Fantasy Bags on Parade

[bumblebee]

Was browsing marbles and saw this seller has a ton of fantasy bags.

Al, do you try to get one of every one you see?

[Al Oregon]

When I was first collecting - for the first 8 - 10 years (when the fantasy bags starting coming out - late 90's, early 200 time frame), I did collect those type of fantasy bags.  The person that made the types you linked to (and I did not keep track of the name so not sure if same person but bags look the same) did a very good job on them - nice printing, good quality headers and bags and the marbles were good quality marbles.  But, they kept proliferating and even bags take up a lot of space so I quit collecting them.  The person keeps up on the latest "hot" items - like the latest Ghostbusters movie - and has kept them coming.  My last count, I had about 270 of the fake and fantasy bags and some duplicates, too.

 

A little side note - on some of the earlier bags (and ones now probably), they also used Mega/Vacor marbles.  Can you imagine finding a fantasy bag with some advertising name like these bags and having it full of early Michelangelos?  25 to 28 of those beautiful marbles that are selling like hotcakes now.

[bumblebee]

Wow, 270! It must have gotten exhausting and frustrating, but at least you are free from them now.

You make a good point that some of those may indeed contain Michelangelos. I never bothered to pay attention to what is in them.

I think you owe it to the marble collecting community to make a limited run of Al fantasy bags and then sell them at the next show. It could be your business card.

 

[Alan]

This is how they are sold in bulk:

 

 

[lstmmrbls]

Any one with a half way decent printer and minimal computer knowledge can make the Headers.  It is actually very easy,    

[Al Oregon]

Bumblebee - no, I knew what I was buying from the start.  I wanted to get examples of every marble bag ever made.  But the fantasy bags became never ending so that's why I quit collecting that type.

The flyer Alan shows was from a guy in Florida who, I think, was the first mass marketer of the fake/fantasy bags.  I got a set of them for the $2 each and that was the mainstay of the fantasy part of the collection.

While Galen is correct on how easy it was, if you compare the quality of the ones that the "flyer" guy did in the mid-90's to the ones shown that started this thread, there is a vast difference.  Still "fake" and "fantasy" but nicer.