Steph

Well, this subject appears to be tougher than I thought. That could explain why references to the reproduction boxes tend to be vague. Here are the original style boxes I've found pix of in auctions. 5 count, 12 and 20. Those match the boxes I saw in Grist's Big Book of Marbles. Grist also showed a more generic gift box type package with comic marbles on one side, a different kind of marble on the other, and a bag in the middle. The most specific info I've found about the reproduction boxes in recent times is in this thread at LOM, Bennett Repro and Box - info? .

Links to sites selling foreign (or otherwise modern) marbles: Here are a couple I go to fairly often. Recommendations welcome. Foreign marbles: emarbles.com: This link goes to their page for Loose Mega Marbles, which has a list of fairly current Mega names with pictures. I think the most recent varieties may not be listed there yet. schusserland.de: This site appears to be under construction, and I am not currently seeing options for buying marbles, but they have a wonderful assortment of pictures, and seem to be in the business of selling. There are some Czech bulletmold style marbles in the picture section. Are they are will they be available for bulk sales? That's one thing I hope to see soon. For purposes of having all the modern sites I find in one easy to reach location, and for promoting American-made marbles! Marble Kings: Marble King: The company site The Marble Man, Collectible Marbles: At the time of this writing, several varieties of Marble Kings, Jabos and Champions.

I'm starting to lose track of the variety of Pelt comics boxes I've seen. There are so many. Original, reproduction, and then I think some other modern ones which aren't modelled after old boxes? It would be neat to hear again the story of the man who made the famous reproduction boxes, and to know how many different styles he made. That was Harold Bennett, right? Plus it would be nice to see more of the other varieties out there. I've got quite a few different pix, but like I said, I'm starting to lose track of them. Wondering if I've nearly reached the end of my quest for "all" of them. Thanks!

Thanks Dani! That would be WONDERFUL! Intriguing seams on that one, Sue. I've never noticed them before in gutta percha pix.

groovy, tks

I'm under the impression that gutta percha marbles used to be called paper mache. Is that all paper mache marbles ever were, gutta percha, or were there other styles with that name?

I bid on them. Didn't win. So I only have pix. Looking at how the camera caught the color of the seller's hand, and the white part of the bag, and the whitest marble showing in the lot, I imagine that the golden shades are fairly close to true. At least what is showing on my monitor.

Oh gee, Mike is posting, and now I'm ashamed. I didn't even think to add the unique marble stand he made to this thread. This one is mine, tho' the photo is his. He made the flower marble and the leaf stand underneath. More views here.

Allyrat, the door and the window are astounding. I also love different ways to display marbles. I was hoping to see more. I didn't say anything at first because I know there are lots of neat displays out there which could be shown ... but none of them are mine! plus I was trying hard to avoid posting the silly thing I'd found the day before you posted. Biting my typing finger. But I can hold out no longer! Check it out. These turtles are being sold at toypost.co.uk specially for holding marbles. *chuckle*

I found these interesting enough to bid upon them. These could qualify as "clambroth" glass iiuc, but not fancy enough to merit any such special name of course. just marbles. or murmeln. p.s., Joe showed a cool almost clearie here ... "clearie" is totally not the right word. But it is very simple. I like it a lot.

Dan: I agree. It IS interesting. what is it? :-) Rick: neat thought! Roger: LOL @ most interesting least interesting. why wouldn't anyone call it a Joseph's coat? Looks like it has tons of color. Is there some other criterion which it might miss out on? JVV: . . Felicia: you got that right!

Ducking back in ... what do you think of their completed listings? iluvpansies247

My subtraction skills aren't what they used to be, but if I'm doing it right, it's 1.4 one-hundredths of an inch out of round. From .696" up to .710" I don't think I would have called that out of round. I'm not sure I could have detected it with my caliper. Well, that tiny technicality is all I have to contribute. I'll duck out now.

Ooooooooh

Cool. I didn't know about the fish hatchery thing. And the currency marbles? I'd like to hear more about those! By the way, thanks a bunch for making me go search for your article. LOL :-) I think I found it ... but you made me dig! Well, it was fun searching. And as it happens, I ended up with more than one fish hatchery reference. and one of those references was very very interesting ... because it had a lot of errors. I'll be asking some questions about that one in another thread!

"Ball bearings for World War II bomber gun turrets. Glass marbles were lighter than steel ones, needed no lubrication and allowed planes to carry heavier bomb loads." (quoted from here)

What would you call the most "interesting" handmade? I leave it to you to define interesting. Or you could substitute any other word, such as "favorite", "valuable", "rare", .... whatever. yeah, yeah, I'm hoping for some eye candy LOL, but also it's fun to hear people talk about handmades. I just learned yesterday how to count panels. Or I think I did. I have a long way to go!

Dave, I'd call yours a snottie too. I think they should qualify as "snotties" if they were from the right era ... maybe sometime preWWII ... and had the right "look" in the eyes of the kids. No? update: yes! At least maybe! Veiny and boogery might be all that was needed. :icon_lmao: The kids even called marbles snotties before Christensen came along. Now I wanna see one of the early snotties! lol

I'm starting a loose conglomeration of references. As of now it's a loose conglomeration. Maybe someday it will take on some order. But I'd hate anyone else who might find the links useful to have to wait until I can figure out what all of their ramifications are. Please feel free to add links or comments. Whenever it strikes your fancy. (It'll probably go over to the study hall but I wanted to check here to see if there's any interest.) Here's one I think I've heard a little about, read a little about at some point in the past, want to read more about. I think it may have pivotal in the history of marble making. (edit: or at least it might have leads to pivotal stuff??) HAZEL-ATLAS GLASS CO. V HARTFORD-EMPIRE CO., 322 U. S. 238 (1944) http://supreme.justia.com/us/322/238/case.html Another great resource is the U.S. Patent Office. For instance today I was over at their site looking at Patent #1,828,216. The Barker gob feeder patent, which I think is the one for Akro's corkscrew machine. Or something like that. (hey, it's mechanical. I always feel shaky about mechanical things.) Actually, this is what got me googling for Hartford-Empire, and so it's the reason I found the court case above. But again, I'm not sure how it's all connected. A couple of screenshots from the 14 page patent: (click to enlarge) If you know a patent number, here's a direct link to a page to enter it to pull up the drawings and such. http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm I don't know if this site has all the patents but it has a lot and I think it may be easier to save the files: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/ Mustn't forget about the Gropper court case Roger found a while ago. Here's that thread: Misleading Naming Of Marbles, (didn't start with eBay)

Here's a plastic bag of Ravenswoods: From FINALLY -- A RAVENSWOOD ARTICLE!!! at MM.

So I think Joe's would be a snottie. Anyone particularly agree or disagree? The primary source of snotties appears to be CAC, but is it the only source? I mean ... kids named it ... they wouldn't worry about who made it. only whether it looked booger-y. . . right? (lol) edit: not that I know who made Joe's, but it does look like it might have been from back in the time when kids might have called their marbles snotties ... yes?

That is GORGEOUS! Sorry I didn't say it earlier. I was mesmerized!

Circa 2000? (click to enlarge) (source unknown)

I still don't know if yours is an official type snottie, Joe, but it's one of the coolest contenders I've ever seen. No, Bo, it's not the fizz that makes it snottie. They wouldn't be cat's eyes. It's a very old term. From the 1920's? Before cat's eyes anyway. Pretty sure the "veined" part of the glossary description refers to swirl ribbons, as opposed to cat's eye vanes. I think of deveining shrimp when I imagine the veined part here. altogether gross anyway you cut it! lol

LOL Thanks Bo!!! :icon_lmao: