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Marvelous Mibs Marbles Collectors Zone A Stress-Free Place to Relax and Talk Glass
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wvglass
Joined: 22 May 2008 Posts: 108 Location: West Virginia
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Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 5:08 pm Post subject: Rare Akro! |
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Wow! Long time no post from me. Marble fever comes and goes with me. It's been back, and with it, some photos of some Killer Akro! Rare stuff. I'll just post a couple for now. As far as I know, there are only two of this first mib known to exist. It has oxblood running straight through the center--way cool! The second is an odd jewel also. Neither are mine. I'll post more and some of the story behind them here soon.
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winnie
Joined: 08 Sep 2007 Posts: 111 Location: netherland
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:08 am Post subject: akro |
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Very nice,the first one almost looks like a handmade,never have seen it before.
winnie |
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lstmmrbls Site Admin
Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 696
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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Nice tornado and sweet eggyolk Ox cork _________________ Peace,Galen |
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wvglass
Joined: 22 May 2008 Posts: 108 Location: West Virginia
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Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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My buddy dug those fellows back in 1993 or '94, near the plant (but not on it) about three feet deep. There used to be a house there, and underneath in clay sat a bunch of marbles, many of them quite minty. Those two are damn near wet mint . . . wouldn't know they were dug. We hoped to find out some information on them. The only two I know of the one you called a tornado is this one and one Roger Hardy has. My buddy and I keep wondering if Arnold Fiedler had anything to do with making it. Or them. The reasoning is that the oxblood runs straight through like it does. Something to think about, I guess! |
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browse4antiques
Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 552
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Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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The construction of the ribbon seems sparkler-like. It reminds me of this German sparkler. ... Roger
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that1
Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 365 Location: here
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Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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The first one has red on either side of the blue/white, you don't usually see that kind of symmetry from something that came out of a machine, but possible.
Maybe the story will shed some light |
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wvglass
Joined: 22 May 2008 Posts: 108 Location: West Virginia
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 6:23 am Post subject: |
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Interesting comparison to the German sparkler! There's no evidence that it's handmade from looking at it.
The story . . . I've already spoken of some of it. My buddy dug these back in 1993 or '94. It was about this time that the Akro plant started getting really busy with diggers, and my buddy had dug at this place before. He did his homework--some of which he's asked me not to tell about, but one thing he did weas go down to the plant with former factory workers, and they told him where to look, where to dig. He's the one who discovered the French drain system--dug there for a while, maybe a year, before anyone else found it.
Anyway, there used to be factory employee housing down there. I can remember the remnants of houses from when I was a kid walking down there to fish or pretend I was in the army. These marbles were found by one of the old houses. All kinds of marbles came out of this place, many of them in fine shape. After he'd dug there for a while he finally hit clay, finding marbles in it. Enter these two. There were two other odd/rare ones found also (along with thousands of silver oxbloods, some very rare and unique one inch sky blue oxbloods--not the patches, but with oxblood swirling through the center--I have a photo of those too), others. A cool chocolate and powder blue oxblood I need to post. Lots of them.
These were found in clay about three feet down, and beside them another strange oxblood--a pigtail my buddy calls it, with a similar construction to the tornado above, but I don't think this one had the white and blue. The other was like the cork above (which I've always called an auger) , but it was oxblood, white, blue, and green. Another came out beside these, a lemonade with powder blue in it. These three marbles were stolen from him (long story I won't get into), and the white ox blue green one was sold online, on ebay.
The other "tornado" is in Roger Hardy's museum, in a glass encasement.The story goes that there were only 11 or 12 of these made. That came from an older digger (who no longer dabbles in marbles), though I don't know where he got that information, but it's something that Roger Hardy exlpains as well. Where are all the others? No one has ever found them.
So my buddy and I have been thinking, trying to some some math. Those were factory houses. These are bad ass marbles. (Thinking of hand made, could they not be half and half, hand fed machine made?) The blood goes right through the center in that nice tornadic flow. We know that Feidler worked there at Akro, so he lived somewhere here in Clarksburg. Possible that we stumbled upon his former residence? That these marbles were his special little creations of his? I've got some others myself that could be Feidler marbles (based on color from some commenbts I've read online), and my buddy has others. I'll get photos!
(Been trying Photographing mibs with a Nikon d3100 . . . better photos, but I am still learning the technique).
That's the story for now. Sorry if I rambled--this marble has me excited, and my buddy and I both are quite interested in finding some history on this marble. Definitely Akro, definitely odd.
Thanks! |
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browse4antiques
Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 552
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 2:11 pm Post subject: |
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For marbles that are found only in very small quantities, and for which there is no production counterpart, we would have to consider the possibility that they were manufactured elsewhere and brought on site. It would be natural for people at Akro to regularly have examples of the competition's work, and to chuck them when they are no longer of interest, regardless of their condition. I'm not saying that's more likely, just that we can't really say "Definitely Akro". ... Roger |
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wvglass
Joined: 22 May 2008 Posts: 108 Location: West Virginia
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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Very true! And indeed, we've dug CACs and Master Marbles there.
I've tried that line of reasoning as well--that perhaps they (well, IT in this case) is not an Akro, but I kept getting shot down with insisting it is Akro because 1) The blood is Akro blood (and I do not think the photos show it well), and 2) Roger Hardy says it is Akro (these are the reasons I've been given).
Still, I have doubted that it is an Akro. Still, when I look at it, I must pause . . .
I've not been to the Hardy's in a long time. Perhaps I should go this weekend and see what else he knows . . . or at least why the insistence on Akro. |
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lstmmrbls Site Admin
Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 696
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 10:40 am Post subject: |
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Does not look handgathered so I doubt Arnold would have had anything to do with it.I believe he was several years gone from Akro before they started making the machinemades. Akro did tons of experimenting trying to get the Corkscrew setup working the way they wanted it. These always looked like marbles made in that time period to me. And there wouldn't have been tons of them. But likely a variety of oddballs as they went through the process. _________________ Peace,Galen |
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