Steph

oooooh ... vintage European sweet pattern

For anyone who might want to visit Joemarbles.com but who isn't able to access it (which I'm currently not able to), plug the address in at the wayback machine: https://archive.org/web/ Edit: Joemarbles.com is currently back up. A welcome sight.

I just noticed on Joe's facebook page that the news I had been dreading had been posted. It appears that he lost his battle with cancer on January 29. He leaves a big, inspiring family and many friends -- and he helped many marble collectors with Joemarbles.com. Here is his obituary. http://www.hamptongentry.com/obituary/terry-street-jr?fbclid=IwAR1MgBioQSXKV5ajzF0_smIM9swmJFr7ybRemhdktZEr-rQPGw049v81N_M

On the right, I'm with you on Akro, with the niggling thought that someone might recognize it as an Alley example. It's special for sure. On the left, I think just a game marble. Tossable.

I continue to be surprised by things I find as I sort through old boxes. The clues on the mailing envelope point to me having bought this booklet on eBay in 2008.

That's the $64,000 question. Not sure if the marble community still has anyone doing that.

No. Not blacklight. Just supposed to have some fire inside like a Moonie, or maybe more like a Pelt Acme Realer.

Welcome! A whole lot of history in those little orbs!

The only one of those which has a chance of being what Akro called an Ace is translucent white with the green ribbon. Hold it up to a light. If the base looks orange when you look through it, then Akro Ace. Butttttt ... Collectors call different marbles Ace from what Akro called an Ace. The translucent based one with the blue ribbon was called a Moss Agate by Akro, but some collectors call that one an Ace. The bottom left does appear to be Akro, but not in the running for Ace. Akro called it a Tri-Color Agate. Many collectors call it a Special. And the fourth is a German handmade.

The "apple drop" ones are handmade German, and I see why you like! In the first picture ,the row of large ones with the white base and the single colored ones might sell well ... some or all appear to be an uncommon "transitional". In that size, all transitionals are uncommon, but there are some which are often found in Canada which are different from ones typically found in the U.S. The smaller row below also appear to be transitionals. That's our name for certain "handgathered" marbles. "Handgathered" is when the glob of molten glass was dipped out of the heated container with a metal rod and then given a twist and cut off with glass scissors and dropped onto mechanical rollers which did the rounding. And you also have some transparent based transitionals in your lot ... those can pretty safely be assumed to be from Japan. I see quite a few more handmade German marbles. And I see at least a few American machine-mades. I may see some from Amsterdam, and I see one "figure-8" which resembles the American-made Peltier Rainbos but the ribbons are at a different angle, which sets them apart. The carpet bowls are in a category by themselves. If you're organizing for sale on ebay, I expect that sorting the bowls and handmades and transitionals out from the rest would be the best. At least in the U.S. You could try mixed lots but if they're too wide of a range, with some really some really common ones, that could weigh down the value you would otherwise have gotten for the better marbles. I see you're in the UK, and I really don't know much about the best way to sell from the UK considering shipping costs.

will do!

I generally say "Multicolor Rainbo" for all of them, and note that they're National Line era marbles. But obviously the swirly ones have a special appeal so I understand why people want to earn the label "Swirl". I have no knowledge of the swirly ones being an earlier period than the more orderly ones. I have imagined that it just depended on the machine's mood on any given day and they could all be mixed together in the timeline. But I literally do not know.

Hi. Welcome. I'm not brimming with advice at the moment. I just wanted to say hi. There are some interesting marbles in your group, plus of course the carpet bowls are cool.

That's looking like a brick. Which could be MFC or Akro.

I should have probably tinkered more before. I only just now noticed the blog.

This is the address I use in my bookmarks: https://www.billes-en-tete.com/liste_billes.php Takes me straight to the pictures, usually with the option to translate the text.

Mineral spheres. Obviously value could depend on stone type. I don't think very valuable in general. I saw a beautiful agate with a glorious pattern go for less than $20 last week in a facebook auction.

Yes, it's a relief to have it back. I count on it a lot. P.s., I never thought to try to register. I wasn't able to either, but that never got in the way of pulling up pictures.

I think Alley in the middle, with Vitro in the #2 and #4 spots. Would be interested in other views of the one on the right.

More modern-ish packaging: https://marbleconnection.com/topic/25482-so-many-photos-ps-gropper-vitros

Hopefully I will remember this! I just now checked my old Gropper thread and see it had mostly older marbles ... but that Ric had posted something with Heatons, making me aware at the time that they had jobbered marbles past the Christensen and early Pelt eras. (The photo is missing now.)

I got some tiny clearies in a bicentennial bag when I was kid ... but I have some teensy untinted clear ones which were used in the plastic pumps in plastic bottles at my husband's work. Now I have to go look for my various little ones to see which are closest to 7.7mm

Good stuff, Maynard!

The Gropper bag leaped out at me ... one reason I need to work harder on planting things in my memory again ... I did not recall the Gropper name being associated with Vitros. I don't remember Gropper being associated with marbles long enough to have the opportunity to jobber Vitro cat's eyes.

It's way past time for me to start cataloging the photographs George Sourlis has sent me over the years -- I need to internalize what I've received and know where to look for them when the need arises. No time like the present. I'll start the project with these which came in the mail today.