Steph

Yeah . . . the forgers do an okay job of making them seem old and weathered. But so far they don't make them look professional. Here's one of the 5x5 boxes (from Lloyd's auction). Look how sharp this is. Compare the box in question: It looks like it was made with a rubber stamp. The font doesn't look right and the blurry, incomplete impression sticks out like a sore thumb. If there ever was a time when Gropper didn't invest in nice-looking boxes, my gut feeling is that it would have been before they started jobbering marbles. By the time of "Prima Agates", Gropper was bigtime and they knew the power of presentation. I'm sure of it.

Gropper was a jobber. They distributed marbles made by others. They put their name on the package though. If that's "real" then I think it's a nice find. Something about the print on this box looks a little wrong to me. And maybe the construction of the box itself. Not saying it IS wrong. However, with the known forgers about I want to fish up some other examples before I say more. Maybe someone else will recognize it as A-OK. Where'd you find it, if you can say? p.s. here are some Gropper pix: http://marbleconnection.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=6792

lol @ laughing at the snow. Congratulations!

$5000 chicken! (auction)

tasty turkey. yum. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Manddrakes isn't Reliford.

Happy Birthday Lady! Here's to a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend in Tennessee.

lolol

Someone recently showed pix of a big "Champion" cache. At least I remembered it has having a Champion connection. And I think there were cat's eyes there. Whose thread was that? And weren't there cat's eyes in some of the Bicentennial bags? Or were my bags fake? Anything is possible, I guess.

You might need to wait for Al. They look like they could be marbles which Champion would have had on hand. If there are cat's eyes in there, Champ wouldn't have made them, but they might still have had them around. Especially in the 1970's. Are there 21 marbles in the bag? There are some real Champ bags, filled with real Champ mibs, but not with the permission of Champion. If I understand correctly. Champ bags are a tricky area.

If anyone would know, I think it would be Al.

Corals have been found in Pressman Bull's Eye bags. My impression, based on statements made by Ron, is that the swirls in Pressman bags would be Alleys. Here is an example Al posted in a thread about a Pressman bag with corals in it. The company name is chopped off here though, so I am only guessing it was Pressman. Al?

I think the ribbons run deeper than normal MK would. The white parts could be from the scanner. Awfully bright light involved there.

Is this the same Leo? http://marbleforum.blogspot.com/search/label/Leo%20Contreras%20Collection

Those are like sunsets. Real sunsets. Very nice.

those pastels are sweet.

I also was under the impression that Bogard made cat's eyes. However, they did have a relationship with Marble King. Bought cat's eyes from MK for Bogard bags, sold industrial marbles to help fill MK industrial orders. (this according to AMMM)

I believe those are Christensens. I can't remember exactly what the box said but I think the labelling was clear. Might have said both Gropper and Christensen. I definitely need to find the pix. Supposedly the mibs weren't all as swirly as these four look. Some had seams. Since so many companies made single color mibs, I wouldn't have a lot of faith in being able to identify one in the wild as Ravenswood or CAC or Alley or Champion or whoever. However, I have a diaperfold in blue which would fit right into that box. I'm completely convinced that mine is CAC.

Thanks for salvaging Sue's post! USPS insurance on $3000 is 32 bux.

Sue, I deleted your post! I'm so sorry! I was trying to delete a double post I made. I immediately saw I pressed the wrong button but it didn't give me the regular "are you sure you want to do this message" before it went ahead and knocked it off. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. Now I've deleted my post too in shame.

What a good question. It would be awesome to see something comprehensive on corals. Which all are Champ varieties. Which are Alley, Ravenswood, CAC, .... Did anyone else do them?

lol. good catch!

LOLOL I'm a cat person. (p.s. that's way cool. have a fabulous time)

Calling IT what IT is is different from calling SOMEONE something. That's all's I'm really saying. It's gonna be hard to call anybody anything if the board is shut down. The Bo who talked me through some of my struggles earlier this year seemed really good at stepping around the poop. I appreciated it. :-)

Unfortunately, the sense of humor seems to be the first casualty at times like this. :-) Your art really does have something refreshing about it. Thanks