Technorati Tags: Marbles for sale, vintage marbles

There are hundreds of different marbles that make the hobby of being a marble collector exciting and interesting, one such marble being Onionskin Vintage Marbles.  These are a unique kind of marble due to the look of the color on the marble which has made them one of the more sought after types of marbles.  Onionskin Vintage Marbles give you a variety of color to please your senses, so what are Onionskin Vintage Marbles?

Onionskin Vintage Marbles have, not surprisingly, the unique look and color resembling an onion.  This is not to say looking like an onion with the same shape, but Onionskin Vintage Marbles have small flakes of color that give the marble a very unique look.  The flakes will come in different shapes and sizes but will be stunning in look and feel nonetheless.

If you can find a unique German Onionskin Vintage Marble then you may be surprised to know that this may date back to the early 1800s.  These Onionskin Vintage Marbles can be found on different collectors sites online and you should be on the lookout for the most unique version.  Regardless of your reason to do so, if you buy Onionskin Vintage Marbles you won’t be disappointed.

Have your say. I’d love to hear about your experiences and collections with onionskin vintage marbles so speak up in the comments below.

Technorati Tags: 1800, german, onion skin, onionskin, vintage marbles

Any time that you enter the collectible game you are likely to run into a certain kind of collectible that is cherished more than most others, this is the case with Sulphide Vintage Marbles.  This is a type of marble that is very sought after and expensive because there is always a demand for an item that was made in such limited quantity.  So what is it about the Sulphide Vintage Marbles that makes them so desirable and hard to find?

Sulphide Vintage Marbles are sometimes referred to as figure marbles and they were made in Germany up to around 1930.  These marbles are usually between one and two inches in size and it is what is at the center that makes them so unique.  Sulphide Vintage Marbles have a figure inside of the glass that is made from porcelain.  Early on collectors thought they were made from sulphur, but later learned the truth.

There are hundreds of different objects inside of the Sulphide Vintage Marbles and no one knows exactly how many exist.  Animals seemed to be the most popular objects inside of the marbles, but sometimes people, numbers or other objects ended up in the middle.  The fact that nobody knows how many of these were made or how many objects exist makes Sulphide Vintage Marbles as popular as any in the market.

Without doubt my favorite vintage marble and the collection I am currently trying to learn more about. Do you have any sulphide vintage marbles? Or can you tell us a little more about them? Let us know in the comments below.

Technorati Tags: figure marbles, porcelain, sulphide, sulphide vintage marbles, vintage marbles

With the continued popularity of marbles in the collectibles community it is no surprise that Champion Agate Vintage Marbles have continued to have a name in the market.  Any name that has been around the marble game for as long as Champion Agate Vintage Marbles will be considered collectible, which means they survived the test of time.  Like any marble company, Champion Agate Vintage Marbles has a story of their own.

Champion Agate Vintage Marbles started back in the late 1930s in Pennsboro, West Virginia and the marbles they made from this time up to 1970 are considered collectible.  Since 1970 when the run of what is considered collectible ended the Champion Agate Vintage Marbles have released several “New Old Fashioned” sets that appear to be like the collectibles but are newer.

The Champion Agate Vintage Marbles typically have a swirled look that makes them very popular among kids and collectors alike.  The only problem for someone looking specifically for Champion Agate Vintage Marbles is that several other companies made marbles with the same look at the time.  Sadly for marble collectors, it doesn’t appear that Champion Agate Vintage Marbles have been produced for several years.

It goes without saying that any marble collector worth their weight in salt loves Champion Agate Vintage Marbles. How about you? Let us know in the comments below.

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There are few things in the world that give people more passion than a good hobby or collectible, this is true of an item like M.F. Christensen and Son Vintage Marbles. Marbles have long been a favorite collectible of the hobby community and this is reflected in the popular history of the product itself. The story of M.F. Christensen and Son Vintage Marbles is one that could interest even the most basic collector of the product.

The company that would soon make M.F. Christensen and Son Vintage Marbles began in Akron, Ohio in 1903 and was founded by Martin Frederick Christensen.  The business started in making metal forging and fabricating, but had a history in the making of ball bearings.  After the ball bearings were perfected, M.F. Christensen and Son Vintage Marbles started to be created out of spheres of glass.  The marble manufacturing began in earnest and the business took off.

