Steph

No. 5: Another No. 5, pix a little dark, but shows another view: With Patches, some of which might also be called Cat's Eyes: No. 6, Buster Brown promo: No. 10: No. 13, a different color of box than the No. 13 in Post #2: Another No. 13. I think this one was described as a "white" box. One more. An end shot. Still a little different from preceding colors.

Here are the captions for the illustrations. Might as well transcribe those into searchable text while I'm at it. There are 8 drawings on the scan. Here are their labels. (The parenthetical notes are mine.) burnt agate (bennington) snow-flake (mica) fancy glass agate (latticinio) croton, or jasper bull's-eye glass figure agate (sulphide, of course) carnelian agate bird's egg (multi-colored clay)

I'm remembering why the pix are not labelled as to source on my hard drive. Most probably _are_ from eBay auctions from the past couple of months, because when I switched over to my smart new windows computer I found the smart new browser would not let me download entire eBay auction pages like my stupid old browser on my stupid old macintosh. I guess my stupid old browser was too stupid to read the rules and know it wasn't allowed to download documentation together with pix. So, for the last month or so I've been copying pix one by one and only going to the trouble of making a new word file for the text if I wanted to remember size descriptions for individual marbles or final auction prices or something like that. However, some of the unlabelled pix may still be downloaded from attachments here, and may not have made it to the correctly labelled folder (the one with the matching thumbnail and accompanying text). Or I might have gotten careless in some other way on some other day. So if I have your pix and you want credit ... or you want them gone ... let me know. Alright, I'll be back with more images soon. Gonna at least try to put the boxes in some kind of order.

From ebay auctions. Cat's eyes, 2 different bags, one showing the seam on the back: No. 13 box: Master Marble Game Set, 60 Game Marbles, Size 0:

