bumblebee

Juicy Vitros, everyone! Here's some of my favorites.

Even Photoshop filters couldn't UNfocus an image that much. He must have like 40 sheets of tissue paper between the marble and his lens.

It is my eternal torment that some billionaire out there just made $25,000 on his investments faster than I could type this, yet he cares nothing for marbles.

Thanks! It's pretty cool especially for scanned vintage photos/slides, but I'm baffled why it's so large.

Would it be the same as the pink ones described here in 1851? If not, does anyone have the pink variety?

I was reading in a recent golden rebel auction listing that some collectors speculate these marbles were made only once in a single run (however long that lasted) and that the small ones are always a deeper school bus yellow, whereas the larger ones are always lemon yellow. Is there any factual basis for that speculation about why they are scarce? To me it doesn't make sense that they would limit production of such a pretty marble unless there were quality control or cost issues. Then again, maybe kids back in the day preferred other styles? I assume similar speculation would apply to the Blue Galaxies? I now own a 9/16" golden rebel but had never seen one in the wild prior to that. Aside from 5/8" and 1" (which I've seen online) did they also make all the other sizes? They are pretty. I put some of my best marbles in a tray and let my 10-year-old pick out her favorite (for her marble inheritance) and she almost immediately picked my little golden rebel. Had I put a nice Superman in there, she might have chosen that instead.

I agree. Seeing those first two I thought to myself there was no way they could look good again. But they look great now.

If it were me I'd ebay the $50+ ones individually and promote them here. Your photos are fine for eBay. Then the rest I'd sell in lots of 10-20 on eBay with plenty of good close-up photos. You could probably do well selling those more colorful Akro corks individually if you didn't mind the bother, assuming they are wet mint. They seem to have dust (or is it scratches?) on them.

Meanwhile, here's a 3/4" sparkler that could have been yours for only $384: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marbles-Akro-Sparkler-3-4-/290942836304?pt=Marbles&hash=item43bd8b5e50

I'm tempted by the $32 kit but the seller has very sketchy feedback...

Wow, a true nut job. Did you see his completed auctions? 99% unsold Buy it Now. He tried to sell the one you had your eye on for $859. Yup, we all know what he can do with his WET, PREMIUM marbles.

I had my first good score recently. I had hardly ever found higher-end marbles in the wild like these and it seemed almost too good to be true. My gut told me they were the real deal, but by the time I was half way home I was totally paranoid and upset that I might have been taken with repros or remelts. It was a terrible feeling I could not shake. Had I been taken I would have quit the hobby for good. I don't think I enjoyed those marbles until days later. Sure you can blame my inexperience, but the very fact that I had to worry like that proves in a sense that this hobby has been corrupted. Add to that the avalanches of special runs and contemporary machinemades that even old timers get tricked on, and you have the makings for a hobby that is becoming too risky and too "dirty" for newcomers.

Wow, if that's wet imagine his dry!

The bloodie was my first "good" CAC I found in the wild. Prior to that it had only been slags. I'll never forgot my surprise and delight at the deep milky white and the depth of detail in the finely striated brownish red ribbons. I knew that marble was special.

That first photo with the two grown boys on the floor with marbles is priceless.

Seems like a statement that could be scientifically tested today assuming someone is ready to sacrifice a flinty and other glassies.

Their other marbles had similar cute IDs, but they at least were all machine mades. I just adore agates. Now I just need to find some dyed yellow and green ones.

Apparently you people who search for phantom conquerors don't like hand cut bullseye agates. Surface wet mint (with some subsurface moons) and .875" and very finely faceted, with a lot of translucency under the bullseye when backlit.

That's rad! Finally, those marbles look right in that context.

I took some close-ups of this gorgeous 1" tri-lite I scored of the Bay recently in a big lot of mostly Vitros. Delicious!

Yes! I saw a tiny version of that in your timeline thread but couldn't make out the colors. So it seems safe to say "as early as 1931" up until whenever they stopped making tricolor/specials.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense they would reserve that color combo just for the War since we know Specials came out earlier, but it also seems likely they may have doubled up on production of them during the War. But I'm assuming since Akro had so many color combos they likely did not put out an ad just to announce the red white and blue ones, by which we could date them.

I just gave one as a gift to a non-collector who appreciates antiques. I was tempted to say they were made in the early 1940s as a patriotic response to the war effort, but did not remember a source for that being fact. Anyone have solid info as to when they were made?

Perhaps someone found original glass canes and made them into marbles. Might explain why there are "same cane" ones?

Yes! Except the one I saw was a two-color prize name, so it was a more vivid "swath" of that color. And for the life of me I cannot remember its second color. I suppose to conclusion to this is that Akro Agate made a mind-blowing variety of marbles sometimes in stunning, exotic colors.