It's Buggin Me....

[Steph]

Craig, what date are you estimating on the last ad you showed? Did I read it correctly that you're putting it before the 1933 ad?

I'd have been tempted to put it 1935, 1936 or maybe even later.

One confusing thing for me has been trying to figure out how long Akro was advertising the Carnelians as "new". One of the years they called them new was 1934, but I don't know long that went on or when they actually started! LOLOL

[lstmmrbls]

Steph makes a good point. I have seen 1933 ads and toy catalog pictures(drawings) for marble boxes that were not made after 1931. Peace,Galen

[marblemansion]

If you think that patches have "exquisite patterns" then we're not going to come to a meeting of the minds on this.

One thing I've learned from seeing more and more Akro ads is not to be too sure about anything. After you said my concept was killed, Craig posted the Popeye box ad with the moss agates in it.

If you want to make the most progress with Akro ads you have to get your head around the idea that the people writing the ads recycled old text and pix, and probably often did not notice or care that some of the stuff was out of date. AND the people who wrote the ads weren't the people who made the marbles. Their terminology and perceptions might not match up for that reason.

In Craig's first ad above, the adwriters had an old description of Moss Agates. They pasted it onto the layout. They didn't doublecheck it and modify the old moss agate description when they worked on the rest of the flyer. [Note: all 3 pages are part of the same flyer.] To get the most out of the ads you gotta have checks and balances between what you see in your hand and what is there on the paper. Context matters.

You're certainly free to have different perceptions and interpretations than I.

I'm just gonna repeat this as I duck out - if you think patches have "exquisite patterns" then we see things very differently.

So you are saying the people making the ads mixed up the text descriptions and the photo descriptions....by cutting and pasting pre written descriptions; - and this ad contains a photo of a Popeye set containing swirls (we are unable to tell what sort of swirls we cannot say they are "Moss Swirls") with a text that says you are to get 15 Moss Agates in the box... its simply a mix up. They put in photos of swirls and the text described Moss Agates - wrong marbles in the photo.

From what I am getting from reading the ads is that Akro was getting away from the swirls and focussing on the Patches in their marketing....the patches were the new kewl product and as such were getting the promos.

2 part answer to the "exquisette pattern" description:

First off - you speak of taking things in context - take the exquisette pattern comment in context then..."moonstone glass, soft pastel colors contrasted with more vivid hues in exquisit patterns - pale green with maroon, cream with deep blue" while directly next to that description is the photo showing those exact same colored patterns in Moss Agate Patches....

Secondly as for the advertising department spicing up the description of their product by calling a Moss Agate patch "exquisette patterns...." that does not surprise me at all...especially considering the drama they placed on the father giving his son a box of marbles - way over the top - we are not accustomed to this sort of advertising today.

I would love to be convinced but I just am not seeing enough evidence to say Akro produced a swirled or corked pattern it called "Moss Agate".

[marblemansion]

One related point. Just like ads today, companies always make products look better than they might actually be by using the very best examples of marbles for the photos. I have seem old Marble King ads for poly bags that are full of oxbloods. What you see and what you get might have been two very different things.

Craig

Well yeah - just like the Akro ad you posted - the third one shows the "Oh Boy: silent salesman display boxes containing swirls - but the 5 and 10 cents cartons are listed to contain boring "Moss Agates" "Flinties" and "Moonies" which by todays standard would be like getting a pack of catseyes. The pictures are trying to over sell what you actually get.