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Anacortes Horseshoe Cat's Eye


Steph

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Okay. I have a mib that's hard to photograph. Not flashy but unusual. I don't think it looks all that much like a horseshoe, but it sure doesn't look like anything else I've seen.

I didn't want to spend time trying to capture its innards if no one reading had anacortes experience. Looks like you do though, so I'll try to get a decent pic while the sun's out.

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Sun's gone ... and it looks like my mib is too. I've hung onto it for years ... toyed with the thought of getting rid of it in some bulk lot so I wouldn't keep worrying about it ...

I thought I'd always pulled the mib back into my collection before I did anything so permanent to it.

Maybe I finally let it go. ? Arrrrrrghhh

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Dave, that's what I was thinking they looked like.

Andrea's gave me a serious Waitaminnit! moment though, because that sure is blade-y. (not to mention psychodelic)

My mib has/had skinny blades. Mostly some blah color (olive? taupe? I can't remember colors). But the blades were edged in slivers of other colors. I think two blades may have had orange on the edge and two may have had purple.

The most interesting thing about the shape of the blades is that they don't do that wide wiggly flare on the end. They almost form an O. The ends of the blades almost touch and as far as I can recall, the marble appears/appeared to have only only seam.

I don't think I would have gotten rid of it. What I'm afraid of is that I may have put it in a pocket to keep it "safe" one afternoon while I was hoping the sun would break through.

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Aha! I found it! Woo hoo! (along with a whole bunch more old friends I hadn't known I'd lost ... woo hoo what a reunion!)

I can't wait until daylight to take the pix, so here the mib is, with a flash and whatever aid it gets from my dim livingroom light.

Ta da!

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Yeah, I know. I told you. The colors are boring. But that certainly is an odd vane style. ay?

P.s., if this has more than four vanes, they're hiding. (Do Anacortes cats ever have less than six vanes?)

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hey steph, nice loop on that one--it could very well be an Anacortes Vitro. don't know if they made 4-vaners there, tho.

i got this Vitro Anacortes Line Jar from Raelyn Dolton. am told these jars were production line samples that were scooped up out of what came off the machines during the time Vitro was located in Anacortes. this jar was labeled May 4, 1990, 2nd Shift, #126. i assume May 4 of 1990 was the date the marbles were made. i don’t know if these came off of more than one machine on the same day, or if they actually ran this many colors through at once.

the jar contains cat’s eyes with at least 6 vanes in a variety of colors:

the vane colors on the caged style include pale minty-green (some with gray-to-white edging, some with black-to-brown edging) and brick-red to dark brown (some with white or pale green edging).

the non-caged style vanes are green-gray to gray-black (with very wispy, nearly transparent blade-shaped vanes) and black, white, and brown to gray-green (some with all four colors present).

i found only three of the horseshoe type in the jar (with numerous wispy vanes): one very light gray and two dark gray.

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More from Vitro and Anacortes........Check out the new book "American Machine Made marbles" Schiffer....They have 8 or 9 pages of text giving a very detailed history....they moved there with 20+ semi trucks of machinery and 80,000,000 marbles.......and took more back to Ohio with them a few years later...here are some pics I have of Cats out of Anacortes bags.....IMHO the very colorful marble above is not Vitro and not Anacortes.....I have seen ones with 4 or 5 colors, but not like that....pax Jon

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  • 17 years later...

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