hdesousa

Akro used a variety of mailers. With a shipping label covering all the printing on the lid of the box, I suppose it could have been used as a generic mailing box. My mailing box, now empty, has a single cancelled 6 cent stamp on the mailing label.

Agree with bloodstone. Touch it to the back of your hand. It should be cooler than a clay marble. They made marbles in Idar-Oberstein from a variety of semiprecious stone. Does it have facets, similar to the old German agates? If so, it's quite rare. Hansel

The tan box did have two rows "reversed by size". No.6, 5, 4 on one side and 3,2,1,0 on the other, I think. The 16 and 112 boxes contained striped onyx as well.

This is the way the contents were arranged. Les Jones had a complete original set. I've copied it, using older No.16 and No. 112 boxes (pre printed numbering) and a tan box in which Les' had seven Striped Onyx marbles with a diagonal divider.

Thanks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-TOY-MARBLES-OLD-STOCK-VERY-NICE-RARE-MARBLE-/281546983928

Was wondering that myself. Have not seen one before either. It's really well made in the style and size of an antique sulphide - given I know nothing of the plastic process - appropriate and detailed figure, centered and no bubbles.

OK, you got it. It's plastic. But fooled me for awhile, until I unwrapped it. This marble however, was also found in a Goodwill store, priced at US$1. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-GERMAN-2-034-Inch-Handmade-ONIONSKIN-MARBLE-4-Panel-Lobed-MICA-FLAKES-Large-/171483790956

My wife found this marble taped onto the back of a ceramic giraffe at a second hand store. Best figure I've ever seen.

Correct. Opaque colors, other than white and yellow, appeared after 1900. See this discussion: http://marbleconnection.com/topic/19219-opaque-colors/

It's probably not that easy to tell a CA moon from similar marbles made by Peltier or Akro. Look at these discussions: http://marbleconnection.com/topic/19291-c-a-moon-question/ http://marbleconnection.com/topic/19281-sample-kit-nationalg-onyx-marbles/page-2

That's sad and awful news. Clyde died too young. He was smart, knowledgeable, kind and always thoughtful. Never heard him complain about his disability, of which he freely talked about, when asked. For those who would like to know, I'm sure Clyde would not mind me posting parts of an email reply from some 9 years ago: "My condition is called Engelmann’s disease, Camurati-Engelmann disease, or Progressive Diaphyseal Dysplasia which ever you prefer as they are all correct. It is supposed to be genetic but there are a few cases as with me that there is no sign of it in my family. I am the only one in my family that has it. My brothers have children and they show no signs. It is a dominant gene, so if I had children it would be 50/50 that they would inherit it. I do not want any child to go through what I have so I will never have children of my own. I was the 25th case known in the world and now there are 150-200 known." It's a nasty disease, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camurati%E2%80%93Engelmann_disease Clyde deserves to R.I.P.

Thanks Sami. The distinction between a clear base vs a colored base is something even I can grasp! regards, Hansel

Thanks Bill. But "exceptions in both makers" confounds positive identification, a least for my undiscerning eye. Hansel Hansel

Sami, So that we might learn from your expertise, what are you seeing in the marbles that makes you sure they are all sparklers? (Especially since several experienced collectors are calling at least some of them sunbursts.) Thanks in advance, Hansel

The style is what I'm after, assuming Akro made sparklers and Master M made sunbursts.

Dan, Thanks for the reply. Can you say what about the marbles makes you think they are all sunbursts? Hansel

Thanks.

Sami, Care to say why you think so? You partner in crime the upcoming marble book, Michael Johnson, looking at the same pictures, called them all sunbursts. Hansel

Is that just an informed guess?

I'll try and post some pictures of different views. What's the qualification to be a sparkler vs. a sunburst?

Doubt any Akro boxes originally contained stone agates, although Master Marble did have a couple boxes (from the 1933-4 World's Fair) that did contain stone agates. These dyed agates, one of each color, are hand faceted and perfect.

I recently bought this nice Akro Agate box. Are there 8 sparklers or sunbursts?

In 1960 my father took me to India for a family visit and I was lucky enough to see Codd bottles refilled and carbonated. It was a cottage industry, done with the most rudimentary equipment in a village with no electricity (although they had kerosene refrigerators). Codd bottles had to be inverted as they were filled, in order to get the marble jammed against the rubber washer at the top. The CO2 cylinders had no reducing valve, so the time used to pressurize the contents of the bottle was critical. I was told that occasionally, when a bottle was overfilled or perhaps fragile from being many decades old, it would go off like a bomb, the thick glass fragments causing horrific injuries The cost of a crown capped soda was then probably double the cost of soda in a Codd bottle, which has no disposable parts. More links from a cursory internet search: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramune http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/02/20/ramune-and-the-myste.html www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/coddarticlemunsey.pdf http://everything2.com/title/Codd+Bottle