Steph

Have a blast!

But those colors aren't flip-flopping, are they .....

Interesting. Do they seem definitely Akro ... as opposed to say Master Cloudys? Edit: oh, never mind .... that's not an Akro box!

I guess I lean Rainbo ..... for now .......

With this group of non-cat's-eyes, I think the first (on the left) could be a Vitro Conqueror from the 1940's. The 2nd ... well, I'm not sure. Maybe also Vitro. The 3rd ... white and yellow ... maybe a simple patch ... could be oldish. The 4th ... I'm leaning modern and Asian. Standard disclaimer: More views could change my mind.

The big red and white one and the big green and white one are Marble King Rainbows from the 50's or 60's. Those would be American marbles. The big white with red and blue ribbons might be a newer Asian marble. Not sure. Asian is also my current guess for the big dark-colored one. The clear with red is a cat's eye, as are most of the smaller ones.

Got the pictures. Posted in a new thread: http://marbleconnection.com/topic/22763-some-of-ekims-marbles/ They didn't help me make up my mind on this green and red/orange/yellow marble in this thread. Darn.

That's a mixture of old and new. For example, the smaller one in the 2nd picture is one of the modern ones. So, basically, that's not going to help narrow down my guess when I'm trying to decide between 1930's and 1990's. You appear to have some of both.

Hmm, at that size and with that color combination, it's getting harder. Could be after 1990. Could be 1930's. More views might help someone. Also helpful might be seeing the other marbles that it came with.

Likely less than a dime. Surely no more than a dollar.

Pretty sure no significant value for decorative mineral spheres. If they were hand-faceted agates made for kids to play with, they would be wanted for the marble collection and we might be talking a few dollars. Still not high.

Good info, Ron. Thanks.

That's the right size for one of the Jabo contract runs. Gonna stick with that guess for now. That blue fits that guess. (So does the red which is probably oxblood.)

What diameter are they? If you don't have calipers, a picture next to a ruler could be helpful. Standard playing marble size is 5/8". A standard "shooter" size is 3/4".

How about a slightly further back photo of the pair. My first thought is Jabo or DAS contract run marbles, special runs which started in 2008 and continue until now. More views might change my mind and make me look to something older.

I like.

(That would be the Blue Skies variety from Alley) http://marbleconnection.com/topic/13019-alleys-blue-skies-and-blush-lines/

Mostly West Virginia swirls. The light blue with the white ribbon is a popular style, if I'm not mistaken.

Before you make a big buy, if you can post a pic, we can give you an idea of if it's old or new.

If you're talking monetary investment, there is literally no basic answer to that. The best advice is "buy what you like". But that's not for investments. Different makers have different marbles which are considered desirable. If you buy a marble book, not even that is good enough to give a new collector a good feel for what is desirable, because to the untrained eye so many modern marbles look like older ones. The easiest thing to comment on is this: Condition is very important. A single nick can reduce the value of a marble by half.

As to value ... some of those are starting to get more collectible. However, still not a lot of value as far as I am aware. Nice to see pix!