7/8 Akro Paul Bunyon ?

[Fire1981]

Or is that a made up name 🔥

RAR

[Fire1981]

🔥

RAR

[Fire1981]

🔥

RAR

[Ric]

Those look like "Paul Bunyans" to me. They were packaged as such by Ravenswood Novelty, apparently to provide marbles for the wooden "Paul's Blue Ox" toy. People hemmed and hawed about who made them for years. In the end, Ron was pretty convinced that they were actually made by a Ravenswood employee at the Trenle Blake Pottery company very near to the Ravenswood Novelty site. He told me so the very last time we saw one another at the Pride of the Prairie Marble Show earlier this year.

[Fire1981]

Thanks Ric 🔥

RAR

[Al Oregon]

Paul Bunyan bag pics

 

[Tommy]

6 hours ago, Ric said:

Those look like "Paul Bunyans" to me. They were packaged as such by Ravenswood Novelty, apparently to provide marbles for the wooden "Paul's Blue Ox" toy. People hemmed and hawed about who made them for years. In the end, Ron was pretty convinced that they were actually made by a Ravenswood employee at the Trenle Blake Pottery company very near to the Ravenswood Novelty site. He told me so the very last time we saw one another at the Pride of the Prairie Marble Show earlier this year.

I remember reading the discussion on these .. thanks Ric. Ravenswood they are 👍💥💥💥

[Fire1981]

Here’s 4 marbles that were in the bag. Orange bag and a green header. Of course I cut it open ! I was 12 🔥

RAR

[Ric]

8 hours ago, Fire1981 said:

Here’s 4 marbles that were in the bag. Orange bag and a green header . . .

 Do you remember anything else about the bag, still have it maybe? The orange and green is not ringing any bells for me andI have never seen Paul Bunyans in a bag with more than 5 marbles.

[cheese]

Huh. Last I heard Master was the decided on maker by Ron but not as recent as your conversation Ric. What did he cite as reason to change his mind? Plus Alox had them in their packaging as well, and related documents (that I haven't personally seen) indicating their purchases from Master (which could have been the other big shooters they sold, clear base and multi color). But they did have a relationship with Master. And the same color combos as some if not all the PBs are also seen in master players. Roger Hardy also said they were master, I was present for that conversation. Like we often see, some mysteries keep being mysteries. That pottery company I believe was just about next door to the Ravenswood factory... like maybe a 150 yards away? 

[Ric]

5 hours ago, cheese said:

Huh. Last I heard Master was the decided on maker by Ron  . . .

Alox also purchased marbles from Ravenswood so it's possible that is how the PBs wound up in Alox packaging. And PBs are not specifically mentioned in any of the Master or Alox paperwork AFAIK. Although there is paperwork showing that Master sold large marbles to Alox, which is pretty obvious if you look at the Alox bags with large Sunbursts in them. It also seems odd that the PBs were packaged by and labelled as Ravenswoods if they were made by Master (or Akro for that matter, which I think has pretty well been ruled out). Assuming the PBs were produced to supply the maker of the wooden PB-Babe toy (too lazy at the moment to find their name), it seems odd that Ravenswood would serve as a middle man - putting Master marbles in Ravenswood packaging. The fact that they are entirely unlike any other marble Ravenswood produced sure would have been obvious to the toy producer who would likely have gone straight to the source to purchase them rather than buying them through Ravenswood.

I think Ron ultimately decided that he believed the employees (or offspring) who told him that they were made by Ravenswood, rather than the one who told him that Ravenswood didn't produce them. And the story about them being made at the pottery company (your right, it was very close to the Ravenswood site) helped explain that discrepancy. I think it was an offspring of a Ravenswood employee who told him that their father made them at the pottery factory and remembered him bringing home warm ones.

Of course, a lot of confusion stems from the fact that the PB marbles are found in both mesh and poly bags that were apparently filled long after the marbles were made (the ones with the "Akro" card attached), and many Alox bags were back-filled at a later date too. It seems likely to me that the person(s) who found the cache of PBs was packing them in any old bags/headers they could find, and also in those bags labelled "Genuine Old Fashioned Marbles", which also included typical Ravenswoods.

Ron and I discussed the origins of these marbles on numerous occasions over many years.  I do not recall him citing any one specific reason that ultimately caused him to settle on the Ravenswood/pottery idea - I think it was likely an accumulation of things. Nola might have a more specific recollection though.