Steph

Bag of boulders: ... and Al's bag. I'm probably the one who made it into the montage. I did that with several pics and then wished I hadn't. Al's description of the contents: "mainly Akro corkscrews with a few patches and 4 Carnelians"

I want it!

That lunch box is too fun!

Hmmm .... I don't have much to go on to tell how much of a clue that one mention of being made by Akro is. I'll let that simmer. As dedicated as we know Akro to have been about branding, the general lack of ads in later years could mean they weren't so dedicated about it later. (Or the lack of later ads I've seen could just mean I haven't been looking in the right places.) But maybe it was stressed on the Moss Agate because maybe that was the style which they were most proud of. Moss agates were more expensive than Sparklers on the one ad where I saw a price. What kind of marbles do you think are in the Hot Shot bag in the ad? To me it looks like corks. Maybe they were vague because they were keeping their options open about what would be in them. I just noticed the "Special Assortment" bit. Gotta file that away with my other "Special" references.

Oooh, I didn't see your ad when I posted, Ric. Nice to see something so late. If you ever see something from the 1940's, please post it! (please oh please oh please :))

Hot Shot was an Akro brand. They advertised it in circulars. I think this is the opposite side of the bag Steve showed:

This book, MacRae's Blue Book, Volume 1, is supposedly 1966 and mentions Alox Old Cobbler brand Shoe Laces and polishes. It has the same postal zone mentioned even though I'm pretty 1966 is after when zip codes were introduced. This link might take you to the right place, "alox old cobbler". Edit: no, that didn't work. I'll try it one more time. Will it work now?

Nice info about the trademark!

Someone asked about my list of marble makers. In case anyone else is interested here it is. http://glasswizzards.yuku.com/topic/1784 It was compiled with the help of contemp collectors and has all the names I knew as of August 2011.

I have a list of about 400 contemporary marble makers and that set of initials doesn't show up in it.

Well, the "14" postal zone could give an estimated date from 1943 to 1963. Edited: Within those two decades, the "Made in Japan" could put it at 1952 or after ... but I'm still reading about that so this is subject to another edit. (Would something before 1952 definitely have had "Made in Occupied Japan" or is it possible that it would just say "Made in Japan"?) I remember hearing once that Alox was a fiercely "made in America" company ... and of course they specialized in shoe laces ... so I've wondered when and why they would have laces made in Japan. And don't have a good theory for that yet.

Sounds possible too ..... thanks for putting me back on the fence, Ric.

Here's hoping I did these justice -- well, I didn't -- but it was fun trying.

Pondering on your comment and the glass quality made me think .... maybe they were trying to make the corks shown in the 2nd post here: http://marbleconnection.com/topic/17742-master-marble-boxes-filled-with-akro-agates/

There's the Alox name! Thanks, Al!

I was just feeling nostalgic for some Alox shoelaces I once had ... with marbles on the label. These are some pix I found of similar ones in case you'd like to know what to look for. Says Alox somewhere on the label. Took me quite awhile to figure out those were marbles. At least that's what I think they are! What fun stuff do you have?

Pretty swirly. I can't guess whether they were even meant to be swirls or if they started out as something else. Seems kinda odd how the red and green are split up on the smaller one. Don't know what that might signify though.

Good luck!!!

$100 less common? Don't mind me. I'm just going through my cat's eyes planning my retirement .....

Cute kitten! lol Mib looks all Pelt to me!

Some people don't understand the importance of texture. That's something I'd think waffle experts would be very much in tune with.

302?! Wow! .... or should that LOL and the extra 2 years on the end let me know there's a joke there somewhere?

Clever!

Here's the most worn side of my big 'un up against some 21st century Vacors. The Vacors have a heavier feel and I think a little colder. The small ones are not strictly heaver than the large one. I confirmed that on my postal scale. But I think I verified that they're significantly more dense. Together the 2 smaller ones weigh a little more than .9 ounce. The large one comes in at a little over 2.2 ounces. (I conclude the "little over" part because the three marbles together came out to be 3.2 ounces.) The smaller ones are 19 mm wide. The big one is between 37 and 38 mm wide. (Can't be more precise because it's a little out of round and just a tad too big for my caliper's grips.) Sooooo .... if I did my math right, then the small ones together have about 1/4 of the volume of the big one. But the weight of the small ones together is about 40% of the weight of the big one.