Steph

just don't worry about it.

Hong Kong started making cat's eyes in 1954. This is significantly earlier than I believe "we" previously knew. Prior to that they had imported marbles, mostly from Japan, and then re-exported them to commonwealth countries. They seem to have faced some issues with "Certificate of Origin" and "Imperial Preference" rules, and their client countries had expressed much interest in Hongkong-made marbles, so they went for it. The first factory was built in 1954. It was called the Hongkong Marble Glass Manufactory. The 3rd factory had been built in or by 1956. Though one of the 3 had closed in/by 1956 due at least partly to issues with the seasonal nature of marbles, at least one was operating at full capacity with a backlog of orders. One of the factories made over a million marbles a day, using what appears to have been 10 machines. They were cat's eyes and clays, 14mm and 17mm. Larger sizes were planned for the near future. I didn't actually see the term cat's eye -- they were described as "transparent marbles with colour-core". The industry faced challenges but they maintained, and time appears to have confirmed, that prospects still looked very good. One of the challenges was getting production costs low enough to help them compete with Japan. One of the strategies they were looking into was managing the supply of glass. I think they were talking about scrap glass. Marbles appear to have been made for both play and industry. This is all to the best of my ability to piece together info from google fragments. My source info is mainly "The Glass Marble Industry of Hongkong", in the Far Eastern Economic Review, published by Review Pub. Co. Ltd. Another item to put on my library checklist.

A 1935 definition of Snot Agate calls it "a glass agate of any color streaked with white". (source) In 1932, you could buy a bag of 38 snot agates for 10 cents. If I understand correctly those are gobfed marble prices, and thus the marbles would not have been Christensens. The 38 marbles in a bag makes me wonder if these could have been marbles jobbered by Rosenthal. Why? Because the other time I remember seeing a bag with 38 marbles in it was Berry Pink's double compartment bag. And then that makes me wonder if the marbles might have been made by Alley. With Berry being an executive with both Alley and Rosenthal in 1932 and with Alley not selling his own branded bags, I wonder if Berry might have distributed the marbles through Rosenthal? Does anyone know?

What would snotties have looked like in 1914? Any ideas? (click to enlarge)

Oxblood as a color is the color of ox blood. Sometimes wet ox blood. Sometimes dry. To widen that meaning -- as a color -- is anyone's prerogative, and it is anyone's prerogative not to adopt the expanded definition. I know that I am more of a purist than most so I shall proceed with caution in that area. I see what appears to be an effort to expand the definition by fiat instead of in an organic way and I resist that. Oxblood is an archaic term. I choose to appreciate it in its traditional contexts, as far as I understand them. My understanding of that is still in progress.

By the way, it turns out that at least some of the copper-based glass called oxblood in the 1800's and early 1900's wasn't opaque. This isn't any reason to throw out all our past definitions, but it's interesting all the same. Glass chemists of the day treated the subject in a scientific way. Artisans and art lovers studied it also. Definitely no reason to haggle about the subject before we study in depth what the people who gave us the word knew.

I do not know who said that. It was not I.

In this discussion, a certain amount of precision about the context would be a good idea. Otherwise we could easily blur the terms until they are practically meaningless. Oxblood as a color will be dark red. Oxblood as a copper-based reddish glass might be generalized to other shades in a modern discussion. However, one thing I learned from my reading is that the people who regularly used the term oxblood in the 1800's and early 1900's would have known the literal color of oxblood. Other shades had other names. Humans lived in multi-species communities. Animals were their servants and direct food sources. People were quite intimate with facts about their animals, down to the level of knowing different animals had different shades of blood.

Yellow swirls in clear make me think of Champ (or vacor, tho' that's not really on my mind here). I haven't really spent much time thinking about yellow tho' so I don't know who else might've done it. In particular I don't know if that is a CAC option.

Those would be the six-vane type I don't like to get too specific with. I'd just guess Asia in general. And I'd guess "after 1970", again without wanting to be commit further.

I really can't tell how many separate varieties are in the updated pic. I don't see the ketchup and mustard. And the top right one looks sort of like the far left one.

Right ... there have been additions to the basic set of five. Summary of the types I've seen names for: the one known simply as "Citrus", where the green is transparent a variant of #1 where the green is opaque, also called "Citrus" I think the Liberty aka Patriot the Lemon-Plum aka Rebel, if i understand correctly the Christmas Tree the Ketchup and Mustard (w/ mayo) (which Sami questioned as possibly not belonging to the group) the Blueberry Is the Citrus Angel a different type? Some of the names in that list are from Mr. Dorkmo's classic pic: (click to enlarge) There are 7 mibs here in Mr. Dorkmo's updated pic. Is the bottom left a different type from the far right? a hybrid? does it have a name? (click to enlarge)

This is supposed to be a 1960 ad, from ebay. The seller assured me the year was correct and the ad style fits that time but the marbles made me do a double take. Do you think spotted mibs like that existed then? Or is this an artist's rendering of imagined marbles and only a coincidence that they look so much marbles made decades later? (click to enlarge)

Seems like a good time to mention the Land of Marbles article archive. http://www.landofmarbles.com/archive/index.php

April 17, 1883 A. W. Roberts' classic, "Marbles and Where They Come From", published in Harper's Young People. That issue is online. Several versions can be found at archive.org: http://www.archive.org/details/harpersyoungpeop00newy1883. The text can be found here. The text was used and reused in newspapers and maybe other publications, with various amounts of editing. One example is this next one, in a New Zealand paper .... November 12, 1898 From the Waimate Daily Advertiser: The table of contents for the issue The article

Took me a couple of readings to figure this out but once I did :icon_lmao:

"about 20 years" was my first vague thought but then I remembered what year this is, and realized that would put cosmic rainbos in Anacortes. And I don't remember ever hearing that connection before.

... thanks for the mib!

My newest acquisition might be called lavender or pink. It's got a nice cork action. That wouldn't be too remarkable. But I think the ground pontil is. Not what one would expect on what looks like an Asian transitional. (click to enlarge)

Are the swirls yellow ribbons in a clear base? Or white ribbons in a clear base? on my monitor it looks like yellow in clear, which would be a significant difference from the electric yellow slag. No specific thoughts about maker from me at the moment. This was my subtle attempt at a helpful bump. lol

Ditto.

That seems like a good ball park guess. There might be more specific info to be gleaned from the header, perhaps from subtle details. Another case where I have so much information that I think I might be able to put my hands on a specific answer but I'd have to be in the zone to sort it out. But short answer is with that age warning, yeah, 30 years sounds about right. I know someone to ask ... might do that ... sometime.

I think all 100 could still be around, mostly in private collections I presume. (Where did you find yours?) They're new enough, and I imagine that anyone lucky enough to get one appreciated it.

Rare indeed. My copy is borrowed. I need to return it soon but it's going to be tough to let go. I want to read it again before I do. It's a page turner.

LOL ... now we have to define "vintage" vs. "modern"! I love those Bos. They always make me smile.