Steph

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: Here is Bill Tow's moss agate avatar: And of course there's Akro: Any others? Oh yes, there are rocks: . . (Wikipedia) Any more?

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

(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.)

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?

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?

This 40-count box says 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?

incredible

'salright! I'm happy. (thanks)

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".

From German marble sites A few items from murmelwelt.de. Several more at the site. (click to enlarge) A pair of mesh bags from among the many things to be viewed at maerbelmuehle.de, the website of the Thuringen Marble Museum. Colorful earthenware and wirepulls. I'm curious about the age on the earthenware and the mesh bag.

I may come back and edit this to make it sound more "official"! But I want to say now, if you have any eggheady stuff you'd like to add in here, feel free. Any projects you'd like to tinker on as you feel inspired. Pictures from your marble digs. Example pix in any germane category! Pontil studies. Slag color studies! "Lessons" about your favorite marbles. Unusual marble references you think worthy of note, and worthy of not ending up on the back pages as fast as they would in chat. Your own lists of useful links! (My W.I.P. will thank you, because it is still debating what to include.) Or ... ? I'm sure there won't be a stampede to post! But you're welcome anytime. Steph p.s. If you want to follow-up on any existing topics, it's okay to bump threads in general. Or start a new one, whichever you prefer. But if someone is working on a technical thread and you aren't sure whether it's open for discussion, play it safe. Start your own thread for the follow-up or check with the author to see if it's okay to add to theirs. p.p.s. It's always okay to bump my threads. Good for their circulation. ;-)

It sounds like marbles sellers were fairly careful with their labelling by 1933. In that year you could buy Glass Onyx Marbles, Glass Agates and Imitation Carnelians. And of course Imitation Agates, but Bennies were already being called that in the 1870's. Some Onyx Marbles For Sale, "CHEAP!!"

Akro, MFC and Peltier all called their slags onyx. This is my book report on the subject. I never learned whether CAC called their slags anything other than Toy Marbles as seen in Post #8 here, One Killer Box Of Really Big C.a. Slags:-). MFC had already been out of business 13 years in 1930 but even after Akro stopped making slags it still used the name Onyx for one of its cork lines. Edited: The name "onyx" was so widely known for toy marbles that at least four companies used it over the course of about two decades before the FTC complaint. That seems like a long time to wait before complaining. And it hardly seems likely that after all those years of playing with and breaking glass marbles, the public would think those particular onyxes were rocks. That's really weird, Roger. Still cool to know. But really weird.

From the Gropper Onyx Marble Corp., Ebay Item #120063544502, Gropper Onyx Marble Game NY Litho Rufus Rastus Darktown, listed in the category of Black Americana. The game, the rules, the box, the marbles currently with the box: From the auction description:

Top Assortment, High Grade, from the Gropper Onyx Marble Co., ca. 1933. They are fun to play with. Wind it up and let it rip. So easy a child can do it. :-)

Do you know how the case turned out?

That is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool!

From Akronmarbles.com's Glossary of Marble Terminology: Which company would have made these? Opal Agates: .

wondrous

Thanks! Cool info. Thanks! I don't know who had that nice box. I tried to retrace my steps to see where I might have found the photo but no luck.

Mostly auction pix. Sources given when known. Click pix to enlarge Big Shot Agate Marbles box: Bull's Eye Marbles bag, from a Poplarhead auction, in which Don identified the marbles as Alleys: From Don's auction listing: Bull's Eye Marbles box, containing 7/16" to 1/2" marbles: Mesh bags. Bull's Eye and Big Shot from Marblealan auctions: Note: There are other pix in the links here, Compilation: Original Packaging. And another bull's eye bag here. Bullseye Mesh Bag W/ Coral Marbles & Mk Mesh Bags

Two threads from 2020: Named Heaton types Dug Heaton mib pics Big Shot mesh bags. The first is from a Marblealan auction. http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/th_001a.jpghttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/th_001b.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/th_001c.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/th_001d.jpg Two more: http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/th_002a.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/th_003.jpg Plastic Big Shot bags: http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/th_IMG_0009.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/th_IMG_0008.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/th_BigShot010a.jpg Dug marbles, from Rinesmarbles auctions: http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/Rines001a.jpghttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/Rines001b.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/Rines002a.jpghttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/Rines002b.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/Rines03a.jpghttp://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Heaton/Rines03b.jpg

From the auction description: .

Cardinal Red corkscrews, shown in a thread at LOM. Thread is no longer available. (click to enlarge) Post #11 here shows an ad for a box like that, plus a Fire Opal box and 4 Display Cartons (No. 32, No. 64, No. A-16, and No. A-112). Underneath the illustrations of the display cartons is the recipe used for filling them! For example, the No. 64 contains

(click links below thumbnails to enlarge) Akro Moonies: (I think from a Rabbit Auction) http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/post-279-1187051523.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/post-279-1187051532.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/post-279-1187051538.jpg Akro Flinties: (I think a Morphy Auction) http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/modularforms/Akro/post-279-1204325489.jpg