Bagged marbles from a Swedish country store!

[Chris Parson]

I found a sealed bag of opaques at an online auction site. A guy is selling the old stock from a 1950’s Swedish country store and there is everything from stickers to nylon socks.  One could wish for better photos, I know, but I’ll take some better shots once I get the package. 

 

 

 

[Al Oregon]

Great find!

 

[Chris Parson]

17 hours ago, Al Oregon said:

Great find!

 

Thanks Al! I'm slightly buying a pig in a poke here but they can't be that bad. 

[Al Oregon]

They look to be ones made on your side of the pond so great examples.

[Chris Parson]

1 hour ago, Al Oregon said:

They look to be ones made on your side of the pond so great examples.

It’s interesting. From what I know there has not been any glass marble production in Sweden. The label is in Swedish and the marbles could be imported and bagged in Sweden, but I’m just guessing. Maybe they are the only Swedish made glass marbles, made by a indigenous glass witcher in the deepest forests of Småland. 

[Chris Parson]

I got the marbles today. The seller had just put them in a old chocolate box. No padding and the bag had somehow been torn open, so there were loose marbles in the box. If that wasn’t enough there were also some kind of waxy crumbles inside the box, like if one would have crumbled a piece of a candle or something.  

The seller acted clueless but gave me a full refund. Says he didn’t know about the crumbles in the box even if he packed it himself.  
Anyway, I now have some marbles that used to be in their original bag, that is no longer sealed. 

 

 

 

 

[William]

White chocolate perhaps? That "tear" looks awful clean, like it was cut. Maybe not, just appears so?

[akroorka]

On 10/6/2021 at 2:52 PM, Chris Parson said:

It’s interesting. From what I know there has not been any glass marble production in Sweden. The label is in Swedish and the marbles could be imported and bagged in Sweden, but I’m just guessing. Maybe they are the only Swedish made glass marbles, made by a indigenous glass witcher in the deepest forests of Småland. 

Ahhhhhhh, nothing like a traditional Kräfstvika in Swedens hidden gem Småland.

Kräfstvika—On!!!

[Chris Parson]

9 hours ago, William said:

White chocolate perhaps?

It is definitely candle residue because it smells like stearine or paraffin. I asked the seller if he could shed some light on the matter 🕯️ but he was totally oblivious.

 

9 hours ago, William said:

That "tear" looks awful clean, like it was cut.

Yes, I thought so too. However, it's an old plastig bag with basically a front and a back (like two plastic "sheets") put together to create a tube. So there are seams along the sides and I guess that many years of movement of the marbles inside the bag have finally caused the seam to split. It's like folding a piece of paper, back and forth, over and over again; The more you fold, the more fragile the paper becomes along the fold. Something like that. 

[Chris Parson]

8 hours ago, akroorka said:

Ahhhhhhh, nothing like a traditional Kräfstvika in Swedens hidden gem Småland.

Kräfstvika—On!!!

I had to look up the word "Kräfstvika" because I've never heard it before. 
In Sweden we call it a "Kräftskiva" - [Kreft-shiva]

I've been to a few of those before I became vegetarian. It's boiled crayfish, alcohol, singing and funny paper hats for an entire evening. The day after you don't blame your hangover sickness on the alcohol, you claim that "those crayfish must have been bad". 

[William]

12 minutes ago, Chris Parson said:

It is definitely candle residue because it smells like stearine or paraffin. I asked the seller if he could shed some light on the matter 🕯️ but he was totally oblivious.

 

Yes, I thought so too. However, it's an old plastig bag with basically a front and a back (like two plastic "sheets") put together to create a tube. So there are seams along the sides and I guess that many years of movement of the marbles inside the bag have finally caused the seam to split. It's like folding a piece of paper, back and forth, over and over again; The more you fold, the more fragile the paper becomes along the fold. Something like that. 

I did consider the age playing a factor, hopefully the seller considers too reflect on his packaging skills and the postal service handles your future shipments with more care 😊

[Chris Parson]

Just now, William said:

I did consider the age playing a factor, hopefully the seller considers too reflect on his packaging skills and the postal service handles your future shipments with more care 😊

Yes, I agree. 👍 After all, it is glass we are talking about and it should be handled with care. 

[Chad G.]

 I vacuum seal & bubble wrap all my marble shipments & tape the exterior of the box, you could throw the box out of a car doing 60 and the marbles would still be untouched. The least you can expect from the postal service is a 10 foot drop from one conveyor to the other. Long ago in the early 2000's I shipped some pretty valuable mibs that got damaged, I paid for them and took as a lesson learned. I always treat things I'm mailing as if they were coming to me, so sometimes a bit of overkill but better safe than sorry. It only takes a few minutes to package them so no damage occurs or can occur, unless a semi runs them over !! I'm so glad they reimbursed you Chris, honesty has prevailed. I'm sure the seller will be more attentive next time something glass goes out, I would hope ?? 

[Chris Parson]

2 hours ago, Chad G. said:

 I vacuum seal & bubble wrap all my marble shipments & tape the exterior of the box, you could throw the box out of a car doing 60 and the marbles would still be untouched. The least you can expect from the postal service is a 10 foot drop from one conveyor to the other. Long ago in the early 2000's I shipped some pretty valuable mibs that got damaged, I paid for them and took as a lesson learned. I always treat things I'm mailing as if they were coming to me, so sometimes a bit of overkill but better safe than sorry. It only takes a few minutes to package them so no damage occurs or can occur, unless a semi runs them over !! I'm so glad they reimbursed you Chris, honesty has prevailed. I'm sure the seller will be more attentive next time something glass goes out, I would hope ?? 

Exemplary, Chad! 👍🏼
I almost expected the seller to put up a struggle but he gave me that refund, almost too willingly. 

Then there’s the chance to leave feedback on the seller, just like on eBay. I honestly don’t know what to say. The dirty box and the lack of proper packaging, giving me a broken product, leaves a negative mark but he did give me a full refund and that’s positive. Looking at the feedback from his former customers, I can see that he had a few issues in the past. He doesn’t seem lite a bad person, just sloppy and not so good at communication. I could just skip the feedback all together because I’m rather happy than right, but then I’m also thinking about his future customers and how they should be able to see both the positive and the negative. It’s a tricky one.

[akroorka]

I had a seller ship a pretty rare box to me in a padded mailer once. It was not pretty.

Since then I always give instructions on the way that I want the item to be packed. I have met no resistance to my requests, basically because I will have to take any/some blame if it arrives damaged. I can live with that. I have had many sellers thank me, especially regarding large lots of marbles.

I do like to see extra time regarding shipping any item because a lot of things are prepackaged and they have to redo the packing that I requested. I have plenty of patience as a collector. I would rather wait for two weeks, rather than four days, if it is done right.

If a seller keeps me happy in my individual transaction, I will always leave positive feedback. I have never left anything negative.

Nice tip on the vacuum packaging Chad.

Marble—On!!!

[Steph]

That's a neat bit of history.  

Disappointing developments but you can display it all together in a Riker case.  Still a nice thing to have in your collection.