Steph

Baha. We'll archive your Fugly Study at the end of the semester. That'll take care of it.

Gry, all the 50's are taken. Here is the current list of numbers already chosen if I have it right: 15, 17, 19 21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 68 70 94 .

I just noticed Gene's Akro Superman in the prize pot. I need that one! I was thinking about deferring if I won, since I already won one of Carole's marbles in an earlier contest. Share the wealth, you know. But I NEED a Superman. p.s., Brian, I didn't miss your donation! just somehow missed Gene's right before yours.

Interesting observation. And that was for the shooter size. 4 for a penny to the jobbers. Higher cost to the kids of course. Sparklers could be had for even less!

uh oh, that was dakodiak's choice. Did you see the list I made of the numbers which have been chosen already? it's back on page 2.

Hi Marie. 49 has already been chosen. Do you have another pick?

It's a great pic. Wisconsin has a lot of charm.

Loverly. I just bought a bunch of megas. My excuse was to keep up on the new varieties so I could tell them apart from the old. But I picked the Butterflies coz they are pretty.

I'll take 44. p.s., Pffffll to teeelsey!

Hi Jack. That would be 37, if I'm adding correctly. That's already taken. Here's a list I have of the guesses already posted. 15, 17, 19 21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 68 70 94 I've double checked it, so hopefully it's correct up to this point. I'll try to keep it updated.

In case this isn't too obvious, zip baggies come in lots of sizes. 2" x 2" are really good for safe storage of mibs with a fair degree of visibility.

There is an alternative which a lot of little sellers will choose -- not sell. Not sell anywhere. I used to sell on ebay and know I need to get back to bringing some money in. But everytime I think I'm about ready to brave the Bay again, something like this happens. I imagine a "lot" of small sellers will just decide it is not worth the hassle. Stuff will go back to the attic or to Goodwill. But how much is a "lot"? Ebay has probably factored that into their revenue projection models and decided they can make it without the little sellers they are squeezing out.

I'm from Packer land. But if you can't be with the one you love . . . you can at least distract yourself with a good game.

One of those Buddy headers is a new one for me.

Too cool on the metallic in the Buddy bag. That could mess with some ID's in future.

Rah rah!

Which color is the base and which the ribbons in this "purple tiger"?

This might be just a tangent to the main subject but that date estimate sounds like it might be early. My impression was that only swirl type mibs were around then.

Unashamedly ball bearings in 1902. :-) The newspaper reference I saw from that year said they were "the kind used for ball bearings". Said they could be gotten from bike shops. Not arguing! I just love that reference. :-) My own thought is that ball bearings wouldn't qualify as marbles unless (a) they were in the packaging like you mention or (b ) I had it on good information that some particular steelie was used by a real kid back in the day. John, that's great info you gave. Meant to say that earlier.

Ebay doesn't seem to care about people abusing the the names and reputations of companies who aren't around to sue anymore. At least I couldn't find anything which covered Pavcraz's type of offering the last time I looked.

I think that Pavcraz has sometimes made his own boxes from start to finish. I don't have any boxes with metal tabs handy to compare so I can't tell if this is one of his made-from-scratch pieces, or if it is an authentic box which has been repurposed. However it is not authentic Christensen. Not even going to add "imho" on this one. Pavcraz does a sucky job with his stamps. He gets the print layout sorta okay. Basic design sorta okay. But the quality of the impression is very low. Marble sellers of the day had professional box makers. Pavcraz hasn't got the skill. Not yet.

C'mon, you guys messing with my friend Pavcraz again?! He's just trying to make a living! What harm does he do by whipping up a few rubber stamped boxes? Leaving them out in the weather or putting a little dark lacquer on them to make them look older. Nothing wrong with that. C'mon! Give a fella a break!

Solid steel balls were called Steelies and used as marbles at least from 1905 (edit: 1902). In other words, from at least around the time that Martin Christensen's steel ball machine made them affordable. So we should call them MFC's. LOLOL *joke!* The earliest packaging might have been closer to that time, Sue, not sure. But they were illegal in most if not all organized tournament play.

Edna gave me a modern Chinese millifiore (sp?). Not as large or colorful as this seller's but same style of marble.