The M.F. Christensen and Son Vintage Marbles became famous for the National Onyx line that gained a great amount of popularity.  M.F. Christensen and Son Vintage Marbles were made in amber, green and later white and purple for the general public.  The popular allure of M.F. Christensen and Son Vintage Marbles hasn’t ended yet and doesn’t appear to be ready to do so anytime soon.

Whats your favorite exampe of a M.F. Christensen and son marble? Let us know in the comments below.

Technorati Tags: m.f. christensen and sons, national onyx, vintage marbles

Benningtons are a glazed stoneware vintage marbles. Easy and cheap to produce, clay marbles were fired in a kiln with a salt glaze on them. These vintage marbles did not require the technical skill of handmade glass marbles.

To identify Benningtons look for, ‘eyes’ which mark where the marbles touched during firing leaving spots with no colour and unglazed. Found in three colour variations, brown (most common), blue, and my favourite the fancy which was glazed in multicoloured patches as if sponged.

I was recently surprised to discover that “Bennington” is a somewhat misleading name for these vintage marbles as there is no evidence or records to suggest they were ever produced in Bennington, Vermont!

Vermont authorities have even denied Benningtons were manufactured there, yet the term still survives in the hobby of collecting marbles.

It is known that the Bennington vintage marbles were produced in Germany during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

The Peltier Glass Company was founded in 1886 by Victor Peltier, originally produced vintage marbles under the name “The Novelty Glass Company”. The name was changed to the Peltier Glass Company in 1919. Located in Ottawa, Illinois, Peltier is still in operation today, but no longer produces vintage marbles.

The earliest Peltier marbles are single-stream. These vintage machine made marbles are usually referred to as “Miller” marbles because they were produced using Peltier’s first marble machine, designed by an enthusiastic employee named Miller.

Peltier slags have a transparent coloured base glass with a single opaque white swirled in. Peltier slags are rarer than many other vintage marbles and are identifiable by the very fine feathering pattern produced by the white swirls.

Another vintage marble of Peltier’s is a “multi-colour swirl”. It has a transparent coloured base with several opaque colours swirled in, with more common multi-colours found the colours are actually ribbons, not swirls.

Another of the vintage marbles produced with the famous Miller machine swirl is called a “Honey Onyx”. These have a semi-opaque white base with a thin translucent brown patch and a thin translucent green stripe on the marble.

The fantastic vintage marbles designs of the “Peltier Picture Marbles” (also known as Character Marbles) are Peltier “Peerless” with a black transfer of one of twelve different King Syndicate comic characters fired on the marble surface. I have a great fondness for these picture marbles simply because they are so much fun. Unfortunately many reproductions and fakes exist. The twelve characters are Emma, Koko, Bimbo, Andy, Smitty, Annie, Herbie, Sandy, Skeezix, Betty, Moon, Kayo. Anybody got the complete set? Let us know!

Probably the most collectible of Peltier’s vintage marbles are the “National Line Rainbo”. With an opaque base color and four to six thin ribbons in the surface this truely is an amazing marble to have in any collection. They can be distinguished from Miller Machine vintage marbles because they have two seams on them, as if they were two halves, plus the ribbons are usually translucent to transparent on the tri-colour National Line Rainbos, and opaque on the Miller Machine tri-colours. But if the ribbons are all the same colour, then the marble is referred to as a two-colour National Line Rainbo. The base colour can be either opaque white or an opaque colour.

Some of the great colour combinations have inspired wonderful names among collectors, including Zebra, Bumblebee, Cub Scout, Wasp and Tiger. Tri-color National Line Rainbos have also inspired a series of fantastic names for collecting. Some of my personal favourites are Ketchup & Mustard, Christmas Tree, Golden Rebel, Superman, Flaming Dragon and Blue Galaxy.

More common vintage marbles from Peltier include the Rainbo. These are a more recent marble. A two seam design, the base glass can be a variety of opaque or transparent colours, depending on the particular type of Rainbo, and they all have a ribbon or pair of ribbons encircling the equator of the marble. There is a basic difference between a National Line Rainbo and a Rainbo. In a National Line Rainbo, the ribbons lay just on and below the surface of the marble. In a Rainbo, the ribbons go into the marble, towards the core.

In my vintage marbles collection I have Peltiers with a translucent white base and a pair of coloured ribbons encircling the equator called “Acme Realers”.

An opalescent white base with a pair of red ribbons encircling the equator which is called a “Bloodie”.

