Revisiting a 1929 mystery

[Steph]

Any new thoughts on which marbles might have been for sale here in 1929?  They freak me out.  They look like 1950's or later marbles.  

September 29, Automatic Age







You could go to this page and try to zoom in even more:  

https://aa.arcade-museum.com/Automatic-Age-1929-09/Automatic-Age-1929-09-051.pdf

[Steph]

(In 1930, the same brand machine, but crude swirls which look like they could possibly be Japanese.)  

(https://aa.arcade-museum.com/Automatic-Age-1930-02/Automatic-Age-1930-02-119.pdf)  

[Nantucketdink]

I can't see any of them well enough to determine

[Steph]

Well, to me they look like of like patches and marbles with equatorial ribbons, maybe even an outright patch and ribbon pattern, and maybe bananas or other cat's eyes.
 

Bumblebee had thought that some of them could be clearies doing special effects with the things behind them.  That could be but it wouldn't explain all the seemingly anachronistic patterns.  



Edit: at least some seem anachronistic if they're American.  Maybe they're insight into what was available from other countries in 1929.

[DINDO]

I would like to have 1 of those machines stuffed with marbles.

[Alan]

Do the prices seem out of kilter for that year to anyone else?

[jten]

Was this price before or after the stock market crash?

[Steph]

The 1929 crash was in late October.   The "sample Lucky-Boy marble vender" is  15.00 in September 1929.  But the February 1930 ad says 17.50.     Wonder what "sample" meant there.

[Alan]

2 hours ago, Steph said:

The 1929 crash was in late October.   The "sample Lucky-Boy marble vender" is  15.00 in September 1929.  But the February 1930 ad says 17.50.     Wonder what "sample" meant there.

I don't have a sense of the machine cost - was referring to the "per marble" retail prices quoted (2, 3 & 5 cents per marble).  Were they in line for that year?

[Steph]

32 minutes ago, Alan said:

I don't have a sense of the machine cost - was referring to the "per marble" retail prices quoted (2, 3 & 5 cents per marble).  Were they in line for that year?

Ah.  They may have been.  

In 1926, Akro presented 11 marbles for a dime as a very hard to beat offer.  





In 1929 their wholesale prices for 1000 marble lots ranged from .355 to 2 cents per marble, depending on style, just for the 9/16" size.  Up to 3 cents a marble for a 3/4" flintie.  


In the 1930's, Berry Pink had a big part in bringing marble prices way down.  

[Steph]

It's times like this I really miss my newspaperarchive.com access to do a quick scan for advertised marbles prices in the 1920's. 

I do have lots of saved ads from past marathon searches that I said I was going to organize "someday", spread over  two computers and several storage devices.  Maybe this should be "someday". 

[Alan]

6 minutes ago, Steph said:

Ah.  They may have been.  

In 1926, Akro presented 11 marbles for a dime as a very hard to beat offer.  





In 1929 their wholesale prices for 1000 marble lots ranged from .355 to 2 cents per marble, depending on style, just for the 9/16" size.  Up to 3 cents a marble for a 3/4" flintie.  


In the 1930's, Berry Pink had a big part in bringing marble prices way down.  

Thank you

[bumblebee]

Are we sure that's from 1929? The prices seem very high.

This page from Billboard 1943 shows a listing for a  "Lucky Boy" marble vendor (right side of page).

This one from 1957 shows prices on complete machines hardly higher than the 1929 one.

[Steph]

19 minutes ago, bumblebee said:

Are we sure that's from 1929? The prices seem very high.

This page from Billboard 1943 shows a listing for a  "Lucky Boy" marble vendor (right side of page).

This one from 1957 shows prices on complete machines hardly higher than the 1929 one.

Here's the title page of the volume.  The ad is on p. 51.

https://aa.arcade-museum.com/Automatic-Age-1929-09/

[bumblebee]

56 minutes ago, Steph said:

Here's the title page of the volume.  The ad is on p. 51.

https://aa.arcade-museum.com/Automatic-Age-1929-09/

In that case I am probably just assuming the inflation was happening during those decades at a level it was not.

Unfortunately the chances of finding one of those Lucky Boys unused are probably not good, but maybe a better (color?) photo will emerge to help solve the mystery.