A Boy's Marble Bag

[Ric]

I recently acquired this great marble bag, as supple as the day it was made. It belonged to a boy named Harry W. Lynch, Jr. (1918-2004) of Blackshire Road in Wilmington, Delaware.  How do I know this?

Because beyond etching his initials on the front of the bag, Harry embossed his whole name and address on the back. From the looks of it, I am guessing that he was a fastidious child. He also seems to have been a traveler or a dreamer, or both, since he was sure to include "USA" in his full "return-to" address on the back of the bag.

As it turns out, Harry was from a notable Wilmington family and had a spirit of volunteerism. He also enjoyed collecting enough himself to leave a significant newspaper masthead collection behind at St. Bonaventure University. This is good stuff in my book.

The American Indian graphic on this bag is not known to me, at least at the moment. So please let me know if you have any information about this particular style of bag. It almost looks as if Harry himself could have drawn it.

Thanks!

[Tommy]

Very cool ..he never wanted to loose his marbles...😁

[davesnothere]

11 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Very cool ..he never wanted to loose his marbles...😁

I have a solitaire board same thing .

Can't put them in your pocket like a Gameboy 🙂

[Alan]

Nice research and attribution!

[akroorka]

3 hours ago, Ric said:

The American Indian graphic on this bag is not known to me, at least at the moment. So please let me know if you have any information about this particular style of bag. It almost looks as if Harry himself could have drawn it.

Well Ric,

I started to look through my pouches and I found this one, the third one that I looked at😁 amazingly. It is dirty and beat up but the graphics are better.

My scanner software is not working today--another upgrade is needed🤢. I would love to give an image--but not today.

The image is true, and Harry touched it up a bit/ the top feather and the words below (which were more in a curved design originally).

The softness is probably because of deer-skin instead of cowhide--the one that I have is also very soft and supple.

Imho this was not associated with any marble makers.

Just sold as-is--a marble poutch, a one of many-maybe from "Wall Drug" which would be special for any kid at the time.

The brass dangles at the end of the strings make it an older one for sure.

The one that I have just has shoe-strings.

Thanks for the image and the story.

This is my best--

Marble--On!!

[Ric]

56 minutes ago, akroorka said:

Well Ric,

I started to look through my pouches and I found this one . . .

Thanks, Art - I thought you might have seen it. I am not so sure it's that common though, since I have not seen another, not as far as I recall anyway. Think of how many Master American Indian Chief bags you've seen by comparison. Do you think you have seen as many of these bags? Thanks for your thoughts, and I would love to see a photo of your bag for comparison.

[akroorka]

18 minutes ago, Ric said:

Think of how many Master American Indian Chief bags you've seen by comparison. Do you think you have seen as many of these bags?

Well Ric,

I look at a lot of poutch's and the Master Pouch type stick out for sure--just because they are named.

I have a collection of around 100 poutches and the one that I refer to is my only one--a lucky find today--the third one I looked at.

I could not tell you how many times I have passed on this one but the Native American linked pouch is a very common find and I pass on most of them.

I probably got this one in a lot of marbles--just a bonus.

I cleaned it for you Ric--it is still a tad damp though. Surprisingly it had an inner liner ( at first I thought that it was old tobacco---yukkk) it just fell apart, the inner liner--it was rotton for sure. The outer poutch is deerskin---in good shape--the inner would only be a guess--maybe pigskin but it was black and maybe the black dye was it's misfortion and it was Deer Hide.

The first image is as found--the second is cleaned but damp.

An inner liner is not a thing that I have seen before--two seperate layers of leather--pretty cool.

I also listed what I clean these with and what I condition them with after the leather dries out ( it gets quite stiff).

I would not attempt this unless you are willing to fail.

Marble--On!!

[Ric]

Thanks again for the help and added photos, Art. Harry's bag has the same leather liner as yours. Fortunately, the interior of this one is nice too, although perhaps a different type of hide, as you said. I'll try too get a pic at some point.

[Ric]

@akroorka Here's a peek into the maw of Harry's bag so you can see the 2-layer leather construction . . .

The inner layer is still in good shape too.

🙂

[Ric]

I will add, since Harry was born in 1918 we could safely date this bag from mid-1920s to mid-1930s - near a century now, older than one might expect. It's also interesting how enduring the American Indian motif is on vintage marble pouches and packaging. It likely persisted into the 1970s.

This is all very interesting to me, for some reason.

🙂

[akroorka]

On 4/10/2025 at 5:26 PM, Ric said:

This is all very interesting to me, for some reason.

 

I agree Ric--the times that you state are probably right on.

This is right around the time that we all gained a new respect for "Native Americans.

Marble--On!!