Akro Timeline

[Steph]

1936

Sept. 1936 -- Pop-Eye Packages:

  

 

If I had to guess the marbles from the photos, the sheen on the darkest ribbons would lead me to guess at least some oxbloods in the 10 cent box.

[Steph]

1937, 1938

[Steph]

1939

I can't remember anyone else calling their mibs Royals right now, so I'll say Akro here.

[Steph]

Year?

This was a new name to me at a time when I might have thought I should be confident I'd heard all the Akro marble names.

I don't have much for dating them, but I do have some info on when marbles were being advertised for floral arrangements. I'll gather those up and check dates. Off the top of my head, I think it's the late 30's and early 40's.

Though the sample box looks old enough to be from the 20's, it is hard to tell when it might have been used.

afterthought: were caster balls named anything other than caster balls? If so, what?

In a sample box:

(click to enlarge)

And the flower arranging balls from the industrial uses thread:

(click to enlarge)

[Steph]

1940's

Another salesman's sample case. Again, the exact date is unknown, but my guess is mid 1940's.

It contains later era Akros. It seems most likely (to me) that the case was modified to reflect a simpler line.

It was 'found' in New Zealand, of all places! As far as I am aware, no others are known. Why haven't they been found in the USA?

(some discussion)

 

 

[Steph]

More 1940's?

Some more Akros which seem to be from about the same time frame. Jo sold this box recently.

 

[Steph]

Early 1940's

[Steph]

Mid 1940's

[Steph]

1946

Now that I've seen this ad, I've looked closely at the contents of boxes with the picture of the three boys, and they are very often the newer looking patches. But check out the "counter box" photo. That moss agate pic was first used about 15 years before. Note that the Moss Agate name has been blotted out!

(click to enlarge)

[Steph]

Late 1940's

1948

Lots of info in this article. Different versions were found in various papers around the country. I don't recall how complete this version is but offhand I think it looks pretty good. I'll compare others as I come across them again.

(click to enlarge)

[Steph]

1950

This March 1950 ad is the latest of any sort I've seen for Akro so far -- not counting the one for the sale of the property.

Note the reference to a N.Y. showroom.

A showroom is mentioned in a 1938 ad also, with a different room number. (So this isn't necessarily a holdover from an earlier ad.)

[Steph]

1951

During part of the year former Akro employees

Akro is sold at auction on April 24, 1951.

For part of the year former employees use the facilities to make some "general line items", but supposedly not marbles. The name under which they worked was the Clarksburg Glass Company. (AMMM, p. 10).

Here is a May 8 news release pertaining to what the property may have been used for next.

(click to enlarge)

[Jasper]

1914, Akro made a very fast move to Clarksburg, WV and quickly went into marble production.

Hoping to help here with the dark ad for the Keystone box - the one with the word "PLAY" below it and Detroit,Michigan above. That is definitely from American Boy Dec. 1912. I have the original magazine and just double checked it. So that's certain. ---JASPER

Possibly the first Clarksburg ad, from a December 1914 Playthings Magazine:

(click to enlarge)

. . .

Odd thing -- the white onyx wasn't in the MFC line at the time.

It is odd because Akro was using MFC glass formulas on machines designed by Martin Christensen. Horace Hill had modified the machines at Akro just enough to convince the patent office to award him a new patent. However, the machines were so very similar that that it was later decided that the patent should not have been granted. (if I understand correctly)

In any case, Akro's early marbles were basically MFC's made at a different location and it hardly seems possible to me that Hill would have had the time, much less the expertise, to roll out a new marble style.

The golden yellow is a bit of a puzzle since it seems to have been a low production item for MFC, perhaps even experimental. However the White Onyx was one of their regular production items and a specific date is known for its introduction -- Sept. 12, 1915 -- nine months after Akro first advertised it.

I need clarification on whether Sept. 12 is when it went into production or was announced, or what.

Hoping to clarify here - The golden yellow is pretty easy to explain. All of the marbles in this first Akro box were not onyx marbles, Some were just game marbles - jade + turquoise.

