thaservices

Fascinating! Thank you so much for doing this translation, it's wonderfully written. I hear it stated often that Asian over production in general caused the glut in the marble market, this is first time I have seen it linked to Japanese manufacturers in particular. We kind of assume it was China since they have been such a major producer of many mass export products over the decades. This has been very enlightening, I think in general, modern Americans view Japan as the innovator and China & India as the mass producers. But other historical studies I have read over the years did indeed hint at the 'Japanese Temperament' being very strong after the war's conclussion. Did Hosoi's machine designs get adopted in the other Asian productions as well? 

On 8/7/2025 at 6:35 PM, shiroaiko said:

@thaservices Right after my last post I received an email from a newspaper company from Tokyo. They are interested in my marble research because there are very few people who do researching the history of marbles. They are planning to visit me to Yamagata ( 3 hours by super express) next Tuesday. I need to be prepared for that. I'll start working on the Hosoi article after the visit. I ask you for patience. 🙏

Congrats on the upcoming interview!😀 

Thanks again so much for your insights. I shall call it the ugly duckling😍

So the possibilities of it being a fake? The pontil is, in my opinion coming from lapidary, just downright lazy in comparison to the other examples I've seen pictures of so far. The style is correct, but they took no time to really blend it nicely. You mention they had to keep production up, possibly that whole, eh this one turned out funky, oh well, grind grind, good enough sort of thing? Are the fakes good? Do any of you have some examples I can compare it with? Thanks again for all your help, I have learned tons of new things. Much appreciated 🙏

The collection this came from, he was a collector of all sorts of stuff but not an avid collector, when his son inherited everything and the family sorted everything out no one had interest in the marbles or teddy bears so his son, our friend, set the marbles out on a vending table at a few flea markets. He said at first people were picking though excitedly and happily giving him $5 each on them, and he did that maybe a year or two before he gave them to me to figure out. What's left has turned out to be run of the mill from beginning to about mid 90s. I did find an MFC, an Akro Cardinal Red, several corkscrews, a few slags I am fairly certain were CAC, many clays of course, so I assume what ever of really obviously collectible ones got fished out. I found this mixed in with the clearies and industrial ones. 😅 Our friend said he thought he remembered his father buying the collection whole somewhere in the late 80s and he would just pick up odds and ends to add to it, but never really studied them or anything. I found a small handful of Jabo and maybe one bag's worth of Vacor, a few fantasy bags and one modern Chinese handmade. So I've been puzzling over it for awhile, maybe the collection was rather extensive and well curated before he flea marketed them🤔 And the majority, even the commons, have been in rather good shape. This one has been by far the most interesting to try and figure out.

This is wonderful! I've been looking for a good photo reference for these. They are getting mistaken for Master a lot with new collectors, I certainly get them mixed up a bunch😅 Thank you so much!

15 hours ago, Fire1981 said:

I see lobes which might make it a Navarre or Barberton 🔥

RAR

Thanks. I must ask what lobes refers to? Since the info I first looked at spoke of ground pontil pointing to Griener I did not read much further on Navarre, just that they had a specific to them rounded(?) pontil. Did they too grind pontils at first before moving on to their special technique? And also, since these kind are single gather, pontil would be the right technical term even in glass work right? 

4 minutes ago, I'llhavethat1 said:

Not the best pics but I think I see what you're thinking with that marble.  

Thank you🙏

45/64 out of round, ground pontil, a portion of the bubbles are encapsulating or covered by white

On 7/30/2025 at 12:55 PM, akroorka said:

"Girls rule and boys drool".

If I found one like this I would frame it.

Even in 1965 there was not much in the way of girls shooting marbles out there.

Here is an example of probably the first one that showed a girl.

Marble--On!!

 

Thanks for sharing this! 😀 I am not sure if she has it framed, she mentioned she had been at it since '88 and has 35k pieces in her collection, that would be wild if she has even half of them framed.😳 She did say her house was overflowing with her little collections and came to see if her jar of marbles that had been sitting on the shelf 30 years was worth getting rid of, they were Vacors mostly so they went back on the shelf, but it was a cool little conversation to strike up, it's fun when collecting fields overlap.🙂

I met a nice lady in one of the Facebook groups that collects ads. I told her marble collectors are wildly fond of related memorabilia and she kindly shared this piece with me that she has in her collection.

On 4/23/2025 at 9:43 PM, shiroaiko said:

 

@Ric I agree with you. Seike’s marbles really do show a wide variety. They are a reflection of both his passion and the times he lived through. He made marbles over a long period, facing many changes—like the depression in the early Showa era, the war, material shortages, and trade restrictions. He had his ups and downs, and all of that reflected in his marbles.

Some of his marbles are beautiful, but after the war, there are also pieces that don't look as good, due to the high content of recycled cullet. I’m not sure whether those were exported or not.

It seems that his company ceased operations around 1959. One main reason (except for his age) was a sudden surge in marble production. A newcomer to the industry, who initially knew almost nothing about marble making, struggled with his new equipment. He asked an engineer named Yasuaki Hosoi to help improve the system. Hosoi turned out to be the right man. The improved system was a great success, and other factories quickly followed. Production grew nearly tenfold in a short time. Overproduction led to a price collapse, and only a few survived. The impact was worldwide; marble makers in Europe and America also shut down. (I will post a translation of Hosoi's memoir in the near future.)

I’ve mainly collected marbles from Japan, the UK, and Germany, so I’m sure I can learn a lot from you about WV swirls. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

I look forward to learning more about this engineer's innovations and how it led to the over production that caused the collapse. Thank you for this incredible overview, it is all incredibly fascinating.