shiroaiko

Just got a duplication from National Diet Library; a 1959 study of marbles in American market. It says Japan was able to provide marbles cheaper to the American market, compared to the factories which were located in the middle of the country. Transport of 100 kg marbles costed 6 dollars per 100 kilometers from WV to Los Angels, but 50 cents for the same distance from Kobe to North America.

Below is what I posted at All About Marbles. I hope it helps! (Sorry, I cannot change the font size!) On "foreign" wirepulls Post by shiroaiko » Wed Mar 06, 2024 11:52 am Recently I learned something big from a book specialized in old Japanese tin toys. The book says that “foreign” was used in stead of “made in Japan” after Showa13 (1938) on Japanese exports. According to the book, it was the time Japan started war/massacre against China which provoked the world’s antipathy against the country. The antipathy was reasonable. It was like nearly 200,000 Chinese citizens who lost their lives. Because Japan needed to earn foreign money, tin toy trade continued for years even during WW2. Although tin toy production for domestic market was banned in Showa13, production for export persisted for that reason. Tin toys being produced after 1938 were carved “foreign” to hide identity. In the cases “made in Japan” was already printed on toys, the letters were concealed under a paint or scraped off. Then “foreign" was put on afterwards. The similar situation would apply to Seike’s wirepulls, because the time was about the same. Seike’s wirepull patent was applied in November Showa11 (1936). It is possible to think Seike's wirepulls were also exported to the world as “foreign” marbles after the Nanjing massacre for a few years. Japan's marble export to the 3rd countries ( the countries which were out of Yen block economy, such as UK and the US) was known to end in July Showa16 (1941). So "foreign" means production between Showa 13-16 (1938-41).

Aichi Denkyu (lightbulb) Godo is the name of the company you were looking for! One of the mysteries solved! Thank you, Steph!🥰 It was also a manufacturer of various light bulbs including ones for Christmas. The company was founded in 1924, but they seem to make marbles after WW2. The trade mark for Japanese market was アヅマ (azuma) in a circle which corresponds the one for the foreign market (below is a clipping from "JIS Factory Directory for 1965" published in 1964). According to a 1958 directory, the company employed 220 workers and the major customers were the US, Holland, Italy, Canada and Salvador. The company seems to be closed in 1970's, but its brother company exists until now in Nagoya. There was another marble maker called Azuma Brothers Glass Co. (1954-1959?). Their marbles and ohajikis were sold under "Libbon-Earth Brand". So I wondered which company made the exported cat's eyes of Azuma boxes. To add, #67 of my Japanese marble maker's list is for Aichi Denkyu Godo. ↓ 67 愛知電球合同 ❶名古屋市中区東陽町11-39 河合秀 設立大正15年　従業員数220名　一般家庭球 蛍光灯 クリスマス用装飾球 一般小型球 赤外線電球 グラスマーブル その他一般照明球特殊電球の製造　仕向地　東南アジア 印度 タイ 北中南米 中近東 アフリカ 豪州/「全国輸出入業者総覧 : 製造業者・貿易商 第5版」1958. 第14版 1968. 第15版 1969. 第19版 1973. 第20版 1974. 第21版 1975. ❷主要輸出品 電球 グラスマーブル 主要国内販売品 電球 グラスマーブル 電気材料 主要仕向国 アメリカ オランダ イタリア カナダ サルバドル/「全国貿易業者名簿 昭和36年版」❸各種電球 グラスマーブル 硝子製品 設立大正13年3月15日　商標は円の中にアヅマ。/「JIS工場通覧 1965年版」1964 ❹アヅマランプ 一般照明用電球 赤外線電球 耐震電球 リフレクターランプ グラスマーブル/「名古屋商工名鑑 昭和40年版」❺社長 河合利周 製造 一般照明用電球 大型電球 小丸電球 赤外線電球 その他特殊電球 グラスマーブル/「電気年鑑 1971年版」1970. 1972年版 1971. ❻アヅマ電気（株）昭和45年4月　大株主愛知電球合同 代表取締役会長 河合利周 愛知電球合同の商標は円の中にカタカナでアヅマ。アメリカで報告されたビー玉パッケージには円の中にアルファベットでAZUMA。東兄弟の登録商標はLibbon Earth Brandで、地球にリボンがかかった印。

A group of blues in two shades. From left to right; 17.5mm, 16.5mm, 16.5mm, 14.5mm, 16.5mm, 17.5mm. Out of 6, 3 got visible cutlines. One got big eyelashes. The smallest is perfect with bubbles! The right amount of bubbles so that streaky vanes can be seen through.

Excited to know that your wife loves seashells🐚🪸I'm also in love with them from my childhood🥰 This is a link you can visit and see the ohajiki book I mentioned where Kisago shell ohajikis in an old package can be seen. I hope you and your wife find them interesting.

Elias! Yes! I know you well! Good to see someone I know...

