Steph

July 3, 2007

Sureshot Glass Marbles, Asstd Sizes.

July 3, 2007

Thanks Old Feller!

July 2, 2007

I was kinda thinking it showed excitement in the market. I would think of that as more good than bad!

After watching the marble market slide ... to see an upturn however long it lasts ... sort of interesting. List your sparklers, Galen!

July 2, 2007

(click pix to enlarge)

If I have anything to say about any carpet bowls beyond what the sellers of the bowls said in their descriptions, most likely it will come from Paul Baumann's, Collecting Antique Marbles: Identification and Price Guide, 4th ed (2004). (the same book the Marquee Marble auction refers to below)

Marquee Marble's auction description:

Complete Set of 12 "Carpet Bowls" -* Here's a fabulous find that is rarely found as a complete set. Twelve "bowls" total with two different designs utilized, all of them are authentic measuring 3-1/4" to 3-3/8" in diameter and having a weight to size ratio of 32 to 33 grams per cubic inch which is well within the specifications of Paul Baumann's formula outlined in his recent book
"Collecting Antique Marbles 4th Edition"
The two patterns used are the "crosslined" seen in the two examples each having colors of black, red, and cocoa brown ,while the other pattern seen in two each of red, black, and brown, is commonly referred to as "crown". All of them have a nice white base with some crazing within the glaze, all have little quirks in their design like thin or thicker lines, crown patterns layed on top of each other, darker or lighter colors on the same bowl, and other nuances that these vintage examples are known for. Basically you'll find them to be in Mint to Mint minus condition with a nice wet sheen, a couple of the crosslined examples have hits from play that would lower their grade to Near Mint and Near Mint plus. We guarantee you'll be pleased with this premium complete set that will be the envy of your collector buddies!
Estimated Value 600-1200 dollars.

(winning bid was $350)

Individually Baumann estimates the value of the crosslined bowls to be $140 each and the crown bowls to be $160 each. He says the crown is the most common sponge-printed style. But among striped pattern bowls, "plaid" would be more common than crosslined.

Bob Block calls the next two "mochaware". The closest I find to these in Baumann is what he terms "agateware". Baumann estimates the value of his examples at around $250 and says:

Bowls made using agateware manufacturing techniques are uncommon but not vanishingly rare.

Auction description:

Mochaware. Very rare mochaware carpet ball. White, black and brown. Extremely hard to find. England, circa 1860-1900. 2-5/8".

(At the time of this writing, the asking price for this bowl is $299.)

And here's a larger yet more delicate example.

Description:

Mochaware. Very rare mochaware carpet ball. White, black and brown. Extremely hard to find. England, circa 1860-1900. 3".

(Asking price: $325)

July 2, 2007

Mostly auction pix. Sources provided where I know them.

Marble King blister pack. Has 1979 style choking hazard sticker.

(click to enlarge)

Six Fancy Jumbo Kitty Cucumber Marbles. Bottle green cat's eyes, cute box, from Hong Kong, bought at the Smithsonian museum shop. Box is copyrighted 1984.

Yes, this is a mainly for newbies thread. Would you like to help them out?

Do you have any marbles that you're reasonably sure came from 1970 or later to share?

July 2, 2007

:blink:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=180132492028

$522!!!!!

July 1, 2007

Bar Codes

The bar code was developed in 1948 and patented in 1952.

The technology was developed further and applied with varying degrees of sucess in industrial applications in the 1960's.

Its first retail use was in 1974. The first item scanned was a pack of Wrigley's gum at a supermarket in Ohio.

By the late 70's, 85% of all retail products had bar codes.

Sources:

A Short History of Bar Code at Bar Code 1

The History of Barcodes, an article by Tony Seideman

July 1, 2007

This is a summary of some things I know, some educated guesses, and a few questions I still have.

=========

Zip Codes in Company Addresses

The 5-digit Zip Code was announced in 1963. So, if someone tries to tell you a marble bag is from the 1950’s but you see a zip code on it, something’s fishy!

The precursor to Zip Codes were the 1- or 2-digit Postal Zones which larger cities were assigned starting in 1943. For example, if you see an address such as Akron 10, Ohio or Chicago 5, ILL., on a header, that's a good sign that the product is vintage!

The 9-digit “Zip + 4” was introduced in 1983. I seldom see the extra digits on any packaging even now, so the lack of the digits doesn't mean anything special. But if you see it, then you know you are looking at newer packaging. An example is Galen's bag here, Anacortes Vitros, ca. 1989-1992.

