InkspotAntiques

Aroorka: Sorry I misinterpreted your original comments. Excellent point in what defines a "cross-through" vane. You are right about the limited available comprehensive resources about cat's eyes. However, people like Steph and others posting images of original marble bag contents, together with diggers at the marble factory dumpsposting photos will expand collector's knowledge and clear up misconceptions. And I have watched Behr's excellent videos. Really like the peach hybrids caged cat's eyes you posted. I have some other hybrid's like number 5, and I think a separate discussion of the earlier Vitro cat's eyes deserve a separate thread. Steph:, thanks for the input. I agree marble 7 is a rarity. I struggle about the colors being a bit off because you might imagine some variation in the clarity of glass batches do occur. The quality of some American company marbles also sometimes declined in later years of some companies (look at MK early vs. late Rainbows). And I agree, the cut lines with 4 and 2 ribbons are actually very similar at the poles to the hybrid cages Aroorka posted. Marbleized: There is a faint orange peel, and the orange peel and crimps are completely absent from the unquestionable 7/8" Vitro horseshoe cage shooters in 3 and 4, which are perfectly smooth. I have had some Imperial cages (5/8") that look nothing like these. Like Steph, I agree these vanes are Vitro-like. Maybe you get this appearance when the glass is not hot enough or the rollers too cold. I would probably describe these as "similar to Vitro cage cat's eyes, but may be foreign made", and leave it at that. Thank you all.

Wow, Akroorka, I'm shocked. With respect to the horseshoe cage cat's-eyes like 3 and 4, I have been scouring this and other sites for a reference or link that talks about horseshoe cages being made by other manufacturers besides Vitro / Gladding Vitro. Can you help out with a link or reference that points me in the right direction? Thanks. With respect to the root beer cage cat's eye, there is a picture of Vitro Anacortes marbles posted by Steph that have a few marbles that have root beer colored glass, including one that might be a cage cat (next to last row near center, but hard to tell), so maybe that is its origin.

Among these eight marbles, I have no doubt five are Gladding Vitro or Vitro Agate cat's eyes, but two I am uncertain about, and a third I am nearly certain is not a Vitro. Marbles 1 and 2 are just under an inch, and they appear to be Gladding Vitro 6-vane cat's eyes, but I am uncertain because of their slightly greenish tint. I am used to only seeing Vitro cage cat's in crystal clear glass. I did not capture a good picture of it, but marbles 1 and has a faint crimp on one pole with little eyelashes. Your thoughts? Are these Vitro's or foreign made? (Imperial?) Marbles 3 and 4 are excellent examples of Gladding Vitro horseshoe cage cat's eyes shooters for reference. No doubts there, as Vitro seems to be the only company that mastered the horseshoe cage cat's eye (although a couple types of Vacor Mega marbles come close). Marble 5 is a four vane Vitro Agate hybrid (any doubt?). Marble 6 is an unusually small 6-finger Gladding Vitro cage cat's eye. It is close to a peewee size. Marble 7 is an unusual horseshoe cage cat's eye in dark root beer colored glass. Again, in my mind, horseshoe cage cat's eye always equals Gladding Vitro. Except for two others I own, I have never seen a Vitro marble cat's eye with root beer colored glass. I had to shine a small flashlight on it to help you see inside. Have any of you seen these? And finally, marble 8 is a nine-vane is a three color (dark blue, light blue, and white) cat's eye. Most 9 vane types listed tend to be 9 strand cage types, with the three colors clustered together as fingers, whereas this marble has actual vanes that cross through. I presume this is Japan made cat's eye? I am having a hard time finding a match on-line. Any thoughts?

Hi Dannyboy, It is a bit over 5/8 inch, about 21/32, and the colors are red (edge-on grading to orange), yellow, and white. The reason I mentioned Akro Popeyes, is that the colors a very similar to, but not exactly I think, to a red and yellow Popeye, and some of the white is as fine filaments, but again I don't think this a pop-eye gone wrong. As per the attached side image, there are actually three parallel zip-zag streams of red, yellow, and white. I think akroorka is right in that the marble came out different than intended, and it was to be a type of cat's eye with a zig-zag red-yellow-white core.

Here are four marbles I am seeking input for identification. Marble 1 has an opaque light milky yellow-green base with two transparent green ribbons. I believe it is Peltier Rainbo. The ribbons are so far apart they form small patches at the pole (one looking like a twitter icon, and the other a Lima bean). The base glass is not fluorescent. Marble 2 has a green and orange combination, very similar to some Akro Prize Names I have seen, but judging from the cut lines, I think this too is a Peltier Rainbo, but unsure. Marble 3 has an opaque light milky opaque yellow-green base, with a transparent patch with green and white filaments. The base glass is blazingly bright UV fluorescent. I think this is an Akro patch, but could be a Master Made marble. The fifth view shows the marble with backlighting. The UV image broke the camera.😉 Marble 4 has colors superficially reminiscent of an Akro Popeye. This is no Akro Popeye, though, and I would categorize it as more as a catseye. It is decades old, but it has a very slightly orange peel surface suggests to me this might Vacor de Mexico marble, maybe from the 1990's, that I am not familiar with.

Sorry for the delay in responding, Marbleized. I use an old copy of Adobe Photoshop, but any paint program will do. I take shots (tethered Canon, kit lens), crop each image about 600 pixels square, paste into a canvas 600x2400 in this case to get a 1x4 panel.

I have some what I believe are one-color minimalist transparent Rainbos and two marbles that I think are imperfectly made cat' eyes that resemble transparent Peltier Rainbos. Any feedback appreciated. The sequence below goes from obvious Peltier's to likely cat's eyes. All marbles 5/8 or a bit under. Image 1: Two obvious transparent blue glass Rainbos with white ribbons for reference. Note the one on the left has a bubbly Sunset style marble base glass, and the other has few bubbles. Image 2. A minimalist clear transparent Rainbo with two ribbons of white. The bubbly glass very characteristic of the Sunset marbles. Image 3. An even more minimalist clear Rainbo (I think) with two ribbons of white and a small patch in faintly blue glass (note the blue thread). Image 4: Probably from the same marble batch as image 3, but the white ribbons are much more smeared, and looks like a swirl at first glance. Image 5: This marble looks very much like a Marble King in color, except for the brown hybrid color. The "vanes" not only do not cross, but run parallel near the surface and veneered-like like a Rainbo. Notice the center is largely open. Maybe just a poorly formed cat's eye? Image 6: What I presume is a transparent blue cat's eye with superficial resemblance to a Peltier Rainbo.

Thank you for the input. Saw another post of "European" Cat's Eyes that look somewhat similar.

Thank you both.

I had these marbles together because of their superficial resemblance, but I don't believe they are related. The mibs on the left look like Peltier Sunsets gone wrong, lacking the big effusive bubbles, and the ribbons seemingly perpendicular and not parallel, and the red closer to patches. What look like four vane Vitro Cage cat's eye shooters seem too bubbly for Vitros, and the vanes look more like ribbons. I think I might be wrong on both IDs. Any thoughts?

This vintage marble is a bit over 15/16 inch. I thought this might be an Akro Sparkler, but it is not quite like others I have seen. I don't think it is a Master Sunburst, either. Any thoughts? The surface is mint except the whopper fracture, crack, and large chunk of glass that flaked off, so it has little value, but I was still curious of its identity. Thanks for any feedback.