I thought Atmospheres were Machine Made

[Fire1981]

Yes or no 🔥

RAR

[stephenb]

Yes , 100% born from a machine. The Mega packaging that stated that they are handmade was (while being intentional or not) false marketing.

[Shamrock Marbles]

4 hours ago, stephenb said:

Yes , 100% born from a machine. The Mega packaging that stated that they are handmade was (while being intentional or not) false marketing.

I was always under the belief that the marbles were hand-gathered and machine-rounded.

The internal glass patterns are unlike any stream-fed pattern. They also had a Guinea style with surface colors, which definitely would not be stream-fed.

The orange-peel on the glass surface is due to surface pitting on the rollers.

They used “handmade” on the bag headers. I could see how they would use that terminology, considering the process they used to gather the glass.

One could quibble over the “percentage” that the machine-rounding contributes to the final marble.

One would need to also factor in the effort to properly anneal each marble in a kiln or lehr.

Considering the retail price for bag of three was $5.99, that was a deal. I would assume wholesale price would have been 50% of retail.

 

[Fire1981]

Thanks for the information and feedback. I had no clue🔥

RAR

[Shamrock Marbles]

12 minutes ago, Fire1981 said:

Thanks for the information and feedback. I had no clue🔥

RAR

RAR,

I never saw these marbles being made. I know how I make marbles.

Would love to hear other people’s thoughts.

-John

[davesnothere]

There's going to be some upset people out there. I always wondered about these .

Probably hand selected.

I still find it hard  to believe that these were gathered at that price .

They sold them in dollar stores here back in the day.

Have fun guys see ya on the flip side.

[Shamrock Marbles]

20 minutes ago, davesnothere said:

There's going to be some upset people out there. I always wondered about these .

Probably hand selected.

I still find it hard  to believe that these were gathered at that price .

They sold them in dollar stores here back in the day.

Have fun guys see ya on the flip side.

I used to sell marbles for $1. 🙂
 

You can gather glass quickly, add color, reheat and cut in short order.

No more than a two-three minute cycle. The key is not to add too much “cold” glass.

Twenty-to-thirty marbles an hour. What did a laborer get paid per hour in Mexico back then?

Three to four guys can make 800-1,000 marbles a day (10 hour shift).

Run two shifts for a week and you have 10,000 marbles to sell.

The model is based on cheap glass, cheap fuel, cheap labor and no regulation.

[akroorka]

Handgathered and Machine rounded is the right response.

The sizes in these vary so much that it is only explained by a handgathering process

We are talking about the Toys R Us marbles here--- the 1" (give or take).

There was a special mail in offer to get two larger sizes around 2" and around 1--3/4". Vacor sizes are in "MM" (25mm for the little ones)and I am too lazy today to look them up.

These larger ones look much more refined ( I only have one of each) but Vacor was the one company that could pull it off at the time.

It seems to me that @stephenb ( respect!) was down in Mexico at the plant researching all sorts of marbles.

He may have received some wrong info here.

@Melissa has a nice collection of these--maybe she will step in with some wisdom from her collection.

Here are the three sizes that I own.

Marble--On!!

[Shamrock Marbles]

34 minutes ago, akroorka said:

Handgathered and Machine rounded is the right response.

The sizes in these vary so much that it is only explained by a handgathering process

We are talking about the Toys R Us marbles here--- the 1" (give or take).

There was a special mail in offer to get two larger sizes around 2" and around 1--3/4". Vacor sizes are in "MM" (25mm for the little ones)and I am too lazy today to look them up.

These larger ones look much more refined ( I only have one of each) but Vacor was the one company that could pull it off at the time.

It seems to me that @stephenb ( respect!) was down in Mexico at the plant researching all sorts of marbles.

He may have received some wrong info here.

@Melissa has a nice collection of these--maybe she will step in with some wisdom from her collection.

Here are the three sizes that I own.

Marble--On!!

 

14mm = 0.55 in (9/16”)

16mm = 0.63 in (5/8”)

17mm = 0.67 in (11/16”)

22mm = 0.87 in (7/8”)

25mm = 0.98 in (1”)

35mm = 1.38 in (1-3/8”)

42mm = 1.65 in (1-5/8”)

50mm = 1.97 in (2”)

[akroorka]

There were 18 varieties of these according to my paperwork.

I always suspected that the bigger ones were sold in gift shops along with the weirder stuff that I show in these images--no proof yet.

Marble--On!!

[Melissa]

They are machine made.  Stephen Bahr talked about this in his Vacor videos.  

[Shamrock Marbles]

On 4/1/2025 at 4:07 PM, akroorka said:

There were 18 varieties of these according to my paperwork.

I always suspected that the bigger ones were sold in gift shops along with the weirder stuff that I show in these images--no proof yet.

Marble--On!!

This is a priceless document. Thanks for sharing.

It is interesting that the term “AtmoSphere Glass Art” was for a line of varied “objects of art” and not just marbles.

**

Wonder the differences between Handmade Marbles and Spheres and Bubbly Spheres.

Wonder what three sizes the Spheres came in.

Wonder what sizes the Bubbly Spheres came in.

Has anyone seen or have a pyramid? What size?

Pyramid- - On!!

[Shamrock Marbles]

On 4/2/2025 at 3:38 PM, Melissa said:

They are machine made.  Stephen Bahr talked about this in his Vacor videos.  

Thank you. Can you point me to correct video(s) and a time-stamp? And, please?

[Shamrock Marbles]

Vacor Marbles Identification Guide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=533zIrU80RI

AtmoSphere mentioned at 11:32.

