Steph

A wooden box of clear (crystal) marbles. If this box is illustrated in any extant materials we are unaware of it. If you have seen it before, it would be great to hear from you. Note the label. I can't quite make out the German spelling for Crystal, but see what is printed below. "With threads" would have meant latticinios. (click pix to enlarge)

Here is another box which says "second" or "seconds" on the end, also thought to be California Agates. Seller said 3/4". These do not appear to be polished. One theory is that they were rejected before the polishing stage. Another theory is that some might have been sold with a matte finish anyway. Some kids preferred that in a shooter, right?

My guess was that those were 7/8 inch cubes. edit: yeah, what you just said.

*blush* @ Edna. No, just fortunate. :-) That would be cool, Sue. Wonder if Frankie Walker ever displayed his collection ...

There seems to be very little known about this company. Anything you know or find out in the future would be welcomed. The first photo below shows the presumed head of the company R. W. Walker. The 2nd shows California Agate boxes. The 3rd shows what are thought to be California Agate seconds. The glossary at americantoymarbles.com says the company was "located in Huntington Park, California (Los Angles area); they ground Mexican alabaster (a stone) into marbles by hand; operated from the mid to late 1920s." However, it does appear from the caption of the news photo that the company operated into the 1930's. Let me transcribe the caption in case anyone finds it difficult to read: (click pix to enlarge)

You're the seasoned collector who didn't vote for the righthand color chip!

Oh yeah! and at 50 cents I could get a set for each of the nieces and nevvies!

I may not get what you mean. Cairo ribbons aren't always on the surface. This one seems to be mostly on the surface though, and the start and finish are what caught my eye from the beginning.

I'll be reorganizing the Akro pix thread in the study hall into more of a chronological order "soon". This one will be going to the top of the thread. Usually I simply add examples to the thread without fanfare. But some are too special to hide away without notice. The earliest known Akro box, plus an early Akro ad. At this point Akro was selling MFC's under their label. . . . (p.s., note the Akron address) (click pix to enlarge - might need to double click for full size)

Bump -- I still would like to get feedback on the Cairo possibilities for the 2nd mib. Or maybe I need to find out who owns that case in AMMM!

p.s. no need to guess anymore. 1938 ad:

He is such an enigma. Seems as if you'd need an eye witness account to know what's true about him and then you still might not be sure. His own company gets weird in their various accounts about him -- as if they don't even know what to say. I'm still having trouble with the part in AMMM where it says "a significant development came in 1963 when Roger Howdyshell [and others] bought Marble King ..." without mentioning that Pink had died in 1962. That wasn't significant .... Eneeeway ... there is still some more old material I've read about and hope to get my hands on sometime. It should be fun. Here are some signs of him getting busy with promotion. If you click on them you'll get larger copies, with the source info. 1938 1939 1940

If they were sold by Marble King, would that be a yes for "packaged by Marble King"? (Alley poly bags looking very much like that are pictured in Marble King ads in the 50's)

The cloud I presume: (articles from Charleston, WV paper)

Did everyone else (except me until today) know that the drawing of the boy as well as the Champion Marbles name came from a Pelt box? Peltier No. 16

Affirmative!

You can practically reach out and touch the marbles.

How sweet is this?! . . Vitro's All Red Line from 1938.

That totally explains it. (very cool pieces)

The big reveal ...

We missed flower arranging ...

I have to say you nailed it Al. I already figured you had but this nails that you nailed it. Ad from Greeley Colorado, 1958:

It is said that the white we see on type 4 Tiger Eyes is veneered onto a white base. Less expensive glass could be used for the base that way and the kids still got a nice white on the surface. Bubba's: Here's an example of the veneering on early Rainbows (Jeff Hale's): I've presumed that the white was also veneered for, say, the blue and white rainbows. The last thing I know about Marble King veneering is that Roger Howdyshell said they stopped doing it in 1965. I was under the impression that none of the following marbles were done by the process known as veneering. There are colored patches but were they "veneered" according to 1950's marbles manufacturers' definition of the term? (click to enlarge)

I have some Alley halves I can add when I get my camera back online. I won't feel bad if someone else posts Alleys first though.

Here are some Pelt halves of Carole's. She showed the other sides over here: Pelt Pieces A sample: And here are 3 bennies and a jasper Galen smashed for the cause. Close-ups here: What Do Bennies Look Like Inside?