Steph

I'm thinking maybe Alley .....?

Pretty

For the archives

Yes. Akro Tri-Color Agates were definitely around by January 1931. So were possibly already around in 1930. (How wild is that, considering corks were only introduced in 1929 or 1930?) Here's a Jan 1931 Boys' Life with them: http://books.google.com/books?id=OVtPo30Su2sC&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q&f=false And that color catalog ad calls the Tri-Colors new, backing up the 1931-ish idea. We can maybe talk about what Akro meant by "Specials" later. *hehe*

Is this a liberty cork in this ad? I think this was 1931. It's one I spent some time trying to pin down and I may be confused about what I ultimately found, but 1931 is the date coming to mind right now.

I made these! Ummm ... well, actually, the guilty party should be by shortly. Click the pic for a larger copy. If I need to post even larger versions of the pix, let me know. I'll figure out a way.

When that buyer finds out enough about marbles to know they spent $100 on a common ..... Sad, expensive lesson.

Someone else might be able to find a better match by looking at their personal collection of euroswirls. I got this comparison from a quick forum search. (link)

Thank you for sharing the news. It's important that the pioneers be remembered.

awwwww ....... That's you? (nice fashion example )

O M G

Not in person but ...

(yes, Craig, MFC's ..... the seeming reference to red onyx surely means American Cornelian)

I should have posted this last week. The new National Marble Champions are 12-year old Cooper Fisher of Middletown Valley, MD and 11-year-old Emily Cavacini of Allegheny County, PA. Congratulations! Glad kids are still playing. News from Wildwood (AP Photo/The Press of Atlantic City, Dale Gerhard)

ORLY! lol

Well that big clay doesn't seem very pretty to me. It's an overgrown commie. Somewhere I have/had an article from early in the 1900's which said that all the kids had a giant marble for some sort of game. At least that's what I remember -- I hope I didn't just make it up. But I have no idea where I stored it. It's possible I filed it in a "Shooter" folder which was in a folder called "S". I accidentally destroyed my "S" disk, so I may have lost that article. ... or maybe it's in an unsorted folder and I could find it again if I would just look. I'd have fun looking through those old files, finding things I'd forgotten about. Why don't I do it? lol

Okay, this is a weird article to post on a marble board but a certain line in it made me think of past conversations .... When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink? When we think of pink marbles it's been proposed that the reason they may not have been very common in days of yore is that pink was for girls and marbles were mostly for boys. Yet here is something which was said about pink in 1918: The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl. For what it's worth! I found it interesting.

Yes! <3 <3 <3

The 1912 issue wasn't the only treasure in the mail. Here's December 1912 and March 1913. And here's the ad from the December issue, p. 35. About 1 1/8" tall by 2 1/4" wide.

Every time Galen posts about Jabos he could start a thread about marbles he likes. That would provide a nice balance.

I have one. (It's the magazine with one of the earliest Akro ads.) A gift from a friend. I've had copies of the ad, of course. Can't believe how moving seeing the actual magazine is. It's like visiting a religious shrine must be for some people. My mind is blown.

I have a giant clay marble -- about an inch and a half -- and I keep wondering what it would have been used for. Giant glass marbles could be for decoration or pump valve balls or furniture. What would a big purple clay marble have been for? It's not decorative. Clay marbles were used for drainage in highways I think (maybe?) but would they have been colored first for that? Not that I know what size would have been used for highways .... Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks for the info!