ManofKent

The contents (2 photos per marble):

These were made in France and packaged for the English market. Old shop stock from somewhere between the mid 30's to early 50's. No company information on the box and I can't find anything on Sunnyvale to narrow it down. We don't see many French made marbles on here, although I suspect some of the European marbles that are assumed to be German may well be French. Marbles are around the standard 15mm. I've not attempted to clean them but some of the brown colouration appears to be in the glass:

Lovely shots all!

Clothing collectors tend to refer to 1980's clothes as vintage. It's worrying when my teenage year's are considered vintage

Thanks Steph. Maybe a daft beginners question, but when do collectors consider marbles produced at the St Mary's plant 'Alley's' and when do they consider them 'Marble Kings'? Was there a change in styles when Berry King took over?

Yes they look likely - thanks again.

Sunset

Thanks - the lighting (and shadow recovery) is making them look a little more shiny (and the blue a little darker) than real life. None of them show any damage - all are practically mint.They're just a tad (must get some digital calipers) smaller than the white/yellow rainbos, but pretty much the same size as the white/red ones. Is there anything that distinguishes the St Mary's factory? Any recommended links/reading? Looking on ebay for blue/red Alley's - they're a very good match for the one on the far left of this group: The red is nothing like the others in this group - no brown - very much red to orange. I think the transparent ones are Peltier - very bubbly clear glass, one with a red and white ribbon circling round and through the centre, the other two with two shades of yellow doing the same thing.

Yes that pink is a great shade. The blue is lovely too...

Just had another look and unlike the yellow and red rainbos there's no obvious twin ribbon, but they're not a single patch. I'm too new to this to know how much variation there is in rainbos.

Great idea for a thread. Incidentally is the 1970 cut off for 'vintage' arbitrary or was it chosen for a reason? It's quite an early date (and possibly why general sellers list late 70's stock as vintage.

Thanks Ann - I need better lighting but these are a bit clearer: The red is noticeably orangey red and flame like rather than solid.

Pretty - I shall keep an eye out