Age Warnings on Marble Bags

Congress' Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972 created the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which began operating in 1973.

Their first charge included working with manufacturers to establish voluntary safety standards. So that would be about when warning statements such as "For ages 3 and up" statement began to be placed on small toys.

Then, after collecting more data, it appears to have been determined that for some toys the voluntary warnings weren't effective enough. And that's where the 1979 Child Safety Protection Act comes in, replacing the friendly recommendation "For ages 3 and up" with the more forbidding "CHOKING HAZARD, Not for children under 3 years" and the standardized triangular hazard symbol.

One notable example illustrating the change in warnings is the Marble King blister packs with the horseshoe arrangement of marbles. Here are photos of two of those packages from eBay auctions. Both have small, easy on the eye warnings on the left edge of the card saying "For ages 3 and up". So both of these were printed after 1972. But only one was likely sold in the 70's. That's the one on the left.

You can see the little dimestore style price sticker on the one on the left, but more importantly you can still see at the bottom of the card that what you were buying was "40 American Made Glass Marbles".

What are you getting in the package on the right? A Choking Hazard. The harsher 1979 warning sticker has been placed over the American Made statement.

(My thanks to CrazyRandy217 at LOM for getting me on the right track with the age warnings.)

My next questions are:

"For ages 3 and up" is less cautious than what we see on current marble packages, so what other age recommendations have shown up since 1979, and when were they introduced?

And when did bar codes start appearing on packages?

June 30, 2007

check out Stacey Rings water color work. She does some real nice marble pix.

I can hardly wait to see! Does she have a gallery?

June 30, 2007

More non-marble items which could be had from the Gropper Onyx Marble Co.:

Gropper Onyx Marble Co playing cards w/ box . . (that's the description in a Jerry Stichter auction announcement)

June 30, 2007

Publications of the Gropper Onxy Marble Co., New York:

Parlor and Lawn Croquet, ca. 1930. . . (source: Croquet World Online)

Run straight to your library!

June 30, 2007

Advertising:

As usual, this is a work in progress. I still have a few links to add, but there may be many I have overlooked. All corrections and additons are appreciated. And in this case, I enthusiastically encourage you to create more threads for me to add to the list! I would love to see more of those old ads.

Note: LOM in front of a link indicates that the linked page is hosted by LandOfMarbles.com. MM indicates a link at Marble Mental. KC is the Kansas City Marble Collectors Club. Akron is AkronMarbles.com. "See also" will direct you elsewhere on the world wide web.

Wide ranging discussions and examples

Akro Timeline

Ad Heaven

Catalogs, brochures, company mailings, etc.:

Howde They Get This One By Me (Ravenswood Catalog mention)

Ravenswood Catalogs, authentic or Repro?

Mostly Pix - Ravenswood (Pix from one of the auctions in the preceding link.)

Some Onyx Marbles For Sale, "CHEAP!!" (1933 ad)

Green Brick?? (scan from 1920's Montgomery Ward catalog in Post #29)

There was a mention once of discussion of old catalogs seen in a Holland museum.

Akron: What exactly is an Akro Agate Imperial (Source of the photo in the preceding link)

Akro Ades, And Some Misconceptions.... (Akro catalog pages in Post #9.)

More Marble Mail!!! (Akro ad in Post #11, from the same catalog?)

MM: PeeWee Master Made Marbles (Reference to 1932 MM ad shown in American Machine-Made Marbles)

KC: New Marble Catalogs (Vacor, Mega, House of Marbles)

Akron: Image of brochure for "The New Akro Carnelian" (See more on Akronmarbles' Akro Agate Co. page.)

Vienna Vitros !!!

Blackies ad shown in many threads:

Promotional Packaging:

Starkey-Klicker (discussion)

MM: Free Marbles! (A treasure trove of promotional packaging!)

(see also Original Packaging thread ... will probably import some of those links here later)

Printing on marbles:

Printed Marbles (where to get them)

Logo Marbles??? (Sistersville Fest marbles)

Rare!, & unusual (Advertising Sulphide, Samuel Brothers of London)

CATS?, New or old shooters, or Germans? (German Sparkler in Post #19 says Bonux)

MM: Is the Porcelfrit question settled?

Golden Rule marbles:

A classic with several incarnations, sometimes used in advertising, sometimes not.

