Old MK Three Color Cross-through Question

[Ric]

Does anyone know how common they are - like the center marble, for example?

Any other examples to share?

[Chad G.]

??  ......

[Melissa]

Wow. I’ve never seen that color combination before!! 😍

[Steph]

Can't be common. I'll even venture to say rare.   I presently have no memory that indicates such a thing would have been done on purpose.

How do I keep not being able to lay my hands on Elizabeth's cat's eye book?  It's probably in my bookshelf right in front of me and I just can't see it because I feel hurried.  It'll show up soon. 

[Ric]

@Steph Thanks for the response. Those are my thoughts too. I checked Elizabeth's book @Pinx pretty carefully and didn't see anything about three color MK Cross-throughs. I do know that she checks in here occasionally so maybe she'll be kind enough to share her thoughts the next time she drops in.

[Al Oregon]

Left and right remind me of foreign made marbles - Mexico or Japan.  Middle one?

[Ric]

46 minutes ago, Al Oregon said:

Left and right remind me of foreign made marbles - Mexico or Japan.  Middle one?

You might be on to something, Al. I know MK Cat's pretty well and I never considered that these could be foreign. If so, they are really good imposters.

[Jeff54]

1 hour ago, Ric said:

You might be on to something, Al. I know MK Cat's pretty well and I never considered that these could be foreign. If so, they are really good imposters.

That's surprising. I mean, foreign for only 3 veins is and always has been the very first opinion of these.  You caused me to wonder: 'If I'm missing something, or did MK sneak one out while I wasn't playing.?' 

So, the 3 colors do look like MK missing green, yet still, I don't know or ever heard of them running 3 feathers. Moreover, the only times I seen anything 3 veined an MK is whenever some dope hasn't a clue selling in ebay. What gives? 

[Ric]

20 minutes ago, Jeff54 said:

. . . What gives? 

The two outer marbles are four-vane, four-colors; blue, red, white & yellow. The center is a 4-vane, 3-color; blue, white and red cross-through vanes. I had them pegged as odd MKs - the colors seem a little dull, but structure-wise, they sure look it. But the lack of green, the red cross-through, and Al's comment now have me thinking about foreign possibilities. I think 4-vane multi-color foreign Cat's Eyes aren't very common either though.

[Jeff54]

2 hours ago, Ric said:

The two outer marbles are four-vane, four-colors; blue, red, white & yellow. The center is a 4-vane, 3-color; blue, white and red cross-through vanes. I had them pegged as odd MKs - the colors seem a little dull, but structure-wise, they sure look it. But the lack of green, the red cross-through, and Al's comment now have me thinking about foreign possibilities. I think 4-vane multi-color foreign Cat's Eyes aren't very common either though.

Red, red, blue and white, plus the other two: Oh, I see now.  I agree, I don't think foreigners ever mixed the veins like MK did. 

[Steph]

I am pretty sure I have a four-color, four-vane Asian marble.  However, the vanes are straight sharp blades which can't be confused with Marble King.  

I am still strongly leaning MK on Ric's.  

[Ric]

22 minutes ago, Jeff54 said:

Red, red, blue and white, plus the other two: Oh, I see now.  I agree, I don't think foreigners ever mixed the veins like MK did . . .

That's a neat bag - love the graphics. Do you think the marbles were packaged during the Taisho era or is that a later package of vintage marbles?

[Jeff54]

21 hours ago, Ric said:

That's a neat bag - love the graphics. Do you think the marbles were packaged during the Taisho era or is that a later package of vintage marbles?

Naw just new at the time purchased: 2001. My wife picked em up there. Obviously, an attempt by Japan's manufacturer or distributor to take a shot at the collector game.  Sold in a touristy shop. She's Japanese and for marbles in Japan, in so many years, that's the best she could do.

I think the dating of 1942 is just hype and actually a reference to the period known when people may have played with em and not anything to do with the manufacturing period.. .

[Ric]

1 minute ago, Jeff54 said:

Naw just new at the time purchased . . .

I sorta figured as much - still a really cool package though.

[Pinx]

Interesting marbles, Ric! I can see Al’s point about the first and third marbles being different in some ways from the center one. However, the colors in all three are a match, so I think they have the same origin. My hunch is that they are dug MKs.  I have a blue/yellow/white with 2 blue vanes and a green/yellow/white with 2 green vanes. Also, a 3 vane blue, yellow, yellow with the vane placement like a “T” indicating one vane is clearly missing. My recollection is that I acquired all of these in a lot of dug MKs.  These strange combinations were probably done at the end of a run when they ran out of frit in one color and they substituted with what they had available (or, in the case of the 3 vane, finished with only 3 chambers in the crucible filled.) 

Sorry, I’m not at home so I can’t take photos. And, in case y’all are thinking what a great memory I have, I got the info from my book, page 33.  Haha! Thanks for sharing, Ric. I haven’t seen these color combos before.

[Al Oregon]

I'm back to the possible MK ID on these.  I could not find good foreign examples of 4 vane crossthru types.

[Ric]

4 hours ago, Pinx said:

Interesting marbles, Ric!

Thank you for the thoughts, Elizabeth!

I'm going to get some more photos of these - I was just trying to show all the vanes/colors in this shot.

🙂

[Ric]

2 hours ago, Al Oregon said:

I'm back to the possible MK ID on these.  I could not find good foreign examples of 4 vane crossthru types.

Thanks for looking, Al! I have a hard time finding multiple colors on any 4-vane foreign examples.

[Tommy]

Great thread love it ....✅️

[Steph]

Haven't yet found the four color non-MK that I'm pretty sure I have.  But I did find a two-color cross through that doesn't look MK.  Was hard to photograph.  The vanes are rather sheer and I can barely use my camera anyway.   It's two white vanes and two turquoise.  

[Ric]

9 hours ago, Steph said:

Haven't yet found the four color non-MK that I'm pretty sure I have . . .

Cool, Steph, I have probably 4 gallons of foreign Cat's Eyes I haven't looked at in about 15 years. I'm going to dig them out soon to see what I can find.

We may need a Cat's Eye thread - seems like it's been a very long time . . .

[Pinx]

Love that turquoise color, Steph! What an unusual marble.