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Akro Hero’s or Uniques?


schmoozer

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22 hours ago, schmoozer said:

Found 16, all ~7/8”.

IMG_0947.thumb.jpeg.c959c057af9af3a099ea792b13c41f01.jpegIMG_0949.thumb.jpeg.632ef6b5f83aff8f7505ec71ec0d076b.jpegIMG_0950.thumb.jpeg.ad0c76d27294006e5659f403a7848552.jpegIMG_0952.thumb.jpeg.f6f4070ac14d7ad6088b73020646a832.jpegIMG_0951.thumb.jpeg.7ccb65a83f66ca6770d76799fc296339.jpeg

They may well be Akro--but-- they would have never made it to a sales type marble imho.

I think that you have some from the "digs" here.

Just my humble opinion---

Marble--On!!

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3 hours ago, akroorka said:

They may well be Akro--but-- they would have never made it to a sales type marble imho.

I think that you have some from the "digs" here.

Just my humble opinion---

Marble--On!!

Thanks. I looked up marbleAlans page and he talked about uniques and colors variations. The “pinhole” he mentioned is present on a few of them.

There is no pic of a unique, haven’t found a pic online.

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There have been a few boxes of "Uniques" for sale lately on eBay.
Have a look! I think that these are the real thing.
Marble-On!!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/386856144841
https://www.ebay.com/itm/386856146019
https://www.ebay.com/itm/364785638848

Here are mine. These are not sorted, there may be a few Vitro included. I am waiting to find a busted up box to put them in.
 

P4020007.JPG

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1 hour ago, akroorka said:

There have been a few boxes of "Uniques" for sale lately on eBay.
Have a look! I think that these are the real thing.
Marble-On!!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/386856144841
https://www.ebay.com/itm/386856146019
https://www.ebay.com/itm/364785638848

Here are mine. These are not sorted, there may be a few Vitro included. I am waiting to find a busted up box to put them in.
 

P4020007.JPG

Uniques are patches that have an opaque white base with a wispy brushed brown patch covering about one third of the marble, with a small space on the patch that allows the underlying white to show. The Hero is the same type of marble but lacks the space. Both of these are pre-"Freese improvement" marbles. Collectively, these two types are often known as "birds," because when viewed from one angle the patches have a shape suggestive of the breast and head of a songbird. "Grebes" have a  reddish orange to orange brown patch; "brown thrashers" have a dark brownish red patch; "golden tawnies" have a yellowish orange to orangish brown patch; and "rainbows" have all the colors seen on the previous three varieties.”

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The books are what they are--they are a good start for sure.
Hero’s shown in the books and Unique’s as well are a very rare thing to find individually, let alone in a box full.
I will stand by my assessment of "Unique’s" in the more generally found ones.
Akro changed up many ID’s of the marbles that they sold—these that I show are more common—yet rare in the box form.
I appreciate all comments and hope to see some more.
Marble—On!!
 

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1 hour ago, akroorka said:

The books are what they are--they are a good start for sure.
Hero’s shown in the books and Unique’s as well are a very rare thing to find individually, let alone in a box full.
I will stand by my assessment of "Unique’s" in the more generally found ones.
Akro changed up many ID’s of the marbles that they sold—these that I show are more common—yet rare in the box form.
I appreciate all comments and hope to see some more.
Marble—On!!
 

Please show a few pics from the books.

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13 minutes ago, schmoozer said:

Please show a few pics from the books.

From my akro book. The Uniques look like tri-colors?

according to Alan, hero’s and uniques were the early patch marbles from the 20’s. Prefreeze.

 

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I thought the Akro Heros , Brown Thrashers, Uniques and Golden Tawneys are all early Akro patches - and all are white based (or close to white) with varying types of brownish patches. Here is a large box of Hero/Uniques from Bob Block, a smaller box of all Heros and single marble Hero Brown Thrasher. I am still searching for a shot of a Golden Tawney.  I don't understand what all those colorful patches are in boxes labled 'Uniques' - like Akro just back filled left over Unique Boxes with ...whatever colored patches ??  Maybe someone with deep Akro history knowledge can elaborate here.

