Steph

I forgot to follow up and see if I wanted to raise my bid. Was almost afraid to look just now. So glad to see the spiderscout got way out of my price range.

The photo is at least from the 1950's, which does show how long some marbles can lie around waiting for packaging, doesn't it. In a way that makes the possibility of those lovely corks in the OP being boxed up in the 1950's sound even more plausible.

Horrific. Those poor kids.

Great shot. Looks sort of like parachute material.

Check out the ad at the top of p. 113 in American Machine-Made Marbles. It's a little confusing. It has some pictures of Master boxes, and it has some text which goes about like this: MASTER MARBLES AKRO AGATES in Packages and in Bulk ---- BRAND NAMES ---- CLEARIES ----- GLASSIES OPAL ----- GAME CLIMAX ----- UNIQUE ROYAL ----- HERO The paragraph from the text on p. 108 which mentions the old Akro stock says: Masters in Akro boxes is the reverse of what you have, but maybe this is still the explanation. p.s. Another ad on p.113 shows Master was still using the Akro name in flyers in 1963 or later. (I don't see a date but the ad has a five digit zip code.)

Four years later, I sure wish I could remember why I included "Climax" and some of those others in the list of names for Masters! Where did I get that from? I wouldn't have pulled it out of thin air. Was it in a marble book? Or in an ad? Edit: Yes, it's in an ad in a marble book -- American Machine-Made Marbles, p. 113. But it's confusing. It says Master Marbles, but right under that it says Akro Agates. The ad goes something like this: MASTER MARBLES AKRO AGATES in Packages and in Bulk ---- BRAND NAMES ---- CLEARIES ----- GLASSIES OPAL ----- GAME CLIMAX ----- UNIQUE ROYAL ----- HERO Soooo, I am guessing that's from 1951 or later. Just guessing though. 1951 is when AMMM says that Master acquired old Akro stock along with the right to use the Akro logo and trademark. An ad which is definitely from later than 1951 still has the Akro Agate name included. I don't see a date but I know it's later because it says Cat's Eye. It goes about like this: MASTER MARBLE AKRO AGATES in Packages and in Bulk ---- BRAND NAMES ---- CLEARIES * GLASSIES OPAL * GAME CAT'S EYE Actually, I think that ad would be from 1963 or later, because in the contact information it has a five digit zip code.

Interesting. Beautiful marbles. Fwiw, for some reason I wrote Hero down as a Master name back in 2008. Of course I knew it to be an Akro name but I still listed it as a Master name also for some reason. I'll try to reconstruct why I did that. American Machine-Made Marbles says that Master acquired unsold Akro marbles in 1951. I wouldn't have guessed those corks to still be in the Akro stock then, but could be.

That blue/yellow/red one is cool.

Perfect! *applause*

So fierce!

Agreed.

Welll ... it's a cool item. If it were mine, I would definitely hang onto it hoping for more clues to surface.

I believe that several of us communicated with the Phoenix police department last year. The case number I was given at the time was #612902. I sent a note to the officer I was in contact with, giving him a link to that auction and this thread.

Yeah, that seems like pretty sure thing. I was wondering if it might be a game piece. But it's pretty large. So

That's a puzzle.

Flattened? On two sides?

lol

Nice.

Those are sweet, Lloyd. That couple is WOW.

Is it a quail?

There is a recaption option at Cheezburger.com. I edited out the lolspeak of this one just for you.