Steph

So DO the purple and green ones have a nickname? Ya'll calling them wiseguys triggered a batman memory so I googled a little and sure enough the joker and the riddler are purple and green but I figure that's just a coincidence here. lol

Cats and boxes are hilarious. Our 20-pounder had a Snickers candy bar box he'd tried to hide in. (His front feet fit ... that was all.) The really funny part was how he expected us to respect that he was hiding. The game was that we'd chase him across the house and he'd jump into (onto) his Snickers box ... and apparently we were supposed to act like he'd gotten away from us. ..... Right now he's hiding in a tent I made him on the sofa. Cat caves are important business.

Merry Christmas, Jeff.

What a handsome party.

Think about the time frame for the cat's eye "invasion" of the U.S. MK was incorporated in 1949.

Love the made in Japan header! I've seen at least one more MK bag which had some Japanese cats in it. But I don't think that one acknowledged the country of origin. Between 1949 and whenever they started making their own Rainbows and Cat's Eyes who knows what all Marble King may have had to do to fill orders .....

Merry Christmas Lou!

I was looking through old attachments and found this neat little advertising item George Sourlis sent me awhile back. It's definitely a Marble King company bag ... as opposed to the circa-1940 mesh bags which said Marble King on the label but were before the MK company was actually started. Neat mixture in it. close-up:

Yeah ... the salesman box has an Akro Special section - the top left section. Different marble types have been found in it. That's part of why I figured "Special" was more of a catchall term than a specific type -- a section for whichever additional styles Akro wanted their salesmen to be showing around in addition to the basic line. larger version: http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/3Akrosamplerboxes002.jpg Here's a pricelist with the "Special Assortment" listed. Sorry this one's so small. I'm pretty sure I have a bigger copy but I don't remember where I put it.

My personal opinion is that Akro as a company didn't call any one particular type of marble a special. I know they sold "Special Assortments". My GUESS is that boxes which say "Special" on them were the ones "Special Assortments" came in. As a collector name, the definition varies. However the marbles in the OP definitely were sold as Spirals. No doubt.

More! I want more!

I'll pick: Top row, far right. 2nd row: 1st on the left. Middle row: far right. LOL. Just playing along! Not banking anything on my guesses!

It's looking sorta machine made to me. What's that long indentation arcing around the top in the 2nd view? Could it be a double ingot?

Darn! For a minnit you had me hoping it was snowing marbles this year!

Well, I was intrigued enough to save the pix. But not knowledgeable enough to comment! Just watching with interest.

Do you mean past attachments? So you can pick out something you already posted and post it again? The "My Media" button still works on this version.

I'm not sure how early they started that style. Definitely they were made in the 1950's. The article Winnie posted shows that. And I think they were made into the 60's. So I'll say 50's give or take.

I don't remember ever seeing a red, white and blue one. Wirepulls were made in Europe. I think we usually consider them German but recently learned that they were made in Holland as well.

Doh! I thought you said, "click here, youtube videos on torch made marble". I didn't see the "then check out the many" over there to the right side of the video on my screen! Sorrrrreeeeeee.

Neat video ... but isn't that a "tank"? Now I realize I don't know what "tank" meant. I just guessed furnace.

I see nothing but superman. These pix help a LOT. Maybe you should start the auction fresh with new pix? In case other people already marked it off their list out of doubt.