Store Brand Marbles? Woolworth, Sears, Etc.?

[Steph]

Might relocate this thread to the Study Hall but figured I could start it here in case there was wider interest.

Anyone have any cool storebrand marble packaging? The kind which might fly under the radar because it doesn't have a marble company name on it?

Been specially thinking of the Woolworth packaging containing Cairo Novelties but anything would be interesting to me. Thanks!

[FISHSLAYERMARRBLEGRIFF]

The only thing I have are half sets of chinese checkers,distributed by woolsworth,made in vacor mexico.

[wvrons]

Woolworths bags with Cairo Novelty marbles. What,who told? As Schultz would say "Very Interesting" indeed. That would be nice.

[Al Oregon]

I have not seen any Woolworth's named bags at all so any would be nice to see. There are a lot of advertising bags for soda pop, food, various clothing/shoe companies & varied other companies. A lot of them have Alley swirls or MK patch & ribbons or MK Cat's-eyes or Peltier bana cat's-eyes as well as many Vitros. A lesser few have Champion or Alox swirls. Here's a few odds 'n ends bags that I have. The Dr. Pepper bag has Heaton (verified by Ron). The Nestle's bag has two red & white St. Marys cat's-eyes in it.

[Steph]

Thanks Al. Heatons in an advertising bag are new to me. It would be almost as cool to find a cross-thru St. Marys cat in a bag as it would be to find a buttermilk. Almost!

Hehe Ron. Maybe I dreamed it.

[kestrel]

Hello everyone! May I revitalize this topic??

I have a bag of marbles from Woolworth Co. There is one shooter and the rest are regular size. Being from the Canadian branch of Woolworth Co., the printing on the yellow plastic drawstring bag is in English and French - "Billes 101 Marbles". It says "Made in Taiwan", which may explain the unusual postal code!! It should be Alpha-numeric, in the A1A 1A1 format, but instead, it shows "MSH IPS" - likely the original draft said M5H 1P5, but was written sloppily?!

You can see that the bag has had numerous prices applied. Some of the print and colour from the price tags themselves seems to have been absorbed into the plastic.

Unfortunately I have no knowledge of marbles and such, so I am hoping someone can shed some light on these - what type, which company made them, how much they might be worth etc.

I look forward to hearing from anyone who can help.

Thx.

Kevin

[JerryG]

Marbles are cats-eyes. Beyond that, not much help.

[Steph]

Hi Kestrel.  Welcome.

Thanks for the thread bump.

That's a neat looking bag.  Maybe Al will wander by and have some insights.  

[kestrel]

Thx JerryG and Steph. I'm kind of wondering whether Steph's original post referring to "Woolworth packaging containing Cairo Novelties" might be part of the answer, except the Made in Taiwan part of the equation...

[Steph]

These are not Cairo Novelties.

These are a different era.  I'd guess at least 20 years apart.  30 years apart is probably a better guess.    

 

Very interesting since it's a Canadian branch of Woolworth.  Did five-and-dime stores last longer in Canada than they did here in America?

.... were they called  five-and-dimes in Canada?  

 

 

Anyway, Cairo Novelty marbles are from the 40's and they look like this: 

They were made in America.  

 

Cat's eyes from Asia were introduced in the 50's, first from Japan.  Then Hong Kong.  Then later Taiwan.  Now China and probably other Asian countries.  

So I'll guess 1970's on your bag.  But I'm not familiar with Canadian packaging and labeling.   

[kestrel]

Thx Steph! I thought perhaps Cairo had subbed out their manufacturing overseas, but, having read more, I realize the dates don't line up at all - like you said  - Cairo closing down ages ago should have popped out at me sooner... Cairo's are much nicer looking - now I know why people collect them. I grew up with cat's eyes and not much different, if that reveals my age!

I know this is a marble forum... but I found the following regarding Woolworth in Canada:  In 1994 120 of 160 Woolco Canada stores were sold to Wal*mart in 1994 and the other forty were closed. At the same time the remaining Canadian Woolworth stores closed their doors. Many later re-opened as branches of The Bargain!Shop. The website, which may be of interest, is http://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/aboutwoolies.html. It seems that Canada lost the entire Woolworth/Woolco brand in 1994, while it seems the USA shut it down earlier than that in some states, and later in others. I don't recall any five-and-dimes during my lifetime, but my grandma says they had a 5 and 10 store in town in the late '50s, early '60s, and it later changed to Woolworths.

The original sale price of 99 cents is likely more in line with the '70s, as you say.

Oh, and, wait for it!! I've got more photos of other bags. I didn't realize more had been "unearthed" from the bowels of the storeroom!

[JerryG]

I'm old enough to remember my local Woolworth's. Wood floors, tall ceilings, long lunch counter down one side. And five and dime. For a kid with nickels and dimes in his pockets, it was heaven.

[Steph]

Thanks for the Woolworth history and the Canadian information.  