Transcribed text: Marbles and Where They Come From Is there a wide-awake boy, a boy who goes to school, and knows how to enjoy himself during play-time as well as how to study hard during study hours, that does not know all about "fen dubs," "fen h'isting," "fen bunching"? If there is such a boy, he has missed a great deal of fun in never having learned and used these mystical sayings; and when perhaps he becomes a father or a grandfather he will lose much pleasure in not being able to take a hand in with the youngsters, and tell how he played marbles when he was a boy. Although it is many and many years since I wore the skin off my knuckles and my trousers out at the knees, and flattered myself that I knew all about marbles, it was not until recently, when talking with the wholesale dealer in marbles, that I had to acknowledge that there was still very much to be learned on the subject that is interesting and new. I was told that in ancient times, away back before the Christian era, games were played with marbles, not the beautiful round, smooth, and polished ones of the present day, but with round sea-worn stones and pebbles; also that marbles are frequently met with in the ruins of old cities, and among the other wonderful relics found in the buried city of Pompeii. As to which particular nation or people first manufactured stone and glass marbles nothing is known. About the first mention we have of them is that they were introduced into England from Holland as early as 1620. This being the case, the boys have our early Dutch settlers to thank for the first introduction of marbles to this country, as it is not at all probably that the stern Pilgrims would encourage the playing of games with round stones. All the dealers in marbles--and I have talked with very many of them--tell me that the entire stock of marbles for the American market comes from Germany, and that the prices paid for manufacturing them are so low that no American laborer would or could live on such wages. A great deal of the work, such as moulding and painting, is performed by poor little children. I shall never again watch a lot of happy, intelligent, bright, well-fed, and well-clothed American boys playing at marbles but I shall think of the poorly clad German children munching away on a piece of black bread (for that is all they get to eat) as they work on their weary tasks for a few cents a week. Poor little things! it is no wonder they love America, and wish they were human marbles and could roll over here. The common gray marble is made of hard stone found near Coburg, in Saxony. This stone is first broken with a hammer into small square fragments. From 100 to 200 of these are ground at one time in a mill which resembles a flour mill. The lower stone remains at rest, and is provided with several concentric circular grooves or furrows. The upper stone is of the same size as the lower, but revolves by means of water-power. The pressure of the "runner" (the upper stone) on the pieces rolls them over in all directions, until in about a quarter of an hour they are reduced to nearly perfect spheres. An establishment of three such mills can turn out over sixty thousand marbles a week. This operation is for the coarser kinds of stone marbles. In making the finer grades they are afterward place in revolving wooden casks in which are cylinders of hard stone, and the marbles, by constantly rubbing against one another and against the stone cylinders, become very smooth. To give them a high polish the dust formed in the last operation is taken out of the cask, which is then charged with fine emery powder. The very highest and last grade of polish is effected with "putty powder." Marbles thus produced are known to the trade as "polished gray marbles." They also are stained different colors, and are then known as "colored marbles," and are sold by the New York wholesale dealers at from seventy to eighty cents per thousand. What the maker receives for them I leave you to imagine, for the German wholesale dealer must obtain his profit, then comes the cost of sending them to this country, and the Custom-house duty, and a profit for the American dealer who disposes of them at eighty cents per thousand. As there are twenty to twenty-five lines or varieties of German marbles, it is not to be wondered at that they hold their own against even the labor and time saving machinery of America. After the small gray marbles come the largest-sized marbles, or bowlers, now known as "bosses" by the New York boys. These are one and a quarter inches in diameter, and cost from $6 to $7 per thousand. The next grade of marbles includes the "china alleys," "burnt agates," "glass agates," and "jaspers," though with the trade these are all called marbles. China alleys are painted in fine circles of various colors, or in small broad rings, in which case they are known as "bull's-eyes." Some of these are pressed in wooden moulds, after which they are painted and baked. These cost from 50 cents to $7.50 per thousand, according to the size. The better and more highly finished alleys are made of china, carefully moulded, painted, and fire-glazed. These cost from $2.75 to $15 per thousand, the largest being an inch and a half in diameter. Our illustrations in every case show the marbles full size. Next come the jaspers, or, as the boys call them, "Croton alleys," consisting of glazed and unglazed white china handsomely marbled with blue. The "burnt agates" are also china and highly glazed; in color they are a mixture of dark and light brown with splashes of white; when green is introduced with the above colors they are known as "moss agates"; by the dealers they are known as "imitation agates." The prices of these range from $2 75 to $7 50 per thousand. Then comes a very large and beautiful class of alleys known as "glass marbles." These range in size from two inches in diameter down to the small "peawees," and are of every conceivable combination of colored glass. Some contain figures of animals and birds, and are known as "glass figure marbles." These are pressed in polished metal moulds the parts of which fit so closely together that not the slightest trace of them is to be seen on the alleys, which is not the case with most of the pressed china alleys, for if one looks over a number of them sharply he will detect a small ridge encircling some of them. The "opals," "glimmers," "blood," "ruby," "spangled," "figured," and imitation carnelian all come in this class, and are all very beautiful. Now come the most beautiful and expensive of all marbles -- the true agates and true carnelians. These are gems, and are quoted as high as $45 per gross wholesale for the largest sizes. They are of the most exquisite combinations of colors in grays and reds, and are all highly polished by hand on lapidaries' wheels. Last and least in size are the "peawees" or "pony" alleys and marbles. They are comical little chaps no larger than a good-sized marrowfat pea. Of late years gilded and silvered marbles have been introduced, also a style speckled with various colored paints, which are called "birds' eggs." When playing marbles it is well to provide one's self with a pad on which to kneel, thereby avoiding all soiling and wearing out of the knees of one's pants. A rest for the hand when "knuckling down," consisting of a piece of the fur of any animal, will be found very convenient when playing on coarse sandy soils.

Just pix, 'coz I have a bunch of 'em on my harddrive but as of this moment only one link in the Master section here. One problem is that I don't know where all of them came from. I'll start with the ones I do know. Dave's Shooting Star bag, along with some Tiger Eyes. (Dave, I went ahead and reposted this instead of linking to it since it sounds like you're not all that happy with how ImageShack is handling visitors.) And here's the Sunburst box from eBay I think you were hoping someone had saved pix of. Size 2. (It was too hard to decide what to leave out, so that's everything but the pix of the top and bottom. I've got those too if you want 'em later. ) Now here are some Meteors. I don't know whose. More to come, but I'd better stop and see if I can upload this much at once. 10/20/2021: Master sample box, with correct contents, from Joanne Singleton.