A bubble-filled transparent clear base with a red and white, orange and white, or yellow and white pair of ribbons encircling the equator known as “Sunsets”.

Also many examples of the transparent dark base with a yellow and white ribbon brushed on the equator of the marble called a “Champion Jr”.

Plus you will find transparent clear bases with ribbons of two or three different colours which are called “Clear Rainbos”.

Peltier also produced a type of cat’s-eye. The marble consists of a single-vaned opaque colour in transparent clear glass. They are referred to as “Bananas” because the shape of the vane looks like a banana.

If you have some fine Peltiers let us know and if you are looking to add to your collection make the most of my vintage marbles seeking skills right here on this site,

or maybe you got some Peltiers or other vintage marbles for sale then email us the link to vintagemarbles.forsale@googlemail.com and get your auction in front of marble buyers right now!

Technorati Tags: machine made marbles, peltier, vintage marbles

The Christensen Agate Company has a short but outstanding vintage marbles story. Started in 1925 in Payne, Ohio, the company was found by a number of Akron business men and a machine inventor from Pittsburgh.

The Christensen Agate Company is still to this day renound for the use of exotic glass colours in it’s vintage marbles. This stand out trait was thanks to a man named Arnold Fiedler. An expert glass chemist he knew how to make hundred’s of different compatible glass colours. It was the compatibility that was so important as it is what keeps any glass object from cracking apart because of differential internal stresses.

In 1927 The Christensen Agate Company relocated its vintage marbles production to the city of Cambridge, Ohio. At this time the city of Cambridge was attracting new businesses by offering large sums of money. With so much cutting edge experimenting going on with colour blending and automation, this new found capital was much needed.

The first truly automated machine made marbles were made by this company through the use of gob feeders. Unfortunately we can only wonder what else this inovating company would have come up with as the factory would meet its demise with the crash of the stock market and the start of the Great Depression.

One of the legends of marble history you just got to have some of those truely amazing Chrisensen Agate colours in your vintage marbles collection!

Technorati Tags: christensen agate, machine made, vintage marbles

Benningtons are a glazed stoneware vintage marbles. Easy and cheap to produce, clay marbles were fired in a kiln with a salt glaze on them. These vintage marbles did not require the technical skill of handmade glass marbles.

To identify Benningtons look for, ‘eyes’ which mark where the marbles touched during firing leaving spots with no colour and unglazed. Found in three colour variations, brown (most common), blue, and my favourite the fancy which was glazed in multicoloured patches as if sponged.

I was recently surprised to discover that “Bennington” is a somewhat misleading name for these vintage marbles as there is no evidence or records to suggest they were ever produced in Bennington, Vermont!

Vermont authorities have even denied Benningtons were manufactured there, yet the term still survives in the hobby of collecting marbles.

It is known that the Bennington vintage marbles were produced in Germany during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

Technorati Tags: bennington, handmade, vintage marbles

The Akro Agate marble company was originally formed by the Mess Rankin, Gilbert, Marsh and Hill. Begining life at the beginning of the 20th century above Marsh’s shoe store in Akron, Ohio, the Akro Agate company made and sold glass vintage marbles in packs of 25 for 50cents a pack!

Due to the booming marble trade the company was soon so successfull they had moved to bigger premises and in 1911 applied for the Akro Agate trade mark.

With continued soaring success in 1914 they moved into an existing large factory in Clarksburg, West Virginia.Then in 1916, the death of Mr Hill brought George Pfleuger into the company.

With the loss of German imports, the introduction of contemporary technology, and especially the use of a manufacturing process patented by Mr Hill, Akro Agate was able to make glass marbles both on a mass scale and cheaply. Akro Agate became a major players in the US marble market.

Akro Agate made the most of better technology for the manufacture of glass vintage marbles and in 1925 the Hartford Feeder system was introduced, this enabled glass to be delivered to the mold at an even pressure. Then came the Freese patent (also in 1925) which allowed the main tank of liquid glass to be coloured in the feeder system from remote small tanks of different coloured glass. 1932 brought the revolutionary John Early machine, amazingly doubling production! Although in a now developed form these technological breakthrough machines and systems are still in use in the marble industry today.

Akro Agate stopped manufacturing in 1949 with the last of their products auctioned on 24 April 1951. The Akro Agate vintage marbles are highly collectible today, with many specialist collectors holding an annual convention.

Technorati Tags: akro agate, machine made, vintage marbles