Dilemma (References broken links; I'll try to smooth that out)

Other cool items:

Sam Dyke Miniature Jugs....

June 29, 2007

My thumbnails aren't working now. I need to change the code.

Sources of pix are included when I know them.

Here is a stupendous Ravenswood thread: Ravenswood Novelty Marbles - A Review Of Varieties

Next, a catalog with Buddy bags, Paul Bunyans, and Assorted Colors. Polyethylene bags. Leader boxes. Also note the Buddy box in the pic, similar but not identical to the assorted colors box in the catalog.

(click to enlarge)

And close-ups of the bag which was sold with them:

(click to enlarge)

(source)

Note: There may be other Ravenswood pix in the links here:

June 29, 2007

I believe there is another poly bag that jabo makes.

There have been a couple of others posted on the board.

A very early bag from Al in Post #40 here, Marbles From Oregon - Cac Flame?, still Vitro Agate, but now a "Division of Jabo".

A later bag from Trevor/Trexohio here, Original Jabo Bag.

I have also presumed this Presidential Marble Collector Set to be "original packaging". Is it?

June 29, 2007

Don't know if this says anything but I thought it might be interesting to look at the Gropper box up against a set of Akros.

. . (original akro photo)

I like how "standard" the contents of the Gropper box appear. If it is backfilled, then at least to my untrained eye it seems that whoever filled it did a good job of making the marbles look as if they belong together.

And I like the how roughly the same proportions of colors were used in both boxes, with the necessary exception of having to reduce one color to accomodate the aquas.

It's a romantic notion, but I want that box to someday be found to be entirely original. If those are Akros in the Gropper box, I want it to be learned someday that for some reason Gropper was also a distributor of Akros. Say, when Akro switched over to corkscrews and patches ... perhaps they still had slags onhand but no interest in distributing them ... so they sold the surplus to Gropper.

Just wishing ...

June 28, 2007

I now realize this will never be "everybody". It's not even all the threads and names on board yet, though. So I'll keep looking!

See also the Glass Addiction forum, http://glasswizzards.yuku.com.

Here is a list at Glass Addiction of contemporary marble makers. Trying to keep it current. Around 400 names at present. Do have a few more names to add already.

How many names would I have had ...

Contemporary Artists:

Wide-ranging displays and discussions:

Contemps

How Interested Are You In Contemporary Marbles?

Furnace Vs. Lamp?

Wheaton (nj) Marble Show, It's not JUST contemporaries!!!

Glass Addiction: What is a Filigrana ? (Nifty discussion of cane styles)

Brian Bowden: Marble & Glass Demos - Brian is a major collector and moderator of Glass Addiction. These is his gallery with photos of glass artists at work.

Glass Addiction: Marbles from 2009

Glass Addiction: Glassmaking communities

Unidentified Contemps:

Watermelon?? (sulphide)

NOWHERE NEAR COMPLETE LIST OF NAMES. Trying to decide whether to delete all the names I don't have links for because it looks sort of cluttered, and the list will never be complete. But having trouble committing to deleting names. :-)

James Alloway:

Michael S. Barton:

I Got Bit Buy The Copperheads Too!, Mikey's Copperheads

Bit By The Copperheads Again!

Mikey Barton's Marbles......., are Da BOMB!! (original pix are gone; Mike shows one in Post #6.)

Artsy Fartsy Bartsy Marbles, new ones

"bocciballs", by Michael Barton

Everybody Needs Some!, Check out my new Mikey Barton's Marbles!

Folded Swirls, trying to learn my new camera

Sunshine And Aventurine, a good combo

Got Mica ?, mmm ... sparkly

Mike Barton's First Tornado With Mica

I Finally Got Some Time

See also: Weber Glass

Steve Willis:

What Kind Of Peltiers Are These? (Cosmic Storm in Post #3)

June 28, 2007

Moss Agates

How many types of Moss Agate have there been? (officially or otherwise)

Kids played with 'em in 1883. Benningtons with shades of brown and green. These have some blue, but they'll do until I find a closer example.

. . (murmelwelt.de)

MFC made them. This statement was on Marblealan's M. F. Christensen page:

.... There was one additional type of slag marble produced by M.F. Christensen. These are oxblood slags (possibly called "moss agates" by the company), which have a very dark transparent green base and an oxblood swirl. These are uncommon.

Here is Bill Tow's moss agate avatar:

And of course there's Akro:

Any others?