"Marbles and Where They Come From," by A.W. Roberts, published April 17, 1883 in Harper's Young People Harper's Young People, Vol. 4, 1882 - Google Books, pp. 379-381

Nifty Items Which May Not Roll Far: If you would like to add anything to this thread, feel free. If you know of a link I should have in this list, also please feel free to let me know about it, whether here or by PM. I am not quite done reading all the threads so I might not have seen it yet, but I might have overlooked it or somehow lost the link. Thank you. Note: LOM in front of a link indicates that the linked page is hosted by LandOfMarbles.com. MM indicates a link at Marble Mental. WWW will direct you elsewhere on the world wide web. Paperweights: Knobs: 'shifty' MM: Neat recent find...slim pickins' down this way! WWW: Gear Shift Knobs (still being made) Auto ashtrays: Akro Or Houze Glass, very strange never saw ths Household furnishings, inc. dishes: Old English Doorstop Something Different Claw And Ball, I finally got one Fisher Vitro Lamp, Who was it that posted these pics?? Fisher Jewel Tray (also Sue's lamp) Slag Glass Candlestick And Victorian Children Playing Marbles Akro ? Houze ? Or Who Made It? (an electric fan) See also: HouzeX Glass Products Not Marbles But What Company Made These (Heisey) Curtain holdbacks? Jewelry & adornment: Burn Pontil? (see Post #12) Kewl Ring Bad Auction Picture - Good Results (ring with interchangeable "jewels") Czech glass beads Marble-type earrings, made in Japan For The Fun Of It LOM: Marble necklace bakelite (Peerless Patches) Cute Little Marble Bonnets! (if I recall correctly, there were little marble pouches where some scarves might have had pompoms) Careful, Could Be Hard On The Eyes Plug! (Peltier necklace) Do You Know Who Made This? Marble Jewelry!!, 'Sorry this took so long, Joe!! More Marble Jewelry Clocks: Toys: Pelt Baby Rattle (See photo in Post #4.) WWW: Fabulous kaleidoscope gifts priced under $100.00 (Some of the kaleidoscopes use marbles to provide the color.) Stoppers and applicators: For The Fun Of It Thought This Was Interesting Codd Bottles ... Again :-) I Guess It's What You Don't Say That Matters...., Anybody watching this item?? (info about stoppers, and other "unusual" collectibles) Other ways marbles have been used: Railroad Marbles Dilemma (Kenberry Blade Sharpener box showing instructions) Cool Charity Planter! Early Railroad, Auto, Truck Marble Reflectors Canicas? (marbles in a tequila bottle?) Another Weird Bennington (cane tops) Wooden Canes With Marbles Other glass items: Glass float, for a fishing net? Darning Ball and Egg, Leighton? Off Topic, Glass slipper full of lutz and millefiori Large Marbles Hehehe, top this !!! (These would roll, but I can't think of a better place to list them yet!) Interesting Glass Beads Glass menagerie? Finally !!! The Way Guineas Are Made A Whale Of A Marble, the end of a german cane ya gotta look !!!!!!

Can people change their own title? Like how marbleus1 is a "Simple Man" instead of an "Advanced Member"?

Thank you. Very nice. In your first picture it looks like it might have a small circular ribbon at the seam. That made me curious. I'm still curious LOL but now it looks like a corkscrew.

Alan, what kind of mib is that yellow and black one at the top of your photo?

Coolness! Thanks! To everyone!

It makes sense that the lightning strikes might have been made at a different time from the other ground pontil marbles because they seem so different in design from the regular geometric structures of the others. (the others I've seen) The very idea of the flaming penetrating zig zags seems like a revolution in style. And whatever techniques I imagine might have been used to create them also seem revolutionary, experimental and possibly partly mechanical, i.e., even possibly "transitional". Just thinkin ... steph