 

I have fond memories of dime stores as a kid.  Then I turned around and they were gone.  

[kestrel]

Okay! More pieces to this puzzle! Found more bags like the yellow one, but green - so they had variety... And then a newer red one. Same "236" up in the corner, but it looks like $2.47 instead of $.99, shooter listed, same cat's eyes, but also greenish glass marbles included. They even fixed the postal code for this edition/shipment!  But "Toronto" has become "Toronot"  - home of my birth, childhood, young adulthood.

I can't find anything quickly regarding Bon Fame - only a company that makes fashion accessories or something - perhaps they have lost their marbles lol!

And, technically, JerryG, I should remember Woolworth, too, as I would have been 11 or so when they closed up here in Canada. I guess mom thought she'd have a more peaceful shopping experience without me! And pardon me for partially stealing your Location line... it was too drippy today to resist!

Haha! I find this kinda funny... the French for "shooter" is "cochonnet". In pétanque (some type of French lawn bowling), the "cochonnet" is the "scoring jack" - but the other meaning for "cochonnet" is "piglet"! Very appropriate, since, in my limited marble experience, the shooter was a bit of a "hog"  

[Ric]

I have no pics but I have seen similarly packaged cat's eyes in a Dollar General store within the last year or so, and I have a similar bag (from K-Mart, I think) buried in a box around here somewhere (probably 1970s). Both contain Asian cat eyes, so it seems like this sort of packaging has been around for quite a good while.

[kestrel]

Thx Ric. These are likely very similar to what you have seen. Worth nothing more than a bit of history. The initial post of mine was in response to Steph's post regarding Woolworth packaging, but these definitely aren't Cairo. Perhaps I can find a math professor who can use them, as there are plenty of "100 marble" problems online lol!

[wvrons]

As far as I know no one has ever found the Woolworths mesh bag with Cairo marbles.  Another rare Cairo Novelty item is the board game Trap The Fox. It used Cairo swirl marbles as game pieces.  

[Al Oregon]

Interesting bags, Kestrel.  I had not looked closely at some of those over the years to see the Woolworth's name on them.  While I have increased the number of bags in my collection, including advertising bags, since the 2009 post above, I have not come across any older Woolworth's bags, poly or mesh.

[kestrel]

It seems that these bags have served to provide a wee bit of interest from a historical viewpoint, and given me a crash course on marbles while posting and researching!

I am satisfied now that there is no massive monetary value to these and will be posting on eBay sometime in the near future. If any of you know of someone who might want these, please let me know.

For the record, I have:

- 1 yellow bag, with the clear plastic bag inside completely heat-sealed, all cat's eyes

- 1 yellow bag, with the clear plastic bag inside stapled shut - there is no evidence of a heat-seal existing previously and I believe the full number of marbles are there, but will inspect further by comparing weights etc. with the other bags, all cat's eyes 

- 1 yellow bag, as above with staples, but it has been torn open - I will be able to count the marbles, but obviously this one definitely is no longer "store-new" and is definitely missing some marbles

- 1 green bag, with the clear plastic bag inside completely heat-sealed, all cat's eyes

- 1 green bag, with no plastic bag inside, missing some marbles, all cat's eyes

- 1 red & clear plastic bag, no internal bag, but the way it is tied looks original, as well as the size and weight, but will check more carefully, roughly 50% cat's eyes and 50% greeny-blue glass

You can look back in this topic thread for pictures of all of the above items.

And, one more additional piece of info - a loose price tag, with the part # 236, a "W" for Woolworth or Woolco, and "7/81" which gives us our date! So these are not quite 35 years old (right where Steph had them pegged) - still older than me, though  

 

Thx everyone for helping me out, and all the best with your marble hunting etc.!

[Ric]

4 hours ago, Al Oregon said:

Interesting bags, Kestrel.  I had not looked closely at some of those over the years to see the Woolworth's name on them.  While I have increased the number of bags in my collection, including advertising bags, since the 2009 post above, I have not come across any older Woolworth's bags, poly or mesh.

Hi Al, Do you happen to know where the Gropper bags with Cairos sold?

[Steph]

Very cool on coming up with the date, Kestrel!  

It was so fun to talk with you about these.

 

Would love to see a link to the auctions ... if no one else scoops them up before they make it to ebay.  

[wvrons]

Gropper bag with Cairo Novetly marbles.

[wvrons]

[kestrel]

Thx, Steph! I have enjoyed this exchange as well. It has added a facet to my life I never dreamed I would have i.e. Mibology  - and I thought ornithology, philately and numismatics were big words... lol.

Don't hold your breath for the eBay links, although I will do my best to remember to post them here. I have not listed anything on eBay before, so am still researching the ropes.

Happy Valentine's Weekend to all! 

[Al Oregon]

Ric - no idea where they were sold.  I have a couple Gropper bags, too.  One mesh, a little different than Ron's and one polybag, which I have not seen many of.  Not sure what marbles in the polybag.