SS855051.JPG

Brim1sm.jpg

akro-agate-marbles-hero-box-50-no-4-made-in_1_f5eeca6135401b6b537305e3cf3cc8c0.jpg

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39 minutes ago, et cetera said:

I thought the Akro Heros , Brown Thrashers, Uniques and Golden Tawneys are all early Akro patches - and all are white based (or close to white) with varying types of brownish patches. Here is a large box of Hero/Uniques from Bob Block, a smaller box of all Heros and single marble Hero Brown Thrasher. I am still searching for a shot of a Golden Tawney.  I don't understand what all those colorful patches are in boxes labled 'Uniques' - like Akro just back filled left over Unique Boxes with ...whatever colored patches ??  Maybe someone with deep Akro history knowledge can elaborate here.

SS855051.JPG

Brim1sm.jpg

akro-agate-marbles-hero-box-50-no-4-made-in_1_f5eeca6135401b6b537305e3cf3cc8c0.jpg

That was my thought as well…

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The explanation perhaps is the fact that in 1951 Master Glass acquired all of the remaining Akro assets.  This included Akro's remaining marble stock and left over packaging. Master sold this stock in old Akro boxes as well as their own Master labeled packaging. This would explain, at least to me, why later era multi-colored Akro patches can be found in mislabeled packaging.

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I think the notion that Heroes were 1920's marbles is a mistaken theory.  It is one of the things which has or should have fallen by the wayside as we have learned more in the past couple of decades.

The first appearance I can recall of the Hero and Unique names in advertising dates  to the 1950's with Master's purchase of the Akro assets.  

And the patch marbles that we think of as Heroes and Uniques do not match Akro's inventory from the 1920's.   

Akro's earliest patches that I know of from the advertising were the 1930's patches:  Moss Agates, Royals, Tri-Color Agates.

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Thank you for that information Steph.  This has certainly been a confusing subject.  So many old discussions and opinions by those regarded as experts, makes me wonder what the truth really is.  The whole Master acquisition and all deepens the mud.  Makes me wonder if either late era Akro or even Master made similar marbles to those types, then Master added other color combinations and just revived the name UNIQUES.  Here is one photo I saved in an Akro company box.  I have seen examples and photos of purportedly early Akro Heros/ Grebes/Brown Thrashers/Uniques  (or whatever you want to call them) and they do exhibit what appear to be early traits - so I will still keep wondering I guess.  Thank you for your time and understanding my query.

H1097-L42597016.jpg

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On 4/4/2024 at 1:28 PM, Steph said:

I think the notion that Heroes were 1920's marbles is a mistaken theory.

Thanks Steph,
I think that these originals with the brown included were more of a limited production marble.
The boxes were made and purchased--stockpiled and the more colorful “Uniques’” were sold as such. 
The boxes that were recently being sold on e-bay are very “unique” to each other for sure and they are all Akro. 
I really doubt that the sale to Master had anything to do with the naming of these.
Of course—this is all speculation and I just love this stuff----
Marble—On!!

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Nice ....great people love them learned a lot from the few hours spent talking mibs when I was a full newbie..lol. post a pic of those on the Peltier 1988 nova run thread . That would be a great addition. Only one shabby pic of the white one in a group pic ...awesome score ,would love to get my hands on. One of those 👍👍👍

17 hours ago, schmoozer said:

Mystry solved! Only off by 60years or so.

Dani and Ernie Kirk to the rescue…🦄

!PELTIER NOVAS!

 

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4 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Nice ....great people love them learned a lot from the few hours spent talking mibs when I was a full newbie..lol. post a pic of those on the Peltier 1988 nova run thread . That would be a great addition. Only one shabby pic of the white one in a group pic ...awesome score ,would love to get my hands on. One of those 👍👍👍

 

Link?

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