Duck Marbles from the Seike family

[shiroaiko]

13 hours ago, akroorka said:

Sad stuff shiroaiko, sad stuff for sure.

Get back on that torch horse and---

Marble--On!!

Hi akroorka, thanks for the message! If it didn't happen to me, I would not be able to be here! I hope I can catch the horse some time in my future!

[shiroaiko]

I took pictures of yellow ribbons that were forgotten. The clear window part is so small...almost diminishing. I'm not sure if they can be called a marble with a window.

The white is a kind of contaminated color. For comparison, I put one white marble beside them on the dish.

[shiroaiko]

A blue swirl. 

The same shades of blue, the light and dark. Orange swirls follow. 

In 1936, Seike invented a device for making machine-made swirls. The utility model Showa12 (1937) No.13819 "Glass Sphere Forming Device" was filed on November 13, 1936, and officially published in September of the following year.

[davesnothere]

Do you have any examples of the earlier runs 1930s 1940s. I have a jar full of clear older mibs that fall into this style. 

The quality wasn't as good lots of bubbles dirty batch glass etc.

 

[shiroaiko]

On 4/1/2025 at 11:05 PM, davesnothere said:

Do you have any examples of the earlier runs 1930s 1940s. I have a jar full of clear older mibs that fall into this style. 

The quality wasn't as good lots of bubbles dirty batch glass etc.

 

Sorry that my reply is late. My husband came back home earlier than the schedule (or I forgot what he told me). I've been busy since yesterday.

Seike's pre-war marbles were of better quality in terms of color and bubbles. His product maintained quality until 1943. Keeping the quality became difficult after 1944, due to material shortage, and the real testament came after the war when at least a few marble makers came back to operation in 1946 summer. The result was a mix of good and bad marbles, because you cannot stop the operation even if shortage happens. The table below shows the volume of marble production, measured in tons. Source: History of the Japanese Glass Industry by Shigemasa Sugie, 1950."  The Nippon Special Glass Ball Mfg. Inc. (Seike, Nakanishi and Yanagawa) was the only one business which was officially approved making marbles during ww2. In 1950 the number reached 900 tons. 

You said "this style". Did you mean swirls? I believe I've found most of Naoyuki Seike's patents in prewar time. Are you interested in what marbles those patents make? 

[davesnothere]

@shiroaiko yes I'm very interested in the prewar production types .were they the same construction. 

Canada imported toys from Asia prewar.

We never made anything decent no glass,tin etc just wood at that time.

[shiroaiko]

@davesnothere I'm happy to post the pics of his prewar marbles with corresponding patents. Please wait for tomorrow. What I have for today are clearies, the last ones from the family's lot. 

[stephenb]

Thank you for sharing all of these stories and marbles Shiroaiko! Fascinating to see !

[akroorka]

5 hours ago, stephenb said:

Thank you for sharing all of these stories and marbles Shiroaiko! Fascinating to see !

Is a trip to Japan in the future?

Marble--On!!