Jasper

I brightened up the top 3 marbles, but don't see any pattern. They look like they are translucent red machine mades. In that case they may be Master Marble Company Cloudies.

I've been looking for this announcement for many years. I can't tell you how happy I am that Steph is running this site, and that her contributors were able to post this item. Jasper

A question - Has anybody seen an ad for this box from 1914 or 1916. I have the ad that Steph thinks may be 1916, but I have it dated 11-1915.

I once bought a full rum of the American Boy Magazines for 1914 on ebay. I went through them twice, but found no ad by Akro.

An ad for this box in 1916 doesn't make a lot of sense. In that year Akro filed a patent for their small display boxes. This large counter display box was a lot harder to sell at 50 cents each than small display boxes at 5 and 10 cents each. ---JASPER

About "golden yellow" - This one's easy. This first Akro box did not just contain onyx marbles. It had game marbles too - jade & turquoise. The "golden yellows" are right there in Hansel's box. They are game marbles, not onyx. ---JASPER

About the white onyx in Akros ad in the 1914 Playthings Magazine- I really have never heard of that production date of Sept. for MFC for white. I don't know about it one way or another. But I do know that Dec, 1914 is only a few months earlier than Sept. 1915. It's easy to imagine that MFC was just starting to look at white onyx in Dec. 1914. Another possibility is that Akro was a very good local customer. They may have requested a custom white onyx in 1914 just to have something different from MFC to offer. It would be a simple matter for MFC to swirl white into clear. They were doing that already - swirling white glass into transparent colored glass. Remember that clear glass marbles were being made by MFC for claw feet on furniture. =

The Sept. ad from the Sept 1915 "Something To Do Magazine" shows a line of white onyx marbles right down the center of the box. Preparation by magazines in a given month begin long before the month in which the preparation appears. So their picture for this ad was available before September. This means that the white onyx marbles packaged in Akro's first box shown there brings the Sept. production date under suspicion, because Akro had no production facilities when they were in Akron. Their offices there were used to package MFC marbles, and to send ads and packaged marbles to buyers. ---JASPER

About "golden yellow" - This one's easy. This first Akro box did not just contain onyx marbles. It had game marbles too - jade & turquoise. The "golden yellows" are right there in Hansel's box. They are game marbles, not onyx.

1914, Akro made a very fast move to Clarksburg, WV and quickly went into marble production.

The gray ad with the words "PLAY" below and "Detroit, Michigan" above is definitely from the American Boy Magazine Dec, 1912. I have the original here, and I took a look at it a few minutes ago to make sure. ---JASPER

Possibly the first Clarksburg ad, from a December 1914 Playthings Magazine:

(click to enlarge)

. . .

Odd thing -- the white onyx wasn't in the MFC line at the time.

It is odd because Akro was using MFC glass formulas on machines designed by Martin Christensen. Horace Hill had modified the machines at Akro just enough to convince the patent office to award him a new patent. However, the machines were so very similar that that it was later decided that the patent should not have been granted. (if I understand correctly)

In any case, Akro's early marbles were basically MFC's made at a different location and it hardly seems possible to me that Hill would have had the time, much less the expertise, to roll out a new marble style.

The golden yellow is a bit of a puzzle since it seems to have been a low production item for MFC, perhaps even experimental. However the White Onyx was one of their regular production items and a specific date is known for its introduction -- Sept. 12, 1915 -- nine months after Akro first advertised it.

I need clarification on whether Sept. 12 is when it went into production or was announced, or what.

Another ad for the keystone box, from about 1916

It looks like the publication is called "Something To Do". Al's bibliography mentions an ad in a Sept. 1915 Something To Do, but this page shows a 1916 magazine. This time the box is said to contain five different colors of striped onyx, so apparently at least one additional color has been introduced:

(click to enlarge)

. . .

1914, Akro made a very fast move to Clarksburg, WV and quickly went into marble production.

Hoping to help here with the dark ad for the Keystone box - the one with the word "PLAY" below it and Detroit,Michigan above. That is definitely from American Boy Dec. 1912. I have the original magazine and just double checked it. So that's certain. ---JASPER

Possibly the first Clarksburg ad, from a December 1914 Playthings Magazine:

(click to enlarge)

. . .