Oh yes, there are rocks:

. . (Wikipedia)

Any more?

June 27, 2007

Beyond the essential marble pages Links, many of us have found special favorites. Here are some of mine ... "only" the David Chamberlain articles for now ... I look at those so often I need to have them handy!

Feel free to add yours. One at a time or in groups, organized in themes or random, with comments or without. I'll leave them as you present them (won't try to merge them into my list).

Speaking of offsite treasures though ... have you see the updates at MarbleAlan.com? Looking good!

David Chamberlain's articles at Marble Mental

Champion Agate Company

Cairo Novelty Company, Cairo, WV (1946-1952)

ALLEY AGATE COMPANY

Heaton Agate Company, Cairo, WV

Alox Manufacturing Co., St. Louis, Missouri

Ravenswood Novelty Company, Ravenswood, WV

Jackson Marble Company, East Pennsboro, WV

C.E. Bogard & Sons Cat's Eye Marbles, Cairo, WV

Root Beer Floats, Novas, and Pink Champagnes, Peltier Marble Company

Jabo 2003 Fall Classics

Jabo, Inc., Reno, Ohio, 2005 Marble Production

Jabo 2006 Article by David Chamberlain

Jabo Southwestern Style 2005

Additional articles are added from time to time. And links have been known to change. There's a summary of available articles in the archives at Marble Mental: David Chamberlain articles

June 27, 2007

(click pix to enlarge)

Acme Realers

Maybe you knew this, maybe you didn't ...

Before Acme was comedy

. . (1) (2)

it meant the very best, the highest point, perfection!

. . (ads from 1902 and WWII)

So what do you name an "extra high quality" glass orb with "genuine onyx color with cloud effects in contrasting colors" and a "real" marbled base?

What better than Acme?

(Love that ad! The realer is from PeltierMarbles.com.)

June 26, 2007

No apparent feathering, no readily visible seams...if anything the contents of this box look Akro. In the absence of compelling evidence that Peltier or CA made this type of nondescript slag it seems unlikely these are original but not impossible.
Probably under similar circumstances to this one: http://marbleconnection.com/topic/6162-whatcha-think/

-Brad

The sentiment on that one seemed mixed. (I was rooting for vintage. :-)

This box doesn't have the looks-too-new problem. So it's basically a nice but worn old box from a company with somewhat unclear jobbering practices. With a nice set of basically matching yet nondescript slags in safe slag colors. Nice assortment of colors, beyond the basic MFC palette, but nothing fancy. Definitely no extra CAC colors beyond the Akro palette. (edit: I'm sure my summary shows my bias toward the possibility of authenticity, but is it about right?)

The marbles are between 21/32" and 11/16". Does that mean anything? Like how hard would someone nowadays have to work to backfill it with marbles of consistent size, coloration and swirl? and would it be worth the effort?

June 26, 2007

Reliable sources confirm that there is reason to question whether the contents are Peltier. That leaves me wondering about the significance of "Factory, Ottawa" on the box.

Since the owner says this box doesn't have any extra labelling warning people that those are glass marbles not actually onyx, one might hypthesize that these were packaged prior to 1931. (Gropper lost the lawsuit mentioned here, Misleading Naming Of Marbles, (didn't start with eBay). )

However I also hypothesized a Peltier connection for the contents based on the "Factory, Ottawa" statement, so I am now shy about all of these assumptions.

Where did Gropper's jobber enterprise begin?

June 26, 2007

This 40-count box says

National Onyx Marbles
Manufactured by, M. Gropper & Sons, Inc.

Factory, Ottawa, Ill. U. S. A.

I asked the owner if there was any printing on the box other than on the side of the lid showing. She said there was not. She states their size as .666 to .680 inches.

When I saw "Factory, Ottawa", I assumed they were Peltiers.

Then I noticed the row of white slags.

So, who made these?

June 25, 2007

Here are my Ultra Peewees:

incredible

June 25, 2007

'salright! I'm happy.

(thanks)

June 25, 2007

Most or all from recent eBay auctions

(click to enlarge pix)

Marvellous Value, the "No Better" Box of Marbles:

Brilliant Marbles, Wonderful Value:

More lutz. Older than the box before?

Crocheted bags:

Pink:

Deutsches Roulette. Look at how the marbles' core resembles the flag on the box top. That is not an accident. "Schwarz , Weiss, Rot" means "Black, White, Red".

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Steph

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