Steph

Utterly fascinating look inside a polished onionskin. Wow times 50.  (From an ebay auction.)

Here are eBay pix of Bicentennial Special Packs from a couple of different listings. I didn't get the seller names on either of these. (sorry) Both of these have lots of the white swirls. I'm pretty sure I've had some Bicentennial bags with almost none of them. If I remember correctly there could be wide variation between the contents. I can't recall exactly because I got my bags a long time ago and couldn't resist the temptation to open them. I'll try to keep my next bag sealed. :-)

Actually I got my first bag in 1976 when I was 12. The teeny tiny ones were fun.

If you look closely you can see some Vitros which look like all reds but without red. I mention this because it has been a bit of a puzzle to figure out where those came from if not from all-red bags.

Looks like some Heaton black cat's eyes too.

Here are some from Rinesmarbles auctions.

Here's some from another eBay seller. Didn't get the name. Are these the ones called "brains"?

Thanks for the numbers, Mike. That's a great story.

How many were made? How many were released to the public? How many were given to kids or other unsophisticated collectors who might have allowed them to escape into the wild?

No. 1 Shooters

(from eBay auction)

This box sleeved box of No. 1 Shooters doesn't say Vitro on it anywhere, according to the seller.

"Everyone" knows what the contents look like! (LOL) but these are some nice pix newbies might appreciate:

(click to enlarge)

3/4plus

Just checking: is the plus needed? would 3/4" be okay?

update:

Ron wrote this at LOM:

Parrots-again,what Blaine Lemon told me. He was Vitro plant manager and parrots were his favorite marble. He always had them in his bib overall pockets. Blaine said his goal was a 1 inch four color marble not including white,but 100% coverage did not always happen. Some would have the white base showing.

Some parrots are patch pattern and some in the bigger sizes are swirl pattern. Some will have white and some will not. Many people include white as one of the colors (thats fine with me). For me a good parrot will show no white and have 4 colors. Sizes range from 3/4 to 1 inch. If the green has aventurine that is another plus. The parakeets are the same type marble,same colors,most all patch type,same looks,just smaller size 5/8-9/16-11/16. The is not much mistake about id of a good parrot or parakeet.

(source)

While I'm updating, here in Post #4 is another nice quote from Ron which talks about the numbers of colors on parrots. Also talks about good stuff like aventurine. Vitro multi color marbles - Are these Parrots?

p.s. regarding the name game ...

Yep, I'm a player.

But I'm trying to keep it true.

As close to historically accurate as possible.

Part of my present quest is to get an idea of the pelt timeline in a world without absolutes. from a time when there were a whole lot more important things going on than marbles. the depression. the war.

If tweeners are at home in national boxes ... seems like a good clue in a fun but not all-important game.

You've surprised me Galen. The specials box looks like it includes sunsets and others which if I posted them separately for ID would be labelled as Rainbos.

I would have guessed you'd have seen the box as good examples of tweeners.

Various examples and discussions:

I See These And Am Always Stumped, CAC....Alley....Or Jabo ???? (original pix are gone, but interesting discussion, and a similar marble in Post #9)

9's

Ca-9

I Need Some Id Help With This One

Mushroom patches:

Mushroom Patch (and Red Helmet)

Tri-color Mushrooms

Any Ideas What This Is?

Figure eights:

Anyone Looking For Figure-8's?

CAC vs. Alley

One Of These Is Different., Five are from the same company

A Little Help Please?

CAC vs. Marble King

Id Help Please

Ravenswood vs. Alley

Marble Id Help, White base w/blue swirl

Transitionals?

Handmades Vs Machine Mades, who o why do most of you like machine mades so much??? (Post #8 mentions "Leightons" found in German archaelogical digs)

Color-base Variation (often found in Canada)

Akro vs. Vitro

Can You Tell Which One Is The Vitro Imposter?

Peltier vs. Vitro

Newbie Need Peltier Id Help

Marble King vs. Vitro

Bag O' Commons

Jabo vs. Vitro

All Jabos?, I should start selling

Multiple Companies vs. Vitro

Non Vitro " All Reds "

Sparkler types: Akro, Master or Foreign? ... or Alox?

My Finds From Yesterday

New Ones

Mysterious multicolor patches

Who Gets The Credit/blame For These?, Sort of a Rainbow version of a Victory

Red, Blue & Yellow (Superman, etc.)

Just A Show Take A Peek, " da ole cigar box strikes again "

Need Id Help Asap.......

Marble Mail (Vacor serpent and superman/superboy type in the same photo)

Vacor vs. Vintage

Peltier ???????????????????????? (Swirl with deceptive seams)

Id Help On These Shooter Patches Please (Vacor Sunsets)

Citrus Sunbursts (Vacor Sunsets)

Marble Id, Master marble comets? (Vacor types discussed: Cobra, Clownfish)

Funky Vitro? (Vacor Agate and Candy, formerly known as Comet)

Id Help (I would guess that Semdot was correct.)