Odd thing -- the white onyx wasn't in the MFC line at the time.

It is odd because Akro was using MFC glass formulas on machines designed by Martin Christensen. Horace Hill had modified the machines at Akro just enough to convince the patent office to award him a new patent. However, the machines were so very similar that that it was later decided that the patent should not have been granted. (if I understand correctly)

In any case, Akro's early marbles were basically MFC's made at a different location and it hardly seems possible to me that Hill would have had the time, much less the expertise, to roll out a new marble style.

The golden yellow is a bit of a puzzle since it seems to have been a low production item for MFC, perhaps even experimental. However the White Onyx was one of their regular production items and a specific date is known for its introduction -- Sept. 12, 1915 -- nine months after Akro first advertised it.

I need clarification on whether Sept. 12 is when it went into production or was announced, or what.

Hoping to clarify here - The golden yellow is pretty easy to explain. All of the marbles in this first Akro box were not onyx marbles, Some were just game marbles - jade + turquoise.

In Hansel's first Akro box there are 6 "golden yellow" game marbles.

About the white onyx in the 1914 Playthings ad - I don't know anything about the Sept. 1915 date for MFC starting to make white onyx marbles. But I do know that December 1914 is only months before the Sept, 1915 production date. White onyx might easily been in development then. Akro was a

local jobber. They might have seen the development and asked for a run, or Akro might have asked for a special run just to offer something different than MFC was offering. Akro may have been the inspiration for MFC's introduction later. What I am saying here is speculative, but quite possible.

Another curious point to notice here is the the Sept. 1915 ad from Playthings Magazine features a row of white onyx right down the middle of the box! The articles and pictures for a September publication are in the works long before the publication date. I think this is evidence that the white onyx was produced before the September. It makes more believable Akro's claim. Besides, why would they offer something they couldn't supply? Another thing to remember is that MFC made onyx marbles by combining swirls of white with transparent colored glass. They also made clear marbles for furniture claw feet. It would be a piece of cake for they to add white to clear to make white onyx =- even much earlier than 1914. ----JASPER

Another ad for the keystone box, from about 1916

It looks like the publication is called "Something To Do". Al's bibliography mentions an ad in a Sept. 1915 Something To Do, but this page shows a 1916 magazine. This time the box is said to contain five different colors of striped onyx, so apparently at least one additional color has been introduced:

(click to enlarge)

. . .

More help, I hope. The ad on the page that is dated 1916 is in my reserves as being from 11-1915. I have the same picture that Steph shows, but I can't read the date on mine.

I'm not sure why I have it down as 11-1915, but I make a point of never putting down a definite date like that without knowing it for sure. Another point here - sometimes a 5 can be mistaken as a 6 if a piece of dark material connects the open circle with the straight line above.

I have a question. Does anyone have an ad for this box from 1914. I once bought a full year of American Boy magazines on ebay. I searched them diligently, but found none. It may be that they were too busy with moving to put out an ad. I have also heard that there was an ad for this box in 1916, but I have never seen one. It is unlikely because Akro developed their small display boxes in 1915. They were much lower priced and therefore, a lot easier to sell.-----JASPER

If I'm reading them correctly, here are the names/labels on the compartments in the sample cases:

• Akro Specials
  
• Prize Name
  
• Moss Agates
  
• Akro Spirals
  
• Sparklers
  
• Onyx
  
• Glassies
  
• Akro Ace
  

And here are the other names I've seen in Akro publications for marbles they sold after they started making corkscrews:

• Moonie
  
• Flintie
  
• Fire Opal
  
• Royal
  
• Tri-Color
  
• Cardinal Red
  
• Imperial
  
• Carnelian
  

I wouldn't be surprised if there were more. These are just the ones I can presently locate in Akro ads and enclosures. Most from 1930 or later. (The reference I saw to Flintie was probably printed before 1930.)

More names I've learned since I first compiled this list:

• Tri-Onyx (popeyes)
  
• Crystal
  

New uses I've learned for old names since I first compiled this list.

• Lemonades and limeades were marketed as Moss Agates
  

What name(s) were oxblood corks marketed under?

• Some I think were moss agates.
  
• Some seem to have been distributed in Imperial packaging.
  
