Tommy Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 Just picked this up it was to cool to pass up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvrons Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 Vitro Jewel Tray. Designed and produced by Art Fisher owner of Vitro Agate. Made for women to put their jewelry in at bed time. Many ended up used as ash trays. They were made in two sizes. One about 3.5 inches and one about 6 inches. Most are brass but a few are chrome. Some have Vitro Agate patent applied for stamped on the back. Some have the hammered finish and some are smooth finish. Some were produced with Vitro Helmet marbles. Some are marked Worlds Fair. A Worlds Fair tray in the original box is rare. Rare ones are the small chrome ones that have opaque different solid color game marbles around the edge. The normal small ones are normally about $30.00. The large ones are normally about $100.00-$150.00. Of course the chrome ones and ones with Helmet marbles are always higher. At one point I had over 200 of these. About a dozen large ones. I had two original box sets of them. One box set contained four trays and the other contained six trays. Art Fisher designed and produced several different items that contained his Vitro marbles. Along with different pieces of jewelry which contained Vitro marbles. One of the most rare Vitro items are the Vitro lamps. They were gave to special employees in(I think 1932) at Christmas. Probably 12 made, I know where 11 of those are. My partner Nola has two of them. It took me almost 20 years to get one. They are all chrome and contain 7/8 Vitro marbles. When he gave them away, none had any shade. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Oregon Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 Great info Ron. Nice to have all in one post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted February 5, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 Thanks Ron. That lamp 😃 is beautiful. Cool info and awesome pics.👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 The lamps are so cool. IIt would be interesting to learn which of the trays (marbles) are the hardest to find. I have a small one with orange helmets, and I have seen a couple with the black helmets, which I am guessing are less common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvrons Posted February 5, 2021 Report Share Posted February 5, 2021 For me the rarest or most difficult to find Jewel trays are the small chrome ones. Plus even more rare are the small chrome ones with different colored opaque game marbles. I have only ever seen three. One was never for sale and I bought the other two. The large chrome trays are not easy but I have had four or five of them and seen a few others. You have to be careful with these, as the marbles can be removed and replaced with any marbles the correct size. The Helmet trays years ago were priced three times what the others were. But then people found out that the marbles could be changed out. Then lots more trays begin showing up with Helmets in them. The trays with Helmets in them are slightly higher price now but not three times the usual trays. If I remember correct the smooth trays are the oldest, the hammered were later. All the chrome trays I have seen large or small were all smooth finish. The chrome trays are probably the very first ones. The lamps were all chrome. Time wise, the chrome trays, the smooth brass trays and then the hammered brass trays. Value is how rare or old, the size and the marbles in the tray. Do not polish them up like new with Brasso or other brass cleaners. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted February 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 Do you think the mibs in the one I found are the o.g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvrons Posted February 6, 2021 Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 Yes. I have seen several with those marbles in them. Most have original marbles, only when they get into higher dollars was it worth switching common marbles to better known marbles, to raise the value of a common tray from $30.00 to $100.00 or $150.00. But Vitro did put Helmet marbles in some of these trays. The trays with Helmet marbles were $100.00 to $150.00 each ten years ago. Now they are about $50.00 to $75.00 each. Because there is a chance that the original marbles could have been switched out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted February 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 Right on Ron. Your knowledge is an asset to the marble community. 👏 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggie Posted April 27, 2021 Report Share Posted April 27, 2021 Nice and thanks, i have one for 2 years now and i never knew what it exactly is (only that it are helmet marbles from vitro). I found this one on a Flea market in the Netherlands. With Helmet patches 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted April 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2021 9 hours ago, eggie said: Nice and thanks, i have one for 2 years now and i never knew what it exactly is (only that it are helmet marbles from vitro). I found this one on a Flea market in the Netherlands. With Helmet patches 😀 Love that tray .super cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggie Posted April 28, 2021 Report Share Posted April 28, 2021 Thanks and that for 1 Euro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted April 29, 2021 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2021 18 hours ago, eggie said: Thanks and that for 1 Euro That makes it even sweeter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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