Original Packaging: Note: LOM in front of a link indicates that the linked page is hosted by LandOfMarbles.com. [edit, 5/18/2010: the LOM links may not work any longer. A board upgrade may have affected links.] MM indicates a link at Marble Mental. KC is the Kansas City Marble Collectors Club. Akron is AkronMarbles.com. GA is Glass Addiction. WWW will direct you elsewhere on the world wide web. Illustrations in old advertisements: Some Onyx Marbles For Sale, "CHEAP!!" (See what you could buy in 1933.) Ad Heaven (Feb 2009 note: the preceding is one of many recent posts with ads and original packaging which I seriously need to get linked up -- some very cool examples.) Various examples and discussions: Original Names Of Marbles, LETS MAKE A LIST OF "FACTORY" NAMED Misleading Naming Of Marbles, (didn't start with eBay) Jobber boxes: Colorful Jobber Boxes MM: Jobber Boxes Old??new??maybe?? Games: Mosaic Marbles, Pressman (Alley Agate marbles) Marble Bag... Brown Manufacturing Co. (Chinker-Chek, 1937) LOM: Box of 40 chinese checkers marbles (several boxes with only 40) An Akro Question (Akro brand Chinko-Checko-Marblo box sighting) Akro Agate Chinese Checkers Box, Made by Master Glass? Yard Sale Find (Pressman Hop-Ching) Steelies: Handmade Or Machine-made? Hand "gathered"? (Solitaire set with steelies) Solitaire set with transitionals Solitaire set with handmades General Grant Gameboard Handmade: Trip to Lauscha (See the "coffin box" in Post #7.) German Marbles, Original Packaging (growing assortment) LOM: How about this for original packaging? (Clearies and ceramics in crocheted bags) Some of the photos in the preceding two links came from: www.murmelwelt.de and www.maerbelmuehle.de; there are many more examples of original packaging at those sites. Albright: Mostly Pix: Albright M. F. Christensen & Son: Mostly Pix - M. F. Christensen & Son (American Cornelian box) Christensen Agate: CAC, "Worlds Best Bloodies"?, Need others input (Red Jennies, in Bloodies box, in Post #23) Bloodie, Red Jenny Or Slag? LOM: Christensen Agate Co. Pastels (This is an article archived at LandOfMarbles.Com.) Cac Pastels (It turns out that the marbles are not officially called Pastels. That was a collector's description which caught on quickly as a name.) Alley: Mosaic Marbles, Pressman Bullseye Mesh Bag W/ Coral Marbles & Mk Mesh Bags (the bull's eye bags? ... not all corals are Champion and Ron said Pressman used Alleys) Mostly Pix - Alley (marbles dug at the Pennsboro site, marbles from the St. Mary's site, including a Marble King bag) Mostly Pix - Pressman MM: ALLEY AGATE COMPANY - 3rd Article in the Series! (Allies box, made to hold just three marbles) Copies of this salesman's sample case show up in many different posts: (click link below thumbnail to enlarge) http://i119.photobuc...eCase_142kb.jpg Akro: Akro Timeline Earliest Known Akro Box All About Marbles, A Little Book for Boys (Akro publication, with beautiful pix of 1920's marbles) Akro Heaven, Another must see! (Salesman Sample Case) If You Can Handle A Little More Akro (Sample case with later era marbles) Ever Seen One Of These? (slags, sample set) Akro Ades, And Some Misconceptions.... (see Ringer box in post #9) akro 00 box! (oxblood patches!) Oxbloods And Ades In Yellow Popeye Boxes, Coincidence? Coming Soon To A Theater Near You (No. 3 Cardinal Reds) More Marble Mail!!! (Akro ad in Post #11, with illustrations of Cardinal Red Agates in the corkscrew style, "Fire Opal" Agates, and four Display Cartons: No. A-16, No. A-112, No. 64, No. 32.) "slag" Vs. "onyx" (Striped Onyx box in Post #3) Akro Sparkler - Sizzling Prices! ("Spiral Agates" box full of sparklers) Akro Box, any repro's of this box? (Vintage Specials box, with a mixture of marbles) Akro Salesman's Sample Box, any ideal of value Akro #150 Box Ebay Plug - Some Nice Ones This Week! (#150 box) Akro #200 Box, won tonight!! Help With Cornelians (Cardinal Red boxes in Post #2) Ok Heres 2 For The Road !!, the road i cant find these on (Royals and Heroes in Post #8) I Might As Well Show Off Over Here Too! (Choice of Champions box) Akro Special Champions Box (Another link which will soon be defunct and the pix are already gone, but the discussion is interesting) Have You Seen This Auction?, akro? not? (Stained glass gift boxes, and a question about whether a box not marked "Akro" would have been an Akro product.) Akro Box ... "unmarked" (another stained glass box of Akros, a follow-up to the preceding link) Are These Akro? (Tri-Color Agates, auction photos in Post #8) Are All Arko Patches Opaque? (Tri-Color Agates) No. 2 Akro Tri-colors Box Auction, Are all the marbles Akro? Amana (Royals and corkscrews, plus some solids. Is this one of the recently debated boxes of game marbles?) LOM: Those crazy Akros (Tri-Color Agates, many with Jabo-esque "buttcracks") LOM: Akro Specials Box Akron: What exactly is an Akro Agate Imperial (Imperial box filled with oxbloods, plus promotional letter for the original swirl-style Imperials) LOM: How rare and valuable is this set? (These might be marbles Akro would have called Imperials, but apparently