• I think they may have been distributed in Popeye boxes also.
  
• Other?
  

Oxblood corks first appeared in 1929 in Imperial boxes. See an article in W.V.M.C.C. newsletter titled "What's an Akro Imperial"? --- Jasper

Did Akro use Specials to refer to any one type of marble? Or rather to whatever the marble du jour was? For instance, did salesmen go around with their nifty case, showing off Akro's standard lovelies, and then they point up to the top compartment in the sample case and say, "And here are the specials we are offering." ??

Which names started as one thing and became another?

Two come to mind. Akro Prize Names were specified as a few 2-color corkscrews. Later many other 2-coor corks were called Prize Names. The other notable change was in the Akro Imperial, Originally they were "Red" (Oxblood) swirls on monie base glass. Later they became Orange swirls on a translucent base (these are Aces). Still later they became the 7 most collectable oxbloods - lemonade, limeade, silver, blue, orange, carnelian, and egg yolk oxbloods. Finally, there is one Imperial Box that contains 25 3-color corks.-- Jasper

Another comes into my mind. Tri-colors were originally tri-color corks in 1930. In the late 1930s or early 1940s they were renamed Uniques, and were just tri-color patched marbles.. I think Akro Royals were renamed in the 1940s ad becane Heroes. - Jasper

I measured the aspect ratio of this box on my monitor. It's 5 to 2.5 or 2 to 1. It has the same aspect ratio as the 1930 No. 150 stained glass box on P. 10 of Hardy's first book showing the Williams Hardware Store catalog picture. This No. 150 box has a stained glass cover as in AMMM. I have 2 pics of 150 boxes with covers like the one on the Akro N0. 200 box p. 31 (stained glass cover). The large Popeye box having 36 popeyes also has an aspect ratio of 2 to 1. It's about 8" by 4". But I think this is a No. 150 box with a stained glass design on the cover.

What do you think the top of this box looked like? Too narrow for a Ringer marble set box, huh? But it does look like a paper box, right? The picture doesn't match the specs of the description below it.

Sorry, I didn't mean to change the subject so abruptly from Ringers. I looked this ad up hoping that it would turn out to be a Ringer box traveling incognito. I didn't do a good enough dimension check before I started posting.

Edit: looking in AMMM, I guess it might be a stained glass box. yeah .... that looks like the right size for the stained glass examples .... probably no mystery. Unless someone would like to talk about the box in the written description.

p.s. it is my ad now! *happy dance* George Sourlis sent me the scan a little while back but then this last week he surprised me with the replica 1930/1931 Baer catalog from which he scanned it. (Thanks so much, George!)

Steph, this ad is from Playthings Magazine dated 9-1938.

On 2/22/2009 at 1:14 PM, modularforms said:

1930's

 

Sorry, my mistake. Forget what I said above. I was talking about the Master Marble Company box. This is the Master Glass Compny version. My comments about the white inside may not apply here. Clinton Israel owned Master Glass company until the early 1970s. He might easily have put these into circulation at the time specified.

It's looking like the box was used longer than suspected.

Simms won his office in 1955 and Riemann in 1956. I posted a couple of articles over at Marble Mental. (sorry if I wasn't recognizable as "twinrivers". . . . That's supposedly a Wisconsin marbles reference. )

I worry when I see pristine boxes like these. Especially when they are way out of their use period. (By the way, the company number for this box is 130, but 13 is on the box, and almost everyone who knows MMCO calls it their No. 13 box.)

I have heard that these boxes were reproed. I've never seen one, but I was told they are easy to identify because they are white on the inside. Are these white on the inside by any chance?

Another thing bothering me about these is their color. It should be orange, not red as I see here. But color on computer monitors is notorious for not being correct.

Some of these original boxes had a Popsicle ad on the back. This ad was described in the June issue 1936 as MMCO having made half a mullion boxes for Popsicle Co. this year (1936). Coincidentally, the article is on page 36. This dates the originals for you.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Akro-Agate-Poly-Bag-of-Marbles-20_W0QQitemZ290337193226QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMarbles?hash=item439971fd0a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

This bag is not old. Probably made within the last 5 years. Old bags almost always had 2 staples. This one has 3. Remember all of those bogus bags from the late 1990s - they all had 3 staples.