In Hansel's first Akro box there are 6 "golden yellow" game marbles.

About the white onyx in the 1914 Playthings ad - I don't know anything about the Sept. 1915 date for MFC starting to make white onyx marbles. But I do know that December 1914 is only months before the Sept, 1915 production date. White onyx might easily been in development then. Akro was a

local jobber. They might have seen the development and asked for a run, or Akro might have asked for a special run just to offer something different than MFC was offering. Akro may have been the inspiration for MFC's introduction later. What I am saying here is speculative, but quite possible.

Another curious point to notice here is the the Sept. 1915 ad from Playthings Magazine features a row of white onyx right down the middle of the box! The articles and pictures for a September publication are in the works long before the publication date. I think this is evidence that the white onyx was produced before the September. It makes more believable Akro's claim. Besides, why would they offer something they couldn't supply? Another thing to remember is that MFC made onyx marbles by combining swirls of white with transparent colored glass. They also made clear marbles for furniture claw feet. It would be a piece of cake for they to add white to clear to make white onyx =- even much earlier than 1914. ----JASPER

Another ad for the keystone box, from about 1916

It looks like the publication is called "Something To Do". Al's bibliography mentions an ad in a Sept. 1915 Something To Do, but this page shows a 1916 magazine. This time the box is said to contain five different colors of striped onyx, so apparently at least one additional color has been introduced:

(click to enlarge)

. . .

More help, I hope. The ad on the page that is dated 1916 is in my reserves as being from 11-1915. I have the same picture that Steph shows, but I can't read the date on mine.

I'm not sure why I have it down as 11-1915, but I make a point of never putting down a definite date like that without knowing it for sure. Another point here - sometimes a 5 can be mistaken as a 6 if a piece of dark material connects the open circle with the straight line above.

I have a question. Does anyone have an ad for this box from 1914. I once bought a full year of American Boy magazines on ebay. I searched them diligently, but found none. It may be that they were too busy with moving to put out an ad. I have also heard that there was an ad for this box in 1916, but I have never seen one. It is unlikely because Akro developed their small display boxes in 1915. They were much lower priced and therefore, a lot easier to sell.-----JASPER

Edited February 6, 2011 by Steph
Fixed the quotation tags, I hope

[Jasper]

1914, Akro made a very fast move to Clarksburg, WV and quickly went into marble production.

The gray ad with the words "PLAY" below and "Detroit, Michigan" above is definitely from the American Boy Magazine Dec, 1912. I have the original here, and I took a look at it a few minutes ago to make sure. ---JASPER

Possibly the first Clarksburg ad, from a December 1914 Playthings Magazine:

(click to enlarge)

. . .

Odd thing -- the white onyx wasn't in the MFC line at the time.

It is odd because Akro was using MFC glass formulas on machines designed by Martin Christensen. Horace Hill had modified the machines at Akro just enough to convince the patent office to award him a new patent. However, the machines were so very similar that that it was later decided that the patent should not have been granted. (if I understand correctly)

In any case, Akro's early marbles were basically MFC's made at a different location and it hardly seems possible to me that Hill would have had the time, much less the expertise, to roll out a new marble style.

The golden yellow is a bit of a puzzle since it seems to have been a low production item for MFC, perhaps even experimental. However the White Onyx was one of their regular production items and a specific date is known for its introduction -- Sept. 12, 1915 -- nine months after Akro first advertised it.

I need clarification on whether Sept. 12 is when it went into production or was announced, or what.

Another ad for the keystone box, from about 1916

It looks like the publication is called "Something To Do". Al's bibliography mentions an ad in a Sept. 1915 Something To Do, but this page shows a 1916 magazine. This time the box is said to contain five different colors of striped onyx, so apparently at least one additional color has been introduced:

(click to enlarge)

. . .

[Jasper]

About "golden yellow" - This one's easy. This first Akro box did not just contain onyx marbles. It had game marbles too - jade & turquoise. The "golden yellows" are right there in Hansel's box. They are game marbles, not onyx.