Imperial

Little Pretty, ? (Imperial or Vacor is my guess here)

Any more info available?

What Is This? Looks Hand Made, never seen one like this

Does Any One Have One Like This . Peltier (did Ness' marble have a name?)

Id Help Please, (oxblood swirl on brown)

What Is This One, It Is Really Cool.

Only One Of These I've Seen - Thoughts?

Not A Rootbeer Float, what would you call it (is that a Master?)

Let me know when you come to your senses and are ready to dump these useless non pelts.

甘い!

ありがとうスー!

...not sure how many still have marbles in them that they are selling but I did see a few.

I noticed some marble-less bottles listed as Codd bottles on the UK ebay. I was a little curious about them -- not sure why they were called Codd bottles. Guess it might be a generic term for bottles from the 1800's?

If any of the bottles don't now have a marble in them, I think odds are they never did. Pretty sure the only way to get the marble out would be to break it into pieces first, and if you broke the marble into pieces, chances are good you'd hurt the bottle too. (I'd think.)

For a long time I couldn't find any pix of Codd bottles. I recently found one, showed it to Felicia, and she showed me about a billion more. (Well, okay a few dozen.) At the UK version of eBay. Thanks Felicia! You opened the floodgates! LOL! Now they're cropping up all over the place.

Well eneeway, for fun and for the record and for bottle noobs like me who might come after, here are a couple of pix for reference from eBay. Same bottle. One pic from the front, one from the side. I think the side shot is cool.

And here's a Codd bottle opener, in case you don't want to pop the marble down with your thumb. (That might get you spritzed.)

Czech corks. These are from Norm Brown's collection. (were sold on eBay shortly after their purchase at the Bonham's auction)

And here's one made with guinea-like flecks, sold by Bob Block. Mr. Block estimated its date of manufacture as 1920-1930.

Quick note, found a litte more info:

Chris said here, Iding Acme Realers From Pictures, that Gino Biffany "originally - and mistakenly - believed that Acme Realers were opalescent baseballs. he later found out that they are actually opalescent peerless patches."

Does that explain why so many people, including Block and Marble Alan, thought realers were rainbos? And what about that partial box of rainbos? I think it would be interesting to know why Biffany first believed they were rainbos. Is there any chance it is because rainbos were also sold under the realer name?

Well, I don't expect an answer about the possible cross-over nature of the realers, not right away. I'm ready to put it on the back burner.

About any other rainbo types ... Dave, did you happen to find anything out about any other rainbo marketing names? (I know you're busy. No rush. Just asking while I'm thinking about it. :-)

Some text explaining it

More marble machines, with more videos

A toy called Cury, "Die kugel im Ring". It's "das neue Gefchicklichkeitsfpiel!"

(click to enlarge)

From an eBay auction awhile back. I didn't get the name of the seller.

Jaspers (aka Lined Crockery):

(click to enlarge)

From eBay auction.

A master stock box with 4 dozen small boxes in it. 30 peewee clay marbles per box.

(click to enlarge)

From the auction description:

This item up for auction is a LargeVintage Made In Germany Brilliant Clay Marbles Box measuring about 9-1/2" x about 8-1/4" (the lid size) x about 1-1/4" high with the original 48 small inner Boxes measuring about 2-5/8" x about 1-1/8" x about 9/16", each containing 30 Peewee-Sized colored Clay Type Marbles measuring from a little under 5/16"to a little under 11/32" in size, just what you will see in my pictures! This box was made around 1940, give or take a couple years either way, most likely prior to 1940 as I doubt if there was a real push on Marble manufacturing in Germany during the War (WW-2), the box and the marbles inside are guaranteed vintage and NOT a newer reproduction Set and if you would buy them and aren't pleased with your purchase, I'll gladly refund your money! The box is in nice original "Old Store Stock" condition, has some waviness and light bowing in and out, mainly on the sides of the lid and bottom half, some bubbling on the colorful paper label and the corner tape and has some age spotting, light water marks, discoloration, etc.., with minimal rub or wear, if much of any, and the marbles are in unplayed with like new condition with any damage being from rubbing one another if they even have any at all, in fact I only opened one of the small boxes for my pictures and as far as I know, the rest were never opened since the day they were made, an overall very nice Item that would make a real neat addition to your Vintage Marble Collection especially if you don't have one of these yet!

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww :-)

Thanks Kevin for the Glass Kitchen lead. But ... at the risk of hijacking my own thread ... LOL @ the Gen. Westmoreland marble! Why Gen. Westmoreland?!!!!

No, that's a rhetorical question. But ... why?! ROFL!

Interesting Bo. Thank you.