they're not what we call Imperials these days. Not Carnelian enough for us?) Some Recent Stuff, Akro Imperial Box, Red Angels & more (Another box of corkscrews.) Mostly Pix: Akro (a bunch of boxes and bags) Mostly Pix - Ravenswood (see Paul Bunyan bag in post #3) Akron: Small Akro Agate boxes? (boxes for single marbles) Master: Master Marble Bag, Is this a rare bag ? (1933 Chicago World's Fair bag) Akro Agate Chinese Checkers Box, Made by Master Glass? The Master Marble/glass Show And Info Thread (Shooting Star bag in Post #7) Master Glass Vs. Master Marble (Many different bags, and one sweet box of cat's eyes) More About Master Packaging (Many different boxes) Mostly Pix: Master-made (a lot of different boxes and bags) Is This The Real Deal? (Master Marble No. 5 boxes, some may be fake, some real but filled with non-Masters) LOM: Who Made this Marble? (In Post #4 there is a cat's eyes bag with sunburst-like shooters in it. Usually it seems that there are clearies in the cat's eye bags, as noted in the following thread at Marble Mental.) MM: Error Bags Peltier: Backfilling A Box (Boxes which say Marble King or Champion and likely / often contained Pelts. Including a Peltier No. 16 box.) Peltier Jobber Box (looks Like One!) (appears to be a legitimate Picture Marbles box. It might not have been backfilled at the beginning. However, it was partially backfilled when it was listed for third time.) Whatcha Think? (Honey Onyx box in Post #8, the pix from the auction in question in Post #11.) Note: there is a slightly higher resolution version of Charles' honey onyx box at Peltiermarbles.com. Bullseye Mesh Bag W/ Coral Marbles & Mk Mesh Bags (Peltier marbles in Big Boy and Marble King bags.) Ebay Plug - Lot's Of Awesome Bags & Vitro Box, Rare stuff this week (another look at some of the bags from the preceding link) My New Marble Box (Stained glass box, backfilled with rainbos. Is the marble bag original?) We Are The Champions? (Champion Jr. bag filled with banana cat's eyes in Post #10) Some More Rainbos, No. 6 Pelt NLR Stock Box (The box says "Rainbo"!) Pelt Pieces (National Rainbo Line box, and #106 Rainbo carton) Grandparent's Collection, Need Help With Id & Values! (Peerless box) Later Peerless Patches (Morton's Salt promo bag with rainbos and patches) Peltier Juicy Fruit Mostly Pix: Peltier (Comics, Bloodies, Lucky Boy Champion Marble Set, Big Value boxes, Honey Onyx box, ...) Moss Agate Or Cloudy Type Marbles, Akro, Master, Peltier, Alley, who else? (Acme Realer box in post #3) Mostly Pix - Gropper (Cerise Agates box in Post #12) Pelt Rainbo Names (Specials box. Plus Acme Realers box with rainbos in it. Is that likely backfilled, or did Peltier consider those realers also?) Berry Pink Double Compartment Mesh Bag, Amazing contents too. Berry Pink Marbles Help Needed (Champion Marbles Boxes) Vitro: Vienna Vitros !!! (an ad with lifelike pix of boxes and mesh bags) Cool Vitro Bag, Anyone seen this before? (Conquerors bag in Post #1 and Victory Agates bag in Post #4) Vitro Bag? (Worcester Salt mesh bag with tri-lites) Vitro Blackie Re-pops??, are they out there? (See Post #3) Anacortes Horseshoe Cat's Eye (a bag in Post #6 and an entirely different sort of original packaging in Post #11) Ebay Plug - Lot's Of Awesome Bags & Vitro Box, Rare stuff this week (a rare #15 box, originally found empty; see Post #4 for more discussion about what may originally have been found in the box) Need Clarification On A Couple Of Vitros (Yellow Jackets in Post #9 and Post #14) Original Names Of Marbles, LETS MAKE A LIST OF "FACTORY" NAMED (In addition to information about company names, see Spinners bags in Post #8 and Red Horse bag in Post #9) Bright Vitro Shooters...what's Their Age?, Calling Al Oregon or Wvron !!! (Similar to "fancy" all-reds in Post #5; Paris-branded bag in Post #6) Thoughts On These Vitro (2 bags, including a long 100 count bag) Bag of Vitro "lilacs" Japanese Cat's Eye?, USA cat's eye? (Blackbeard's Treasure Chest in Post #18, extremely rare) Starkey-Klicker (Vitro reference, no pictures) Marbles From Oregon - Cac Flame?, Interested in your opinions about marble & seller (See two bags in Post #40. Both are from the approximate time of Jabo's acquisition of Vitro. One is an Anacortes bag from before the change and one says "Vitro Agate (A Division of Jabo, Inc.)".) LOM: Vitro names (original company names pointed out, and in Post #3 a Vit-Rok deco-mates bag) Vitro Tri-lites (names of headers you might see on a Vitro bag, and in Post #5 a box of Tri-Lites) Mostly Pix: Vitro (mesh bags, including Victory Agates and Conquerors) Akro? (Tiger Eyes and Shooters) Ravenswood: Mostly Pix - Ravenswood (the catalog, a mesh Buddy bag, a Paul Bunyan bag, chinese checkers box, and more) What Can You All Tell Me About This? (Genuine Old Fashion Marbles) MM: FINALLY -- A RAVENSWOOD ARTICLE!!! (An article written by David Chamberlain, with a photo of a 1953 Buddy bag) Heaton: Mostly Pix - Heaton Alox: Mostly Pix - Alox Agates Jackson: LOM: Some Jacksons! Champion Agate Company: Mostly Pix: Champion Agates (mesh bag, poly, dug, bicentennial) Marble