Steph

I have some material for this also. As with the MFC thread, some odd bits now, but I'll try to add the normal bits also someday. April 16, 1882 Lawrence Everett Alley is born in Kentucky. April 22, 1910 He is a coach painter in Huntington, W. Va. (Census) 1917 L. E. Alley is Vice President, General Manager and Purchasing Agent of the Kingwood Glass Co., Kingwood, W. Va. (National Glass Budget Directory) Sept. 12, 1918 He is a glass blower at the Western Glass Co. in St. Marys, W. Va. (WWI Registration) April 27, 1942 WWII Registration. Sort of interesting description. But no extra marble info.

1931, Sunset Agates Looks like that could be this box. The panel the ad came from because it's charming: (click to enlarge) They were offered as a prize to the 4th place scorer in Madison, WI's marble tournament. The first place winner was to receive a new suit of clothes, dress shoes, a free pressing of a suit, and the trip to Chicago for the regional competition. But in the end, the hardware store gave both boys a box of marbles and a Cornelian shooter. A couple of the related articles. (click to enlarge0 . . . Romanzo may have gone on to play bush league ball -- not certain, but there was a "hurler" by the same name, of the appropriate age a few years later. (Can't jump to conclusions. Many Schneiders from different families settled in the area, including my great-great-grandparents. Many cousins and even unrelated people had identical names.)

Early 1930's 1931 Here is an ad George Sourlis sent from the December 1931 Playthings Magazine. Check here for some nice Acme Realer pix

Late 1920's is 1929 the year of the pivotal lawsuit Akro filed against Peltier?

Mid to late 1920's

Mid 1920's

1920-something, Marble production begins

Before Marbles

Might as well start one. :-) Company history: 1886 to present (last I heard) Peltier Glass Company website Victor J. Peltier bio page at Rootsweb

Indeed he does. :-)

Early 1930's, Catalogs and other circulars of uncertain age [coming soon] lol - "coming soon". How long have I been saying that? Here's one of the pages I keep planning to incorporate. I can't seem to get them all together at once. So I'll just start here: I have "1930ish" on these photos from Dani. I have bigger copies somewhere. .... Here's one example of why they're of such uncertain age! WARNING: it's complicated. I'm still working on a better way to say it. It will likely become easier, or unnecessary, as I include more examples. This illustration of the No. 32 and No. 64 display cartons was recycled into multiple brochures. This particular example came from the scan Dani posted. http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/DisplayCartons_Dani-1.jpg. In Dani's version, the descriptions of the contents do not match the illustrations. The original descriptions might actually have been the ones shown in the catalog on p. 17 of American Machine-Made Marbles. Page three of the catalog. Here are the contents from that page: No. 32: No. 64: If you are aware of Moss Agates once having been a swirled type of marble, you might recognize them through the windows in the cartons. These are the kind which have "exquisite patterns", as described in some ads. They include the Ades and the Blue Eggyolks. Here is a sample box of that sort of Moss Agate, with salesman's price label affixed. (click to enlarge) (click the links below the thumbnails for the larger copies) http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/th_MVC-018S.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/MVC-018S.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/th_MVC-019S.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/MVC-019S.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/th_MVC-020S.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/MVC-020S.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/th_MVC-021S.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/MVC-021S.jpg In post #10 here, Intriguing Akro Box, Clyde describes another box like this. HOWEVER, though the contents listed on page three of the catalog in AMMM match the illustration on that page, there are several inconsistences between that page and the others. I won't try to be more specific at the moment because if you don't have the catalog in front of you, the comparison would shoot 18 light years past "complicated". And if you do have the catalog in front of you, then you might want to try to sort the consistencies out yourself.

Copyright 1931, The Akro Kings game There is also Click. What year was that? Sliding this in: 1931, Big Time Marbles Comic/Ads in Boy's Life Magazine. Old-fashioned looking cartoon boys - I think the same cartoon boys used on the Ringer Marble Sets

Sometime in 1930, and I'll have to guess toward the end of the year. This is from a reproduction of a 1930-1931 catalog, image sent by George Sourlis. It places Akro's original Tri-color agates in 1930 (Note, the original tri-color agates were corkscrews, i.e., the mibs we call "specials" today). And it calls 'em Rainbow! (click to enlarge) The marbles: Cover: Dec. 1930 On p. 11 of The Complete Line of The Akro Agate Co. (1992), the Hardy's show an ad for "this new Akro Agate game called CLICK". Also mentioned in the ad is a "new Akro Agate Prize Contest". (still waiting to hear the outcome on the old one!) Also mentioned are "three new Akro Agate assortments with marble bags". Click game, from a Block auction. (click to enlarge)

The 1930's Don't know the year on this, but it's a classic. Likely after Feb. 15, 1932 considering the size on the Glassies. See later post. (click to enlarge) I have some close-ups to add at a later date.