[akroorka]

1 hour ago, Shamrock Marbles said:

AtmoSphere mentioned at 11:32.

Nuff said here.

 

2 hours ago, Shamrock Marbles said:

It is interesting that the term “AtmoSphere Glass Art” was for a line of varied “objects of art” and not just marbles.

 

These trinkets were made years ago and if you can imagine going into a shop in the old mall stores where they sold this type of stuff—you would be mesmerized by all the glass trinkets you would be seeing.
I have a daughter that investigated this for me. She sold Swarovski Crystal to a lot of smaller shops as a district manager. No one ever heard of it.
I am afraid that most of it is in the landfills. That is what happens/happened with slow sales or store closures. It goes out back into the dumpster. 
My daughter was there to see the waste happening. One day worth $1000—the next day garbage. (she did save a few things for me, no crystal though).
I got these documents back in the late nineties from a dealer on the east coast who sold out—so—they were out there. I even have the original little boxes that came individually boxing each marble. I could never figure out the numbers on the boxes and how they corresponded with the marbles.

No one wanted these back then—except for me. I should have gotten more info from him/her but who knew? I thought that I was nuts just paying up for what I received.
I could just kick myself right now.
Live and learn!.
Marble—On!!
 

[Shamrock Marbles]

In the video titled:

El Aguila Marbles “Stories and secrets” (The rise of Vacor De Mexico Part 3)

https://youtu.be/T25ibg0U8e4?si=pqvZW6RwQU8ZOFCD

 

At 3:27 this graphic pops up.

In the comments section there’s a short conversation about Atmosphere marbles being all machine made.

Excerpt:

Has this video been produced?

UPDATE:

1) For clarity, the “myth” is that Vacor AtmoSphere marbles were “handmade”.

2) At the end of the above video, there was reference to video #4 in the series. I presume this will explain it all.

[Chad G.]

11:32-12:07  Stephen Bahr states that Vacor Atmosphere marbles are near 1" & "Handmade"

LINK ::   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=533zIrU80RI

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I wasn't @ the factory when they were made in the 90's so I can't say one way or the other, handmade, handmade machine rolled, or machinemade. Arts paperwork says they were Handmade, guess I'll wait till I see some stating machinemade. Tomato, Tamato  ??  Paperwork going both ways ???

C'mon, smore butter please !!

[Royal3]

Mr. Bahr also states in the referenced video that said Atmosphere marbles can be had for around $50. I’d put that stray “handmade” tag in the same bin as that estimate, given the machine-making skills and production mindset of the Vacor folks.

[akroorka]

18 hours ago, Chad G. said:

C'mon, smore butter please !!

LOL Chad,

I have no problem with Stephen Bahrs videos--I just think that something may have been lost in the translation here.

The "Was Cut By Rollers" statement is just wrong of course.

He was talking with the bosses--not the makers.

If you have ever measured any of the smaller Atmos and compared them--they would have been the very worst machine made marbles ever.

The sizes just never line up with each other-they vary by 1/8" or more.

Eat some more popcorn Chad--(I love it!)

This may take some time---

Marble--On!!

[stephenb]

“You can lead a horse to water…”

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the Vazquez-Medina brothers scoffed at me when I suggested they were hand-made. They said there was never a hand-made marble produced in Industrias Cornejo, El Aguila or Vacor De Mexico.

Thank you for watching the videos! They take an enormous amount of time to carefully edit and I always do my best to present the most accurate information. 
I will be doing an in-depth Atmosphere video at some point soon , and you can hear from them again. It’s on the list✔️ 🟢⚪️🔴

[Shamrock Marbles]

2 hours ago, stephenb said:

“You can lead a horse to water…”

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the Vazquez-Medina brothers scoffed at me when I suggested they were hand-made. They said there was never a hand-made marble produced in Industrias Cornejo, El Aguila or Vacor De Mexico.

Thank you for watching the videos! They take an enormous amount of time to carefully edit and I always do my best to present the most accurate information. 
I will be doing an in-depth Atmosphere video at some point soon , and you can hear from them again. It’s on the list✔️ 🟢⚪️🔴

Thank you for the reply. Looking forward to video #4. It’s been a year.

Personally surprised that something that relevant wasn’t immediately released, as it appears to be a smoking gun.

The next time you talk with them, please ask how the pyramids, candle holders, apples and candy were made.

 

[Shamrock Marbles]

Some examples of Shamrock Marbles (Atmosphere types in the front).

Hand-gathered* and Machine-rounded.

 

*Never actually touched the molten glass with my hands. 🙌  So, is it fair to say “Hand-gathered”?

[akroorka]

41 minutes ago, Shamrock Marbles said:

(Atmosphere types in the front).

You do good work--I would take a second or third look at the bottom two for sure.

Marble--On!!

[akroorka]

1 hour ago, stephenb said:

but the Vazquez-Medina brothers scoffed at me when I suggested they were hand-made.

Hand-gathered---- Machine rounded is what you should ask next time stephenb.

We all appreciate what you do--never get that wrong but at some point, you will be challenged again. 
This is the way of marble collecting.
I am challenged all of the time—water off a ducks back (I am not an expert—but I am kinda good😁--I think at least).

Once again, this is how we all learn.
This post is not designed/desired as any form of attack on you personally.

Sometimes the Horses around the marble collecting community just refuse to drink and sometimes we all need cleaner water.

This is a passion for many and I am glad to see that the passion has not gotton out of hand here.

Let’s just Marble—On!!