King: Has there ever been a Marble King tin? All American Marble Set Bullseye Mesh Bag W/ Coral Marbles & Mk Mesh Bags (Peltiers and WV swirls in Marble King packaging.) Mostly Pix - Marble King Id Help Please, Double ingot? (Big Boy bag) Calling On The Marble Minds!! (tin of modern MKs, including frosted ones) Bag O' Commons (look like all-reds) C. E. Bogard & Sons: MM: ARTICLE: THOSE LOWLY BOGARD CAT'S EYES! (A study of marbles from 10 50-count bags.) Kokomo: Any Collectors Of Kokomo Marbles?, And you thought only pelts were pearlized! Kokomos Versus Peltier Rainbos See also: the Kokomo section at the WVMCC website Jabo: Marbles From Oregon - Cac Flame?, Interested in your opinions about marble & seller (See two bags in Post #40. Both are from the approximate time of Jabo's acquisition of Vitro. One before the change and one after.) Jabo V's Marbles bag Mostly Pix: Jabo Rosenthal: One More For The Books, I Guess Camel: 8 Vane Cat's-eyes Vacor de Mexico: Alamo boxes Show Your Atmospheres LOM: Sparkleresque or Foreign? (Vacor Sunsets in Post #16, circa 1992-1993) Pressman: Bullseye Mesh Bag W/ Coral Marbles & Mk Mesh Bags Mosaic Marbles, Pressman (Alley Agate marbles) Original Names Of Marbles, LETS MAKE A LIST OF "FACTORY" NAMED (Big Shot and Bulls Eye references in Post #6) Mostly Pix - Pressman Yard Sale Find (Hop-Ching) Imperial: 8 Vane Cat's-eyes Imperial Age?, 3 questions (See "Wal-Mart" type packaging in Post #11) House of Marbles: House Of Marbles Wales: Id Please... ("variegated marbles" bag in Post #3) Neat Little Box (a Ruskets premium box) Steven: Codeg: Made In England? (several packages, one "British Made", some "Empire Made", some "Foreign") Mostly Pix - Codeg Irene: Made In England? (Post #4 and #6) Shamrock: Mostly Pix: Shamrock Marbles! Shamrock Rocks (See Post #30) Zia Marble Co.: Mostly Pix - Zia German: German Marbles, Original Packaging Trip to Lauscha (Hopf wirepulls in Post #23.) LOM: Foreign? (A box of slags in Post #6) Czech: Joska brand? Czech Bullet Mold Guineas (There's a pic of a portion of a box in Post #14. I don't know if it is original. Mainly I'm putting this link here until I create a new European marbles page. :-) MM: A COUPLE FOR I.D,COME ON,TAKE A GUESS!! (not the original package, but the original label, with the marbles in the 2nd post) Japanese: Tiny See-through Marbles...chinese? (Japanese Pinchers in Post #5) Japan Marbles Japanese Marbles, Original Packaging Mushroom Marbles? Amazing Box! (Reg'lar Fellers Puzzle Box) See also: Japanese Pinch Pontil Transitionals Also see the Wales section above. Taiwan: A Little Help On This Please... (Cats Eyes) South American: Marbles From South America Some questions Bullseye Mesh Bag W/ Coral Marbles & Mk Mesh Bags (Whose marbles are in the Bull's Eye bag?) Have You Seen This Auction?, akro? not? (The overriding question is whether Akro Agate boxes were always marked as such.) Akro Box ... "unmarked" (a follow-up to the preceding link) Fantasy Packaging: Limited Edition Modern Packaging The fantasy packaging in this section is artistic and collectible, some of it done in a commemorative spirit. Boxes by Craig Snider: Ebay Plug - Lot's Of Awesome Bags, 35 auction items this week - check it out If You Never Been To A Marble Show, Here,s Why You Should Ebay Plug - Some Nice Ones This Week! Peltier Second Run Boxes: Pelts, 1st & 2nd runs CA cullet (The preceding thread links to Post #106 here.) Peltier Comics Reproductions: Mostly Pix - Peltier Pelt Comics Boxes Fantasy Packaging: Fakes! The following section is reserved for packaging which appears to have been designed to deceive. Or at least, packaging which has been known to fool new collectors, whatever its design. Of course, some of these fakes may also be collectible to some degree. They might be attractive to you. Or the marbles inside could actually have some value. Is This The Real Deal? (Master Marble No. 5 boxes, some may be fake, some real but filled with non-Masters) MM: Is there a story to these? ("Akro Agate" bags with what appear to be Anacortes Vitros) [Link is defunct - but I'm leaving this as a reminder of a certain type of fantasy packaging which has been asked about in more than one thread] There has been a recent thread about Charles Stutsman who had a lot of old Champion packaging and a lot of champion marbles and backfilled, kinda mixed and matched, maybe put in some non-Champs. I need to link to that thread. He was a legitimate marble dealer, but his backfilling has been a source of confusion. And there was someone in Florida (I think) who put a lot of new marbles in bags with vintage looking headers. Those are asked about often. They're kinda cute and might be worth a few bux each in their own right, but they're not vintage. Also Alox packaging has been created in fantasy form, and some authentic surplus Alox packaging has been backfilled with non-Alox marbles. HOWEVER, there is real Alox packaging which LOOKS backfilled and isn't. Alox sometimes bought marbles from other makers and used them to fill Alox packaging. Need links to threads about that.

