right. Hit 13 out with 1 marble without a miss and you're in the club. Here''s the The Pittsburgh Press, Wed May 15,1929 talking about it: https://imgur.com/a/7KWKKk4

Neat detail on that medal but sadly that paper isn't on the Newspapers archive. The playground shows up though.

Neat stuff! I managed to find this from the 02 April 1926 Press and Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) . You can get full-sized page here for now.

Here's a fun little follow-up article on Vitro Agate from The Cincinnati Enquirer Sun May 12 1968.

That's priceless info, Ron. Thanks for sharing. I wish we had second chances to interview the old timers. We so often take them for granted not realizing how many answers they have to questions we failed to ask when they were still with us.

I did find the only other reference from a 1940 Montgomery Advertiser (Aug 4) that asserts they are ash trays:

It's from 1936. I couldn't include the whole page because the ad is literally at the bottom, but I got this fresh off of Newspapers.com

That's a smokin' price!

Check out this Akro Agate ad from the March 4 1922 Vancouver Daily World newspaper. "...far superior to any of the Oriental lines."

Here's most of my Vitros minus cat-eyes, tiger eyes and all-reds. In my experience, the scarcest ones to find in the wild in my West-coast experience (some of which I've never found) are in no particular order: Cosmic Rainbows, Parrots, Yellow Jackets, Black-eyed Pea, Sweet Pea, Eight Fingers, Wedding Cakes.

This seller had just signed up and one of their first listings was a nice hand-cut 11/16" blue agate. I paid $20 and it arrived and I'm happy. Many of the other buyers were not so lucky.

I put em on FB too and consensus was Vitro although nobody proffered a twin.

Steph eating popcorn always means we have something juicy.

I picked these three 5/8"+ out of a 99% vintage antique store marble jar. Tons of clear space and then almost oxblood like red on most (but not oxblood) with a sort of ivory white. They felt "Vitro" to me like verything does these days. Really hard to photograph due to the depth. Thoughts?