Royal3

It's got a face-hugger on it! Quick! Eject it from your collection! I know JUST the place lol...

Here are the two fantasy boxes of "Flinties" that bought from Craig (spara50) after his incredible find of a crate of Akro marbles: Craig - the red ones to me look orange, or are they INTENDED to be orange? Do you have the full range of colors to show us? that would be both impressive and instructional. I wanted to set in my own mind, and for newbies on the board, the difference between moonies, flinties, opals, and fire opals; other boards have had discussions about what Akro called each of these. Opals are easy; they're what Akro called their solid color marbles. As for the others, here's the late Alan Basinet's full take on the subject: "Akro Agate Flint Moonies (referred to by many collectors simply as "moonies") are translucent white marbles composed of opalescent glass, which will glow orangish when held to a light. Flinties are also opalescent, but have colored base glass (brown, yellow, green, red, and blue, in increasing order of rarity); "Fire Opal" is Akro's name to refer to their red Flinties. Akro Agate's opalescent marbles can be distinguished by their small clear "eye," a small circular area of clear glass surrounded by the remaining cloudy matrix." Indeed, on pg. 23 of "American Machine Made Marbles" is a #1 box of Akro Flint Moonies from Hansel de Sousa's incredible collection. However, right above it are two other boxes, also from his collection, one a #0 and one also a #1, that both just say Moonies, and at least in the photos, they appear to be identical. sissydear gave us her personal experiences in a post from (ahem) another board: "...I have flinties in red that are 5/8 to an inch. I have opals the same, so size won't help. If you place the marble on a flashlight so that the light shines through it and it looks like opalescent glass, It's probably a flintie since the rules no longer say they have to have eyes. It it doesn't look opalescent, I would guess it to be an opal. Sound contradictory? When I started collecting the solid colored marbles they were called opals. Some are translucent and light passes through, some are pretty opaque. So really, I'm not much help for that. I know what mine are. New rules now, I wouldn't want to be finding them now. Edna" These were taken in cloudy conditions - in sunlight they're a lot more impressive, but hey, it's Central Ohio. Beggars can't be choosers lol.

I only met him once, at the Sea-Tac show in 2008, but it was enough to know that he had a great heart and soul. He had a special fondness for peewees - he sat on my bed and started to pick through a bunch of them that I had in a box, and I finally just made him a deal on the whole box - he was grinning from ear to ear. I'm so saddened to read this today. Rest in peace Leo.

William, you have got to be having a blast - at least I hope so! Enjoy it. Thanks for sharing your journey.

Sure do, Dani, right at the center. I went back to Alan's info and he had the rarity then ranked as brown, yellow, green, red and blue. I'm assuming white would be most common.

And I hardly noticed the yellows - I bet they are spectacular. Pics just can't do fire opals justice. I still have those fantasy boxes I got from you and they just glow.

I'm really sorry that I never appreciated Peltier marbles early on. It wasn't until the late Guy Gregg gave me a bit of an education that I developed a liking. They really are highly varied and beautiful!

Too cool, Joe! I hope your company and community appreciate what a great guy they have in their midst. Best of luck, and I hope you are able to do this for fifty more years.

The green ones are especially striking. I don't think there were any of that color - or blue ones? - in that big find you had ten years ago, were there?

Mighty oaks...lol.

These three would top my list: - 'Leighton' type handmade faceted pontil slags - Unusual onionskins (odd colors or cores) - Under rare Akros, hybrid Popeyes for sure Hey Alan, have you done an Akro experimental thread before?

Great question, Steph. My quest as a player back in the mid-50's was always for two kinds of mibs; shooter clearies and steelies, which of course no one would let you use in a game, but all the cool boys HAD to have one nonetheless. I remember hating all the cat's eyes (junk,) and the patches (dull.) When I found my old Crisco can containing my collection 18 years ago, it held marbles from nearly every machine maker of marbles in the book, from Akro corks to Peltier rainbos (but no NLRs.) But my favorite was still the beat-up 3/4" ruby red clearie shooter that had won me many a marble.

I think so too...maybe only in the "experimental" or dug Akros have I seen anything with bubbles like that, but that doesn't look dug. WAY cool marble, like so many here!

Yep, I had the same experience just now. I like the update! It's...lighter and brighter. New and improved lol!

I just happened to stumble on the obituary of John Miller, a long time collector and maker from WVA and father of makers John Hamon and Boyd Miller. Some of you, like me, may have met one or more of them at shows, and have a couple of their works. John H. used to have a shop and furnace down by the river in Hannibal, Mo. but I couldn't find an online listing for him. Here's a link to the obituary; http://www.allenfuneralhomewv.com/notices/JohnSonny-Miller

That is just cool, Steph! Though I love all pinball games - oh, the quarters I threw down years ago in Fireball and Satin Doll, and I have a couple vintage ones on a wall - I never thought to search on there for a marble themed one!

I didn't find any links on the board to a great web source of info on old marble games, one I've used quite a few times over the years. It's called the Internet Pinball Machine Database, and here's their site intro: "The Internet Pinball Machine Database — also known as the IPDB — is a comprehensive, searchable encyclopedia of virtually every pinball machine ever commercially made. The database currently includes 66,594 images of 6,074 games, 4,609 other game related files, and links to other pinball websites, grouped by machine. The database also includes pitch & bat baseball games, cocktail table machines, bingos, and payout machines ... when they have a pinball theme. The data in this database has been laboriously gathered by the Editors over many years, from books, photographs, flyers, web sites, pinball manufacturers, collectors' personal records, and of course the pinball machines themselves. Most of the actual photographs in the database came from various collectors – over 2,372 different contributors to date." Here's the link: http://www.ipdb.org/search.cgi l hope anyone that needs info on old marble games finds it useful.

Pretty clever. We've been shooting pinball in one form or another for centuries, now kids of all ages can make an impromptu layout at home using the hot new gadget. Sure beats the Rainbow Loom. But somebody please tell the narrator how to pronounce "Fiery."

That copper patch is a bit unusual, Al. Nice marble.

The good news is he's still around...that's the key. Very happy to hear it. Enjoy your time with him. I don't have any older relatives left, save for a sibling. My last trip was to your fair state to say goodbye to the last one. I always forget how lovely most of CT is - of course it was peak fall color, so the foliage show was spectacular.

I'm glad to BE around, Al - glad you are too. I remember you well, and the visit to Tacoma - what a blast that was! Unfortunately I just don't travel well anymore, and I'm headed for more medical work soon. But generally feeling OK (I'm 90 pounds lighter than '08) and I'm hanging in there. Someday - who knows?

That it is, Bob. Still crazy after all these years...how's the family?

Thanks Steph. I lurk a lot - health has kept me from doing much for the last ten years, but I'm hanging in and feeling better so I hope you'll "see" more of me.

I've listed nine items for sale on eBay, including a nice 13/16"+ MFC brick in mint condition. http://www.ebay.com/sch/marbles_by_r3/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from= Thanks!