The rest of the green + purple group (16.5mm, 17.5mm, 17.2mm). Two are regular stripeys. All has visible cut lines at the poles. The jelly vaned cat's eye has dark gray-brown tinted base. Talking about the tint, the green shooter also had strong blue? green? tint, as you noticed. Blue/white stripeys will be up tomorrow🦋✨

The shooter (25.5mm) got dark green bits in the vanes. The vanes are thin and not developed. A darker background for a better look of the vanes. On the opposite side are fractures caused from short annealing time. The players (16.5mm, 16.9mm, 17.0mm). The green stripeys got streaks in purple-brown shades. Similar kind of purple in these 3?

Some might wonder why shells are included in the lot. The snails were used as ohajiki (flat marbles) in older time, especially before the glass made counterpart was invented. A glass ohajiki boom in winter of 1902 was recorded in a magazine article. One ohajiki book says they were popular among girls throughout 1920s and 1930s. Shells were often dyed in bright colors like pink and purple and sold at shops in a netted cotton bag or a labeled paper box. All the cat's eyes in the lot. Most of them are Stripeys. 4 exceptions. Greens and a purple. The shooter measures 25.5mm, and the players range from 16.5 to 17.5mm. Pictures continue to the next post.

Thank you, I am so grateful for being here. We scarcely see old marbles in packages in the country. It is probably they meant for export, and marbles were often sold loose. One exception is Camel (Matsuno). They used the same paper boxes and plastic bags for both foreign and domestic markets.

I got the meaning! Thank you😃

Yes. I would be happy to do this. What does "Marble on!!" means?

I appreciate the article. How I wish if the writer had provided a description to the marbles! Glass marbles are generally beautiful...maybe compared to other cheap toys. Also imports from a country of weak currency floods to a country of strong currency is no wonder. Opposite does not happen. That is why old marbles are domestic in my country. 1907 in Japanese time is Meiji 40, the time glass marbles are said to become popular among children nationwide. The marbles from Meiji are lampworked ones with snap-cut pontils. These are poorly made clearies, which are distant from perfect roundness. You can see grooves around a pontil. Also bright colors like red or yellow were not used for the first marbles. Makers like Tokujiro Oi and Wakamatsu Yoneda (Komeda?) are the first exporters. The first record of glass marble export that I could find is Taisho4 (1915) of Tokujiro's via a Kobe agent called su-re-man (Sleiman? Suremann?). Tokujiro's was a pioneering maker for glass bangles, mercury beads, seed beads, gold beads and artificial pearls. So-called Chinese-style transitionals are the snap pontil type, highly-likely Japanese export from Taisho - early Showa era.

I'm learning something from here too. I read the Winnie's 2015 post of Santa Claus box and finally understood that my Yasuda factory research started from the information she left in this forum. It is always good to know the source of information. I didn't have much time for Steph's Japanese Transitionals yesterday. My reading takes much time...I hope I can read it through in a few days.

The box set is great and the purple transitional! I saw mushroom type marbles in similar puzzle boxes. Chiyogami paper in mame-shibori pattern is used. Do they have crease pontils?

Hello akroorka🐬! I was wondering what to be the first! My city Yamagata has a monthly flea market at Suwa shrine. This is my latest find. Lots of Seike Stripeys including shooters.

I'm curious. If the article embarrasses people here, maybe you can show only the marble picture? Does it mean our poorly made marbles reach to the US that early?

Thank you for the information again, Steph! I am closely looking at the enlarged picture right now. The white looking marbles could be German porcelain marbles with petals and circles. Then I see something like half & half and figure8s... The 1929 date sounds like a bit too early for Japanese machinemades. The first automatic gob feeding system in my country was thought to be started by Naoyuki Seike. The patent (Showa6-2564) was applied in Aug 1930. Yet Seike could have been the first marble maker who exported glass marbles to western countries. Glass marble makers before Seike exported marbles, but they were heading to neighboring countries. In 1937 magazine, Seike explained how his marble business started; his factory started in Taisho13 (1924) and his first marbles were exported to America and Australia, although they were in small number.

I've been through the thread and learned the trademark information was what Brian had posted at AAM. Yasuda had been one of the big glass bangle makers whose main consumer was India. It says the trademark was registered for glass bangles and other glass products. We do not know for sure whether Yasuda made transitionals as early as 1929.

Thank you so much, Steph! That would be the very thread I wanted to read! I will go and read from now!

Thank you Chad! I had a search result a bit too many, and I was overwhelmed...I started to read from the latest post of YasudaCollector! "Stephs Study Hall" sounds fun! Does it have a section of Japanese transitionals?

Hello I'm a marble collector from Japan. Yesterday I learned from YasudaCollector that this forum got some information on the Yasuda's Santa Claus box. What he told me was new to me...a box with a date of 1929 ... and I wanted to read the original article/s by myself. One factory registry says Yasuda's marble factory in Shiba started in Showa 8 (1933), so 1929 sounds a bit earlier. I also wanted to look at closeup photos of Yasuda's pinch pontils.