Imperial Age?

[Steph]

I know imperials can be irritating because ebay sellers keep trying to pass them off as antique, handmade, akro or master! I still like some of them though. How old are they really likely to be?

That was Question 1. Questions 2 & 3 are whether the two mibs at the front of this group are likely to be imperial.

They look sorta imperial in some ways, but both the surface and the seams are much smoother.

(click to enlarge)

Straighter seams on the other end, esp. on the bluegreen base one:

(click)

Btw, the main reason I've hung onto the white base one is that it is littered with aventurine.

[William Marbles]

Those are nice!! I have a big stash of them as well. Some with aventurine, some moonie like, and some that are very smooth, and lots of different colors. These very well may be sleepers of the future. As for age.....I have no idea.

Imperial Toy Company

There's a link....but firefox isn't working right for me on the history screen.

[Steph]

Thanks. I also have a couple that are moonie like which have the orange peel texture and the crimps at the poles. I was on the fence about that being imperial too. You just bumped me off the fence.

P.s. I'm having trouble with the site too. We have a system 9 mac. I don't think it's even advanced enough to get firefox.

[tankgrrl29]

those imperial Master Made Mimics started showing up about 3 or 4 years ago. some of us were scrambling to k-mart for the box sets that had the blue with oxblood. (LOSERS! LOL)

your one on the right has "the look" and it seems to be an especially nice one (if that's not an oxymoron).

the one on the left looks different enough to make me have questions too, but they're always coming up with different ones - someone else may recognize it.

[William Marbles]

There's a pic over on BuyMarbles.com

imperials

Thanks Craig for saving the pic, I lost that on a HD failure.

(my small collection back then)

[Guest browse4antiques]

Are these the same kind? I bought them at ToysRUs about 12 years ago. I just kept a few of the fancier ones, and gave the others to kids. I should have saved some of the packaging. ... Roger

[nutz4lutz]

Imps....Bob

[Sword44]

Are the really nice examples posted in this thread still being manufactured and/or sold at retail? I have some of these and would like some more but the Imperial Toy site doesn't seem to feature them and what I've seen at Toys R Us reflects the selection on the Imperial site. Certainly I've never seen the "boxed sets" referred to in an earlier post.

Sword44

[William Marbles]

Nice Roger and Bob!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a few more that was gettting ready to get bagged for storage.

Check out the face below the butterscotch one...LOL

The poke-a-dotted one my not be one of these types...???.. It's not developed right anyway, so it stays there.

I'm glad I'm not the only one stashin' some away for the future.

William

[tankgrrl29]

cool! bob's picture has one that looks like kin to that other one of steph's.

sword, i'm sure you must've seen these before - they come up on ebay sometimes (although often at a higher price than they're worth)

here's the box:

and here's a close-up of the "oxbloods"

william, do you still have any of those clear based ones? i really like them, and i remember you saying something about tossing them? i'll send you a few bucks and take some off your hands if you have any "extras".

[William Marbles]

Hey Chris, well after an hour search (last bag in the box) I found them.

15 in all, all came together in a vintage lot.

--i didn't wipe them off---

send me an email. all for one price

+1/2" to -11/16, factory mint 1 has the typical peltier blowout

remember I thought these were Koko's.

William

[GLSS]

Here is an Imp with a metallic patch.

GLSS

[Guest marbleus1]

These I keep with some that have came from the south, Argentina or Brazil or Venuezula. Do you think these are Imperial?

David

[Steph]

One candidate for 9/16" metallic swirls has gotta be champion. The texture of the loop on the front right mib looks esp. right for a champion metallic. But the rest of the glass does look like it could be foreign.

[tankgrrl29]

gary, that metallic is COOL!

david, yours have a different look - where's that picture RAR posted of the venezuelan marbles?

(too lazy to search )

[Guest marbleus1]

I remember that thread and yes they are quite similar to RAR's bag.

As I recall though it does not list a manufacturer, thus ??

The ones in Steph's photo, the light blue ones seem similar in construction to mine.

David

I have 75+ similar, a couple of lots from South and one Asian cant remember Thailand or Hong Kong.

I think I sent you a couple some time back.

[tankgrrl29]

yes you did send me one - i thought i recognized that style in your picture. steph's looks to be that MM-mimic construction plus it's all opaque. the one you sent me has "wadded in a ball" construction with some transparent + opaque glass swirling.

[Steph]

I know imperials can be irritating because ebay sellers keep trying to pass them off as antique, handmade, akro or master! I still like some of them though. How old are they really likely to be?

That was Question 1. Questions 2 & 3 are whether the two mibs at the front of this group are likely to be imperial.

They look sorta imperial in some ways, but both the surface and the seams are much smoother.

Updated answer: Very likely to be modern ... but some of the smoothest "MM-mimics" are vintage. See Charles' Irene Mfg. Co. box here, Made In England?

[tony]

Come across two companys that still make marbles simular to the ones in the photos.thought you might like to check them out.

The first is Changzhou Shihao International Trade Co,Ltd.They apparently ship mostly to Europe and North America.They are based in Dingyan,China.

The other company is Singhania and Kapadia MFG,Co.Based in Delhi India.Founded in 1954,and still producing a wide range of marbles.Some of these are quite nice and seem to resemble american types .Their main market is also North America.

Both of these company's were found in internet trade directories for China,and India.There are a few other companys one is A Glory Mfr Corp of Taiwan who have a couple of types simular to Vacor.

It seems worthwhile looking at these trade directories as quite oftern they show some of the items they produce,althow the graphics are usually low resolution,so they don't look that good when blown up.The best way would be to try to get some varified marbles in the hand to compare others against.Problem i find is that even with new marbles,even the dealers don't know who made them most of the time.

[Steph]

I hadn't heard of the Indian connection before you mentioned it yesterday in the other thread.

[marblemover]

for what it's worth, here's an older box of Imperial-distributed marbles...might be some useful information on the box image...

ebay link

[lstmmrbls]

Has Vacor ever supplied Imperial? Hummmmmmmmmm!. Peace,Galen

[Steph]

I'm guessing they have. This 1981 Imperial bag says made in Mexico.

[lstmmrbls]

Still digging in boxes. Here is the oldest so far. peace,Galen

[Pinx]

Vacor is not the only Mexican marble manufacturer, they are just the only one that we've heard of because of their success in aggressively marketing their products internationally. Living a two hour drive from Mexico, I've been able buy marbles there from several different manufacturers. I think I've read somewhere that Mexico has several hundred marble factories, so it's not safe to assume that just because a marble is made in Mexico, that it was made by Vacor.

Actually, Vacor is starting to buy marbles from China. For those of you who may not have seen this, it is a list of text corrections for the "American Machine-Made Marbles" book by Six, Metzler, and Johnson. Read the section on Vacor:

Text Corrections

Elizabeth