1929 - 1930, the birth of the corkscrew and the last days of the slag 1930, The Prize Name Naming Contest Akro Prize Name box with contest coupons. (click to enlarge) (source) Some text from the enclosure introducing the prize names and explaining the contest: Then came the contest rules. There were to be five prizes, ranging from $10 to $100. The deadline for entries was Midnight, May 1, 1930. And winners were to be announced in the June issue of Boys' Life. I have a copy of that issue but do not see anything from or about Akro. Presumably the original color combinations: I believe that some ads continued to list these combos even though more were available very soon.

1929 April 1929 -- Cracker Jack promotion . . . a few extras. A coupon which might have come in a Cracker Jack box, and what is said to be a Cracker Jack prize from 1928. The wrapper says "Genuine Agate". Supposedly the "right" marble to find in the wrapper is a red and blue swirl. This is according to a Cracker Jack specialist, not an Akro specialist. I am not aware of a red and blue marble made by Akro in 1928. July 1929 -- Jobbers Price List Sliding this in ... is 1929 the year of the pivotal lawsuit against Peltier?

(in process of reformatting this one, bringing together material from multiple sources) 1929 and later -- "Imperials" IMHO, and in the more educated opinion of some others, the original imperials were silver oxbloods. After that many different, premium types of Akros were distributed in the Imperial boxes. Perhaps the originals didn't go over as well as had been hoped and there were surplus boxes. Letter introducing Imperials, dated January 23, 1929 (click the links below the thumbnails to enlarge) http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/akroimperialadp1.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/akroimperialadp2.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/akroimperialadp3.jpg Part of the progression of "Imperials": (click the links below the thumbnails) http://i119.photobuc...erialFromAd.jpg http://i119.photobuc...o/MVC-010S1.jpg http://i119.photobuc...ro/MVC-011S.jpg http://i119.photobuc...ig_mc7055_b.jpg http://i119.photobuc...orVersion-2.jpg The 2nd to last box was Craig's but this is the marble Craig calls an Imperial. He had it for sale in December: Edit: I think Craig's box was backfilled from marbles in a huge lot of new old stock he acquired.

Perhaps 1926 or 1927. The slags and the art make it seem like it could be a 1920's item. To the best of my ability to judge. We might learn a lot from comparing notes with a vintage fashion site, huh? :-) O' Boy! gift box. (click to enlarge) From the Marquee auction description: I actually found many ads with ties being sold with various items. But usually only one item. Tie & marbles. Tie & harmonica. Tie & pencil. to name a few examples. So if those came all together I guess that was pretty special. The tie could be silk or rayon. Maybe others materials. It might be a bow tie or a "four-in-hand". Or just a boy's tie without specifying. The earliest ad I recall at the moment was from 1926. One 1926 ad actually specified the Akro brand. That wasn't the usual practice. Another 1926 ad said the marbles in the tie set were imported. Anyway, here are a 1926 ad mentioning Akro and a 1932 ad with a drawing of a gift set. (click to enlarge) . .

1926 A folded pricelist from Akro, found with a 1926 letter advertising Cornelians. The pricelist is sealed with a 1 1/2 cent Warren Harding stamp. (click to enlarge) The Cornelian letter:

1926 All About Marbles, A Little Book for Boys Published by Akro Agate, Clarksburg, W. Va. (click to enlarge) The 4 page advertisement insert starts here: A closer up shot of the Cardinal Reds and Cornelians. Impressive detail: (click to enlarge)

A spare block for early to mid 1920's

A block for early 1920's 1922 Ira Freese applied for a patent for a gob feeder. His gob feeder had nothing to do with corkscrews or their eyelashes.

Another Block for 1910's

Original content moved, leaving spare space for now

The white on Rookie's looks like it's intentional to me. Looks like an "ordinary" white based rainbo with a little something extra in the colored bands. (to me)