Steph

Mary, the first thing I would point out is that Flinties aren't clear. The earliest flinties looked practically transparent when you held them to a light, but they were still translucent. Something which may not be known is that not all flinties had the fish eyes. The earliest, most nearly clear flinties did not have eyes. (unless I am mistaken both in what I have read and in the name of one of my early flint-colored akros) As they became less translucent, some got eyes. There are even virtually opaque flinties, but you can see the orange glow through them if they do have the fish eyes. Without the eyes, the most nearly opaque ones may be indistinguishable from other companies' game marbles but the ones which are closest to being clear still stand out. Here are some photos of Flinties and Moonies in original packaging. Box 1: Box 2: Box 3:

And a bump for me. I remember a discussion a while back about whether a super colorful marble Alan i.d.ed as a Meteor should have been a Sunburst instead. What if it shouldn't have been either? If I remember correctly Alan's reason was that the marble couldn't be a Sunburst because it didn't have a tranparent base, but is there evidence for meteors with 5 colors? Was there a time when Master didn't have style names at all for most of its marbles?

Jackson from David Chamberlain's Jackson article at Marble Mental

Champion Burt's "wirepulls": Rick Rines said these are from the 1970's:

Alley

First, a good thread for an introduction into the difference between slags and transparent swirls: Clueless About Slags. See Dani's comparison in post #5. Which companies made them? (most information coming from Amer. Mach.-Made Marbles) Akro at least accidentally or experimentally. Alley Alox Cairo Novelty Champion Christensen Davis Heaton Jabo Jackson Peltier, in a way Playrite Ravenswood Vacor Vitro (Anacortes) And next will be some examples identified by maker. No idea how many examples might eventually be.

What names have Masters been sold under? The brand names and/or style names I've seen so far: Comet Clearie Cloudy Sunburst Meteor Glassies Opal Game Climax Unique Royal Hero Cat's Eye Package labels: Ritzy Master Marble, with no extra style name attached Liberty Shooting Star, as noted below by Al Chinese Checkers, as noted below by Al

yeah, i use babel fish for text. I shoulda said I wish I "knew" German, not just could read it. babel fish didn't make me feel secure enough to actually make contact through email. forget about trying out the phone number. ;-)

Now everyone can have their own personal wvron! (while supplies last lol) Great pics Edna.

Sure wish I could read German to find if/where these can be gotten. (company site)

Someone else's idea actually, but I think it's great.

Don't know how popular clearies were in the 70's but they've been big sellers in times past. Bogard didn't have a lot of luck with toy marble sales in general. Jack Bogard did lots of work making a market for industrial marbles as agitators in aerosol cans. Industrial marbles is what his focus was. He took that with him to Jabo. (He's the Bo in Jabo.)

Thank you all. And thanks for the opportunity, Lou.

Oh yes ... about snotties ... click here lol

Here are the lavender Jabos which Steve Sturtz named "That Girl" in my honor. Here's a cool lavender faced Vitro.

LOL, what a joker ...

Here's yet another pattern. I wasn't planning to add it, but now that thread has been renewed ... This one was from an auction a couple of weeks ago. The Q&A section went on pretty long, with some pretty excited questioning. Folks seemed to believe it was all original. Inside the box were two handwritten inscriptions, one for Christmas 1932 and one for a birthday in 1933. Regifting during the great depression? sweet, anyway.

ya know what, bob? I think that may be the first time I've ever heard anyone discuss the aesthetics of those boxes in relation to what is found inside. It almost sounds blasphemous ... though it is an interesting thought. If you ever find one filled with 3-color flames and it's a little too busy for your tastes, think of me first. alright?

I wondered that myself. I know they came in different color combos than we usually see when the subject arises. But, yeah, I wonder about some of these.

Great info. Thanks!

Thanks guys. Lovely set, Charles. That's three different stained glass designs now. wonder how many more are out there. ...

This cute little number was in a 2006 Morphy auction. Do you think this could have been the original packaging? Some of the patterns on the jobber boxes are sorta blurring for me. Different makers seem to be found in similar boxes. Did different companies make similar boxes? or are they likely all from the same source? popular boxes which different companies bought because they were attractive without worrying about branding issues? Here's another one which isn't all that close I guess, but felt similar in my memory until I looked it up. like I said, they're blurring for me. One good reason to ask a question about it. Would both of these be called "stained glass"?

I'm still not sure why the 1931 date was given. I asked the seller but didn't hear back. Someone else with one of those sets told me theirs didn't have a date on it. so ... don't know ... "pre-war" seems safe though, don't you think?

neat lyric, Joe.

I did a vid-cap?! oh boy! Still no King of the Hill. But four times Jimmy has asked me which season of the cartoon I want him to buy. He's just so hilarious. The Kingdom. Thanks for the reminder. It's now on the must-view list.