[Jasper]

About "golden yellow" - This one's easy. This first Akro box did not just contain onyx marbles. It had game marbles too - jade & turquoise. The "golden yellows" are right there in Hansel's box. They are game marbles, not onyx. ---JASPER

About the white onyx in Akros ad in the 1914 Playthings Magazine- I really have never heard of that production date of Sept. for MFC for white. I don't know about it one way or another. But I do know that Dec, 1914 is only a few months earlier than Sept. 1915. It's easy to imagine that MFC was just starting to look at white onyx in Dec. 1914. Another possibility is that Akro was a very good local customer. They may have requested a custom white onyx in 1914 just to have something different from MFC to offer. It would be a simple matter for MFC to swirl white into clear. They were doing that already - swirling white glass into transparent colored glass. Remember that clear glass marbles were being made by MFC for claw feet on furniture. =

The Sept. ad from the Sept 1915 "Something To Do Magazine" shows a line of white onyx marbles right down the center of the box. Preparation by magazines in a given month begin long before the month in which the preparation appears. So their picture for this ad was available before September. This means that the white onyx marbles packaged in Akro's first box shown there brings the Sept. production date under suspicion, because Akro had no production facilities when they were in Akron. Their offices there were used to package MFC marbles, and to send ads and packaged marbles to buyers. ---JASPER

[Jasper]

A question - Has anybody seen an ad for this box from 1914 or 1916. I have the ad that Steph thinks may be 1916, but I have it dated 11-1915.

I once bought a full rum of the American Boy Magazines for 1914 on ebay. I went through them twice, but found no ad by Akro.

An ad for this box in 1916 doesn't make a lot of sense. In that year Akro filed a patent for their small display boxes. This large counter display box was a lot harder to sell at 50 cents each than small display boxes at 5 and 10 cents each. ---JASPER

[Spherophile]

Such a shame that all these images are gone.

[Steph]

2 hours ago, Spherophile said:

Such a shame that all these images are gone.

 

Ugh, I hoped I would get them replaced before anyone noticed.  Thank you for the reminder. I'm slowly shifting  my thousands of photos from Photobucket to a different host.  I'll make a big note to myself to fix this thread this week.   

[Spherophile]

Thanks, Steph! I’m really looking forward to it. For what it’s worth, Imgur is a great (and free) hosting service. 

[Steph]

This is going to be slow-going, but I made a start today.    Replaced the photos in post #2.   Hopefully the rest will go faster now that I've gotten started.  Thank you for the encouragement. 

Right now I'm putting the  pictures straight into the posts without trying to do thumbnails.  That could be hard to navigate, but for now that's how I'm leaving it.  

[Steph]

Well, the pictures are back for the most part.  

Thread format is an even worse hodgepodge than it was before with some pictures at Imgur and most still at Photobucket.  But we have pictures.   Photobucket finally wore me down and I decided I'll pay their monthly fee for now.  That gave me room to return the Akro pictures I had removed.  And fortunately they didn't automatically randomize the picture names when they reloaded them.  

So yay!  

 

 

[disco005]

Steph, you're amazing! 
Such a wealth of information, we are lucky to have you ❤️ 

-Jess

[AvvaRae]

On 2/23/2009 at 4:16 PM, Steph said:

1911 - 1914, the Akron era. Akro started by jobbering MFCs.

The earliest known Akro box,  the mailer the box came in, plus an early Akro ad.

 

More/larger views:

https://i.imgur.com/rImKLBb.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FRnoL6D.jpg

Not sure the source of the above ad.  Basically the same ad could be found in different publications.

Here's a series of ads George Sourlis sent dated from 1911 to 1915. (No similar one found for 1914 yet.)  
 

Beautiful Collection and very cool that it's in it's original box!!! So fun ☺️

 

Ps. How do you tell an Akron solid? I have very similar green ones.

[Steph]

7 hours ago, AvvaRae said:

Beautiful Collection and very cool that it's in it's original box!!! So fun ☺️

 

Ps. How do you tell an Akron solid? I have very similar green ones.

Hi.  Welcome.  The marbles from that era were handgathered.  Handgathered marbles have a distinct pattern, which does take time to learn to recognize.