The dates for the duck stamps are 1987 for Mongolia and 1991 for Lesotho. There's at least one copy of each on eBay now.

It's a 1989 stamp. :-) A bigger scan: that stamp's page at europeanstamps.net

... give me a minute ... I have something in my eye ... Thank you.

Thanks Jessie. I thought it sounded catchier than "Special Administrative Regions With Postage Stamps Of Children Playing Marbles". Plus there might only be one of those. Macau. SAR of China. Does anyone know which government issued this stamp? I would have supposed Belgium, but Bo's list makes me think perhaps the Netherlands. ?

Red based masters

Or countries with postage stamps of bearded men playing marbles? the State of Kuwait not my stamps!

Lesotho & Mongolia

Too cool! Original packaging is da bomb!

I thought I had seen some reference to a gift card explaining how an Akro box could be both marked and unmarked. But then I couldn't find it. I simply hadn't looked hard enough. I've found it now though. It is in an image linked by Dan in his post here. (click to enlarge)

From the discussion about an unbranded box of "glassies": What do you think about this box? Hansel bought it for $995. eBay listing The seller's description: "Up for sale is an circa 1960s excellent Set of marbles in original box with marble bag.Boxs & marbles are unmarked .A very nice set in excellent condition." I suppose the "unmarked" part could have been referring to condition. But if it had said Akro somewhere, wouldn't the seller have noticed it and mentioned it? From the "circa 1960's" comment, it sounds as if the seller really didn't see any clues to the origin of the box.

Sweet story ... and all that eye candy ... and what do I do? Jump right to the plain red and yellow patches. (That is a gorgeous lot. I feel lucky to see them all. Thanks!)