shiroaiko Posted June 15 Report Share Posted June 15 This is a Japanese magazine for photography, "Camera", November issue 1939. It features a photograph being entitled "Marbles" by Kan-ichi Hashimoto. The description below the photo reads " Late March, Tesser f/4.5, aperture f/11, Pan-F, 1/10sec, Yae FS paper, MQ developer, "Marbles" Kan-ichi Hashimoto, (1st exhibition of the Amateur Photography Federation of Tokyo Department Store/s)". We see Stripeys, cat's eyes and a few dark looking marbles on the palms. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/ja/pid/1501861/1/41?keyword=びー玉 橋本 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted June 15 Report Share Posted June 15 This is a great addition to the archive, Aiko - maybe the earliest photo of Cat's Eye marbles I have seen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroaiko Posted June 15 Author Report Share Posted June 15 It would be the earliest photo of cat's eye marbles... The search word "びー玉" or marble/s at NDL digital service brought me to the find this morning. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted June 17 Report Share Posted June 17 Wow. Way to nail down a date. Gorgeous pictures too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroaiko Posted June 18 Author Report Share Posted June 18 Just to review the timeline of the patents related to cat’s eye marbles: Seike submitted his utility model application related to cat’s eyes on March 3, 1938. Isogami followed to submit his own utility model focused specifically on cat's eyes on March 11. Later, on May 25, Isogami filed a design registration for the same type—most likely an attempt to prevent Seike from making marbles similar to his own. And by March of the following year, Seike’s “stripey” type marbles were already on the domestic market, and a photo documenting them was taken by Kan-ichi Hashimoto. As for the photo itself—I believe it was taken because the photographer was moved by the beauty of these marbles resting in the hands of a hardworking person. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 Thank you. I never would have guessed the stripeys were so early. Winnie said that she had a for sure pre-WWII box of marbles with them, but still I couldn't wrap my head around it. These days my memory is not serving me very well but I will try to make a place for this. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroaiko Posted June 19 Author Report Share Posted June 19 Steph, it is the first time for me to hear about the Winnie's thoughts. It’s encouraging when someone like Winnie had examples to support it. Her prewar box helps to give more weight to the idea that stripeys were already being made before the war. This is a prewar box of glass toys, including stripeys. A local find. Collectors refer to this type of box as a Giya-bako, which means “diamond box.” The word giyaman is an old Japanese term that originally meant “diamond,” but later came to refer to glass. Since all the other toys in and around the box are believed to be prewar-made, the stripeys are most likely from the same period. I am the current owner of the box. I took better photos this morning but the photo library on my computer does not refresh. I will post photos later. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroaiko Posted June 19 Author Report Share Posted June 19 My glass toy box (12 × 15 cm) has 10 cat's eyes. 9 are Stripeys. The 7 marbles which I could count 4 vanes. 15-17.6 mm. One got a fat vane which almost fills half of the marble. Mamekeri flat marbles. The yellow ones are about 26mm across, 8 mm thick. Mamekeri and ohajiki with numbers. Mamekeri are bigger than ohajiki. 30-18mm. Ohajiki with paper rock scissor designs and a flower. The green measures 21 mm. Other glass toys that I don't regard as original to the box. They are believed to be even earlier in the production time. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YasudaCollector Posted 19 hours ago Report Share Posted 19 hours ago Awesome find! 😃 It's incredible that cat's eyes were produced so early. When I first started collecting, everyone (at least in the US) thought that cat's eyes were invented in 1949. This new information pushes that date back by a whole 10 years. I wonder if these prewar cat's eyes were exported to the US? It would be interested to see if any turn up in antique shops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted 19 hours ago Report Share Posted 19 hours ago @shiroaiko That is a precious little box of toys - what a great find! The rock-paper-scissors pieces are really neat. I find it interesting that the pieces have Arabic numerals on them and that the rock-paper-scissors pieces are included. Do you think these boxes were made primarily for export? Was rock-papers-scissors a popular game with Japanese children? Do you find similar glass mamekeri or ohajiki with kanji on them? Sorry for so many questions. 🙂 I find this all very interesting. Thank you for sharing it with us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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