hdesousa

Toys have traditionally been painted with colored shellac.

Other than the colors, nothing about these clay marbles resembles a "PA Dutch". They have a shellac finish, which comes off with an alcohol wipe. The PA Dutch marbles much larger and denser, are high fired ceramic and can be washed with impunity.

Might belong in the ID forum; if so, please move. A post this morning, since removed, on a facebook group on antique German marbles, reminded me of these marbles I've had for a couple years. Bought them from the guy who bought them on eBay four years ago. About 11/16", low fired clay, crudely made (not entirely spherical) and crudely painted. Probably old. Exact same colors as some "PA Dutch marbles". Anyone have any information about them?

Yes, definitely a holy grail for board collectors. Even harder to find than ceramic boards. Any idea what marbles came with the boards originally?

RIP Scott; you will never be forgotten. This is when "mortuis nihil nisi bonum" should be kept in mind. Scott and I go back a long way - from Ronnie Cox (also RIP) and Leighton oxbloods "that were retrieved from a fire" to Akros with applied oxblood (including one that spells "&^*** You Hansel" to German sulphides with layered colored glass or multiple figures, to repro tournament medals and Scott's own distinctive flameworked multicolored swirls which were always in demand and could always be resold for a profit. Anyone who eventually got over his initial gruffness found Scott a kind, knowledgeable and friendly person. I will miss him.

Two of these boxes showed up on eBay in 2007. Have not seen another before nor since. Has anyone seen any advertisement or Akro literature for this box?

That's what I had thought, since other than 1 1/4" blue/orange corks, it doesn't seem like Akro made marbles larger than 1", and the two largest marbles here are 1 1/8" and 1 1/16". But Roger Hardy tells me he has dug pieces of 1" plus Akro 'slags' and that these marbles are identical to the Akro marbles he has.

Very early Akro box

We had had several interesting talks and I always looked forward to meeting him at marble shows. Much of Tom's knowledge and skills with ceramic marbles he learned from Robert Brown, AKA "Brownie" from Ironton, OH, just across the river. Tom branched off into sulphides; often he had something new to show and tell and sell.

But I remember seeing an advertisement for the set in a toy catalog. Does anyone have a copy of the ad?

This might be the only one left:

Neat! Wonder why the recommended cut-off age is 60?

Interesting group of "old marbles" on eBay. Seller said she bought them together in the UK some 30 years ago. Four blood alleys (marble marbles), 10 hand faceted, played with, jasper (?) marbles, a clear agate and an ivory marble. (I've seen more pelt golden rebels than hand faceted jasper marbles.) Marble marbles range from 13.2 mm to 18.4 mm Hand faceted jasper marbles are mentioned in Jeff Carskadden's book 'Colonial Period and Early 19th-century Children's Toy Marbles', pg 125 The ivory marble can be identified by its Schreger lines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schreger_line

Wasn't me outsniping you. These I bought directly from Chris Robinson. They're hand gathered and rounded on a pair of wheels he made from MFC's patent.

2 days late, but here are a few machine made Road and Tunnel slags made by Chris Robinson. They've been discussed in this forum years ago.

Yes, some of the best agates were made into jewelry. Here's a necklace of matched hand ground (faceted) agate marbles turned into beads. Sometime ago, in a bead forum, someone took offense when I mentioned that beads were just marbles which had lost their virginity, so I won't say that here.

Awarded medals must have been treasured prizes; many are pristine and some still in their original boxes after almost a century.

An interesting article on the start of the National Marble Tournament: http://www.kenpoorman.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/stanflewellingarticle.pdf

This is my oldest marble tournament medal. 1922 (sticker on back is my inventory 'number') Didn't the National marble championships begin in 1922? Shouldn't we be celebrating a centennial of sorts?

My guess is that 39 stood for 9/16" (00) game marbles. The 50's are moss agates and the 40's royals. The second numeral is the size. e.g. 56 would be a #6 (1") moss agate, 42 would be a #2 (3/4") royal, etc.. The exception would be "9" in 39 instead of "00".

Here's an interesting Akro box where someone carved a niche for a pocketknife under the wooden header.

Thanks Ric. Here's a happy link from that archive: