Hopf's wirepulls and more... Looking for Information!

[shiroaiko]

Hello @Fire1981! This is the post. Please look at the cover photo I'm going to show below. I think yours look similar.  😃

 

On April 11 2025, I sent an inquiry to Renee Holler, the author of Murmeln (1986), a German book on marbles.

The message I sent wasn’t very personal, so I share a screenshot for reference.

 

 

In 2022, Elias Fitz @TheVacorFan and my friend Helma Rud put in extra effort to translate Renee Holler's marble factory report.
They were very helpful, and they did a wonderful job. Thank you! 🙏💕

 

Holler Murmeln translation by H. Rud.

The next stop on the tour of the factory premises is the glass marble production. The machine, which the owner designed himself and which he had built according to his own sketches, is unique - a monster made of bricks and iron constructions that spits out colourful glass marbles.

After a mixture of waste glass, sand and soda has been poured into one end of the gigantic contraption, everything seems to work by itself. On its way through the machine, the mixture is melted into a viscous paste at high temperatures. At the end, the finished glass mass is pressed out of the apparatus, like toothpaste from a tube, while the clear glass is simultaneously sprinkled with liquid, colored glass from a second opening. Candy-sized pieces are then cut off from this glass paste and then fall onto a roller. They roll along the spiral-shaped surface - still wet - in order to fall, already formed into a ball, onto a second roller on which they are cooled by a fan until they finally fall into a tin bucket as finished marbles. The colored glass thread, which was sprayed onto the glass before cutting it off, is twisted into the marble by the movement of the roller while the glass is still soft, in which it can later be seen as a streak.

In the past, glass marbles were painstakingly made individually by hand. It wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that the first step towards a faster production method was made: Christian Greiner, a German glassblower, invented marble shears. With these scissors, at the ends of which two hemispherical shapes were attached instead of cutting surfaces, a strand of glass was simply cut off and the rough edges were filed off. However, only fully automatic, electrically operated machines, such as those in Dörfles-Esbach, made glass marble production a worthwhile trade. 
Nevertheless, business is declining, the machines stand still for most of the year: when children stop clicking ( = playing with marbles) , the most beautiful marbles become superfluous (unnecessary).

 

 

As for the other translation completed by Elias, we will wait for him to join us here and post his version when he can. 🙏💕

The translated texts were originally posted in my thread "Euro Stripey cats, Canadian Purple and cats from Japan!" on All About Marbles in Jan 2022.

At that time, we were searching for a possible Stripey maker in Germany. We kind of concluded that the marbles described by the author were not stripeys, but sparklers.

However, the description is very difficult to interpret.

Now I have started to think that they could have been wirepulls. 

I wish to hear the answer from the author. 

https://www.allaboutmarbles.com/viewtopic.phpt=49477&hilit=Canadian+Purple,+Euro+Stripeys+some+cats+from+Japan&start=50

 

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On April 16, 2025, I received a reply from Renee Holler herself! 😃 What a big honor!

Since I haven't obtained permission from her yet, I won’t share a screenshot of the reply.

 

The main points of her response were as follows:

① The author’s visit to the factory was in 1986.

② Mr. Hopf, the owner of H. E. Hopf factory, showed her two ways of making marbles: clay and glass. 

    They made both clay marbles and glass marbles!

③ The method of making glass marbles was described in her book on page 19. Fully automatic. 

④ The marbles on the cover of the book were from Hopf’s factory.

⑤ No specific mention was made about the type of marbles witnessed at the factory.

 

================================

I am currently waiting for another reply from her.

On April 20, 2025, I sent a second inquiry.

This time, following a piece of advice from Elizabeth Kempski @Pinx,

I asked her to confirm whether ALL of the marbles on the cover were from Hopf’s factory.

I also shared some marble information with her as a way of showing my gratitude.

For ease of reading, I first type my message to her. This time the letters are a bit too small. Screenshots follow afterwords. 

 

"Dear Renee,

Thank you for your reply. I am very much excited to know that the marbles on the cover are Hopf's. 

It is a maker that we only knew by name. "

(Hopf stationary with 1965 date)

The stationary photo is from @akronmarbles. Thank you, Brian! 🙏💕

"Now we have a photograph of their marbles... it will become a big news to the marble fans. 

Do you know marble forums such as Marble Connection and All About Marbles?

We share knowledge on marbles and discuss there.

I have one more thing to be confirmed to you... were ALL the marbles on the cover made at

the factory?

This is important.

=============

Below are two examples that are to be Spielwaren Hopf packages. 

To my eyes, the marbles (wirepulls) match the style. "

(A netted bag of wirepulls saying Made in West Germany.)

"A poly-net bag is distributed to the American market by Shackman & Co.

An American collector Buckeye posted the photos at marble Connection in 2017."

(The same netted bag showing backside saying Shackman NY)

This plastic netted bag photos are from recent post by @Ric.🙏 💕

Thank you for both Ric and the owner @BuckEye ! 🙏🙏❤️

(A natural fiber net bag with a paper label.)

"Another example. It doesn't say anything on a paper label. 

My friend bought it for me as a gift at a Tokyo shop which specialized in vintage DDR goods.

Although they were not from East Germany, I am now honored to own these marbles.

When you know the history of the maker, even if it is a small portion, love deepens. 

Thank you for your work"

(The same paper label bag with loose matching marbles from a German lot.)

"Very best wishes and thank you, Aiko Suzuki" 

 

==========================

I believe we can identify Hopf marbles by closely looking at the photos.

The cover photo is in A4 size. It's large enough to see the details. 

Buy Renee's book while you can find!

 

I hope @akronmarbles join us and share Hopf's patent information with us when he can spare his time. 🙏✨

Also, any information about Hopf’s products or its history is welcome, please feel free to share it here.

 

 

　

[TheVacorFan]

Hi!

Firstly, a big "Thank you!" to Aiko, who made this research possible.

Secondly, here's my translation of the aformentioned text:

The next station on the guide along the factory site is the glass marble production. The machine, which the owner designed himself, is one of a kind - a monstrosity made of bricks and iron, that spits out colourful marbles.

After a mixture of old glass, sand and soda is fed into the giant machine, everything seems to go by itself. The mixture is melted at a high temperature and forms into a thick mush. On the other end of the machine, the finished glass is pressed out, like a tube of toothpaste. This clear glass is drizzled with coloured glass, which is dispensed from a different opening. This glass paste is cut into bonbon-sized pieces, which fall onto a set of rollers. They roll on the spiral-shaped surface and, already formed into round balls by the rollers, drop onto a second set of rollers, which help them cool. These finished marbles then drop into a metal bucket. The coloured glass, that was drizzled onto the clear glass before cutting, and, while still soft, twirled into the marble because of the movement of the rollers, can now be seen as a streak inside of the marble.

In the past, marbles used to be laborously made by hand, piece by piece. Only in the mid 19th century was the first step to a quicker production taken: Christian Greiner, a german glassblower, invented the Murmelschere (marble scissors). With these scissors, at the ends of which were, instead of a cutting surface, two half sphere shaped molds, you could just cut the glass rod and file the cut marks smooth. But only the first fully automatic and electricity powered machines, like in Dörfles-Esbach, made the glass marble-production worthwhile. Despite that, business is declining and the machines stand still for most of the year: If kids dont play with marbles anymore, even the most beautiful ones are useless.

Thirdly, I sent an e-mail to the owner of the site https://murmelwelt.de/ concerning the marble-machine from Dörfles-Esbach and its whereabouts. I'm not sure that I'll receive a reply, but I'll let you know if I do. The site https://www.murmelmuseum.info/page-1 mentions that the museum owns a machine from Dörfles-Esbach in this text, roundabout line 28. My aim is to find out, if this aforementioned machine is the same as was used by Spielwaren Hopf.

[TheVacorFan]

I must add, that the murmelwelt.de site was last updated back in 2022, so I think my chances of finding out any more from the owner of this site are slim.

[Ric]

@shiroaiko This is very interesting - I appreciate your efforts! It is nice to learn more about these companies and their marbles. I was in serious need of an update on what is known about "foreign" machine-made marbles. I am very happy to be getting it from you!

[shiroaiko]

@TheVacorFan Elias, thank you for letting me know. I understand... so it’s difficult to reach the owner of murmelwelt.de. 🥲 I hope he is alright... 

 

@Ric I’ve been interested in the Hopf factory ever since Elias and my friend translated the report for us.

This time, I was lucky to come across a YouTube video where the author tells her story, speaking in Spanish.

The book was published in 1986, so I thought Renée must be a very old lady—but it turned out she was young! 🙏✨

Then it wasn’t difficult to find her website...I sent her a message from there. 

[Da Roberto]

Magnificent, stupendous work!!  Now I can have confirmation of my feeling that I have always had about wirepulls

Each thread was, is attributed to the veiligglas company (Amsterdam), and it is fair given the documentation, but I have always thought that some of them were also produced in Germany, perhaps with a slightly different glass quality,... maybe

Thanks, really great job guys!  👍

 

[Fire1981]

🔥

RAR

[Al Oregon]

Wonderful information

[I'llhavethat1]

So the packaged marbles below are Hopf?  I obtained some packages from Germany years ago and the sellers History didn't match what we knew (at the time) about them being Dutch from Veiligglas.